Biography

I am a New York-bred but Los Angeles-based writer/editor who now feels more at home wandering Malibu canyons than Manhattan's subway tunnels. A former NPR producer and Travel + Leisure correspondent, I am a regular contributor to and editor for various national newspapers and magazines (see selected articles on left or employers below). I'm also Editor-at-Large and Travel Editor at The Faster Times as well as an essayist and screenwriter. My work has appeared in books such as "Before and After: Stories from New York," "A Leaky Tent is a Piece of Paradise," and "Lost and Found." Kind comments about my stuff have run in The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Arts & Letters Daily, and other publications (what were they thinking?).

I trained for a career in words, culture, and travel as a music conservatory survivor and professional violinist following years at Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood. Also a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, I attended the Sarah Lawrence College M.F.A. writing program and currently use this past to inform my present (note the long stint in NY as a whiny newspaper music and culture critic). Of course, I don't perform music any longer except for at the occasional Tom Petty, Steve Reich, or "Magnum, P.I."-theme jam session. But the melodies are--how you say?--still in my heart.

E-mail: glass.shallot AT gmail.com

[Publicists: Please note the Los Angeles office address and time zone.]


What is this blog?

Typepad once picked it as one of its "featured" sites and said the following:

"Adam Baer is a writer by trade... Online, Glass Shallot is home to his selected work, culled from the pages of the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Wired, Slate, and dozens of other reputable outlets. Browse Baer's left sidebar for the best of his printed work, covering an epic range of topics from Alain de Botton to Rodney Dangerfield to Space Invaders on cell-phones. Browse the right-hand sidebar for the best of the blog, which includes dispatches from current subjects Baer is researching, personal stories, and eclectic pieces on music, television, and many other topics. We love that Baer's "cultural shards" take him on a meandering path around the world (figuratively speaking) and his blog easily expands to ensconce them all. Sharp edges and odd angles aren't so scary when you wrap them in a reader-friendly blog."




Some former and current Glass Shallot bill-payers:


Newspapers: New York Times & NYT Book Review, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, Newsday, New Jersey Star-Ledger, San Francisco Chronicle (Book Review), Village Voice, LA Weekly, New York Sun, Baltimore City Paper


Magazines: GQ, Rolling Stone, Best Life, Town & Country Travel, Travel + Leisure, Wired, The New Yorker, Men's Journal, Slate, The New York Times Magazine and T: Style, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Radar, Men's Health, Parade, New York Magazine, Good, ReadyMade, Business 2.0, Maxim, Gramophone, The Strad, Symphony, The Washingtonian, Heeb, Robb Report, V Magazine, Body + Soul, Lexus, Sir, Departures


Radio: NPR


Web: TheFasterTimes.com, NPR.org, McSweeneys, CondeNet's Concierge.com (the online home of Conde Nast Traveler) and Men.Style.com (the online home of GQ and Details), AOL, and MrBellersNeighborhood.com


Books (anthology contributions): Before and After: Stories from New York (on 9/11, edited by Thomas Beller), A Leaky Tent is a Piece of Paradise (edited by Bonnie Tsui)




People I've had the pleasure to interview include:

Mel Brooks, violinist Gidon Kremer, Robin Williams, author Alain de Botton, Johnny Depp, Robin Williams, producer Dick Zanuck, Tim Burton, Richard Lewis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, fashion's Tom Ford, violinist Itzhak Perlman, Garry Shandling, director J.J. Abrams, David Alan Grier, superchef Jose Andres, Margaret Cho, Ferrari designer Battista "Pinin" Farina, Lewis Black, The Emerson String Quartet, author Nick Hornby, screenwriter John Logan, podfather and former MTV pioneer Adam Curry, composer John Adams, filmmaker Jason Reitman, comedian Zach Galifianakis, writer/filmmaker Neil Labute, Dr. Andrew Weill, composer John Corigliano, product designer Karim Rashid, chef Bobby Flay, The State's David Wain, trainer Gunnar Petersen, director Paul Mazursky, Louis C.K., screenwriter of Airplane! David Zucker, Robin Williams (what can I say? It was memorable), comedian Jeff Garlin, Alice Waters, Noah Baumbach, chef Ming Tsai, and the Daily Show's Larry Wilmore. I'd list more, but I need to go to sleep now. Thank you.

Formal Job history:
Violinist
Record-store salesperson
Pancetta pimp
Political photographer
Classical music critic
Paperboy
NPR producer
Chamber music coach
Waste-management executive
Technology consultant
Teacher
Tag salesman
Bodyguard
Restaurant reviewer
Shipping clerk
Web designer
Garlic farmer
Fact-checker
Pop culture columnist
Fresh-mozzarella maker
Conductor
Advertising strategist
Chauffeur
Editor
Nightwatchman
Patsy