Birthday Wishes

All of us here at "One Poor Correspondent" wish a happy birthday to friend of OPC/funniest writer in America Rob Sheffield. Back in the late 1990s, before I was an editor there, whenever I would pick up a copy of Rolling Stone, the first thing I would do is read Rob's column "Pop Eye" in the front of the magazine. The second thing I would do is flip to the back to read any record reviews Rob had written. The third thing I would do is flip even further back to the TV reviews to see if Rob had written any of those.

Then I went to work there, and we became friends. I knew I had arrived at Rolling Stone when I asked Rob to write a story about watching TV all night long, and the bizarre things you would find there. His article concluded with the relief of coming across, in the wee hours, an episode of "Three's Company"; Jack, Janet and Chrissy, Rob wrote, just wanted to help you make it through the night. I suggested he amend that to say that they "just want to come and dance on your floor, take a step that is new, and help you make it through the night." Rob thought that was funny, and agreed to the change. I thought, if Rob Sheffield thinks I'm funny, I might have a future in this business.

These days, you can read Rob's "Station to Station" column in Blender magazine. Or you could pick up his heartbreaking memoir, Love Is a Mix Tape, if you haven't done so already.