Kenny G

Kenny G was an artistic alias of Kenneth Goldsmith, an American poet, music critic, and UbuWeb founding editor. Do NOT confuse with a smooth-jazz saxophonist Kenny G (2). Goldsmith primarily used the "Kenny G" alias as a radio DJ, hosting a weekly show at WFMU independent radio station from 1995 till 2010. In 2003, Goldsmith released one of his Kenny G's radio shows as [I]Nothing Special CD in 2003 (distributed by Soleilmoon Recordings). It was a live, on-air collaboration with People Like Us, a prominent British sound collagist who used to host several WFMU programs of her own (DO or DIY, for instance, or Codpaste with Ergo Phizmiz). While running his WFMU show as 'Kenny G,' Goldsmith received numerous misaddressed emails to his more famous namesake, the "other" Kenny G (pseudo jazz sax player Kenny Gorelick). In 2006, he published a book-length collection of unedited "Kenny G Letters" at LA-based micropublisher Make Now Press. Goldsmith also regularly recited some of the Kenny G letters, both on-air and during public readings, which eventually led to a collaboration with Jonathan Zorn, an aspiring US composer and experimental artist from Connecticut (who also happened to have a "celebrity" namesake saxophonist, John Zorn). Kenny and Jonathan recorded Kenny G Meets John Zorn online album in Nov 2007, freely available at UbuWeb. Goldsmith also wrote some album reviews and essays under the Kenny G alias, namely "A Popular Guide to Unpopular Music," initially published in 2000 in the American Music Center's webzine (and on Kenny's WFMU homepage). For this manuscript, Kenneth interviewed Joan La Barbara, David Behrman, David Soldier, Stephen Vitiello, and Morton Subotnick—analyzing how they managed to combine well-established music careers with professional jobs in the record industry, science, education, etc.