music friday addendum: charlie bertsch, "listening for the future"

My review of Charlie Bertsch's new book, Listening for the Future: Popular Music for Europe is now up on The Battleground website. It begins:

Charlie Bertsch begins the illuminating introduction to his new book Listening for the Future by posing a question: “What do we ask of popular music? The book, which collects music reviews he has written for The Battleground, attempts to answer that question.

I hope you read my review, and then read Charlie's book, not necessarily in that order. Meanwhile, here is the bio I provided:

Steven Rubio has lived in Berkeley, California for almost 45 years. He has family roots in Andalucía, and he spends as much time as possible there. He recently saw Patti Smith at the Royal Albert Hall, which made for an interesting cultural juxtaposition. But he is also looking forward unironically to an upcoming Billie Eilish concert.