Journalist and music critic Jeff Weiss ’03 will speak about his new book “Waiting for Britney Spears” Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. in Mosher 1. The event was inspired by the success of a book talk with Mirin Fader last spring, according to College Librarian and Interim Director of Teaching, Learning and Research Support Sarah Pickle.
“Barbara Thomas, the staff advisor of The Occidental, approached us about it,” Pickle said. “We had a really successful event in the spring with another Oxy alumn[a], and she thought it would be a good opportunity for us to work together again and elevate the work of Oxy alumni.”
James Miller* (senior), a former editor-in-chief of The Occidental who works for Weiss, will interview him for the event. He said he plans on asking him a variety of questions on media and journalism.
“We’ll definitely talk about the book,” Miller said. “But I’m also planning on asking him about his views on the media landscape, which come through a little bit in ‘Waiting for Britney Spears.’”
Miller said he looks forward to people discovering Weiss’ deep knowledge of music and journalism.
“Jeff literally talks about music for a living and has fantastic opinions and criticisms of pop music and especially hip-hop over the last 30 years,” Miller said. “Jeff is part prophet, part scholar — so, if you enjoy listening to an oracle you’ll have a good time at this talk.”
Weiss said he comes back to Occidental frequently to speak to students on journalism, but he said it feels amazing to return to speak about his book given his tumultuous years as a student.
“During my time at Occidental, I did have some wonderful professors — mainly history professors,” Weiss said. “But I did feel kind of alienated, so it feels amazing to have it come full circle and sort of have a prodigal son moment.”
According to Weiss, the path to publishing the book was not easy, but it was validating to see it through.
“I’m lucky that I was blessed with an unerring streak of delusion and faith and some kind of weird cosmic power to guide me in the right direction and eventually get this book out into the world,” Weiss said.
Pickle said she has been listening to the audiobook version of the book and finds his writing and narration compelling. She said she thinks it could inspire students to read more.
“He has such a distinctive writing style,” Pickle said. “It’s a kind of special experience that I could see drawing people into longer form writing […] whether it’s audio or reading a physical book.”
Pickle said the book enables the reader to reflect on the current state of tabloid journalism.
“It felt really wild to me to start seeing tabloids in the grocery store checkout aisles and stuff,” Pickle said. “It’s really an interesting time to reflect on where we are now versus then.”
According to Weiss, the book is 65 percent true and 100 percent honest.
“It’s a blur of the absolute truth and the figurative truth to create something that feels more real than the actual events did,” Weiss said. “This isn’t necessarily supposed to replace Britney Spears’ version of the truth or anyone else in the book’s version of the truth.”
He said people who are thinking of attending the event could benefit from listening to Spears’ music as it inspired his conception of the book.
“Listen to the whole Blackout album — it’s a masterpiece, you know?” Weiss said.
Miller said he has listened to Spears himself.
“I had a phase before the book came out when I had just started working for Jeff when I was playing a bunch of Britney Spears,” Miller said. “I will be pumping Britney Spears before the event.”
According to Pickle, her own experience meeting her school’s alumni speaks to the importance of events like this.
“I think about my own school — the alumni who come out of there and [I] feel pretty inspired by what they’re able to do in part because of the education they received at the school we went to,” Pickle said.
Pickle said she appreciates the opportunity for students to engage with alumni on an intellectual level.
“It’s about building [an] intellectual community on campus,” Pickle said. “And, to do that with an alumn[us] allows us to reflect on what we’re doing here as a college.”
Miller said the event is not just an opportunity for students to learn about Weiss’ book.
“He can speak to students who are interested in having a career in either [music or journalism] in Los Angeles,” Miller said.
Weiss said he has only attended a book signing once in which writer and journalist Hunter S. Thompson vomited everywhere and left early. Still, he said, the greatest form of praise for a writer is when readers want to meet them.
“On some level, I hope that the book would leave people with a feeling that they would want to talk to me,” Weiss said. “So, I guess the notion of a book reading sort of fills that void.”
Contact Nick Dobbs at ndobbs@oxy.edu
*James Miller is a former editor-in-chief of The Occidental.
