Justin Hampton at The Bookloft

Some disclosure: a few years back, I used to write for SPIN. I don’t anymore. It had become a steadily decaying relationship after they got sold in a fire sale back in ’06, and while the magazine seems to have made a few good decisions since then, it goes without saying that they’re not driving youth culture the way they used to, and never will. That distinction nowadays falls on Pitchfork Media, Gorilla Vs. Bear, VICE, Brooklyn Vegan and other assembled variations of these hipster brands.

That said, I have to acknowledge Emily Zemler’s commendable work over at their blog and in several events she’s thrown in NYC. Trying to get hipsters to read more than a magazine is trying work, and while many in publishing look to the music industry for clues on how to survive in the digital age, the truth is that it’s apples and oranges. If you self-release in music, you’re hip and “indie”; if you do the same in publishing, it’s a vanity press. And speaking as a former music journalist, I can tell you that the music industry is looking more like publishing every single day, with big labels clinging to their old catalogs for dear life and a financial lead ceiling imposed on indie labels.

Back to the topic at hand, Emily’s throwing another installation of the “Liner Notes” series in New York City, this one featuring San Francisco metal/pop outfit Dredg and Salman Rushdie. Apparently, Dredg liked his essay “Imagine There’s No Heaven: Letter to the Six Billionth Citizen” so much they made an album out of it, setting its themes to the sort of generic aggressive pop music the kids apparently love these days. But apparently, the album has done much to steer fans towards Rushdie’s work, and Rushdie gets it – after all, U2 aren’t kids anymore. So he’s shrewdly participating in this co-promotion scheme. Rushdie gets a chance to indoctrinate more atheists; Dredg gets a chance to brand its teenage angst as literate and “deep.” Win-win situation.

I am told by the event’s publicist that it will be a combination reading-performance dealio, in keeping with other events which have pitted Tegan Quin (Tegan & Sarah) with Augusten Burroughs and Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) with Neil Gaiman. Any rate, I hope it’s working for the authors and for Emily.

The event’s being held at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, and all proceeds benefit Housing Works, an outreach medical/social care clinic for poor and needy HIV/AIDS patients. It takes place October 1st, at 7:30 p.m., $25.