He's Superbad, and He's Got Soul.
Writing Your Own Rules with Eric Gladstone
By Poly Schmitt | Photos by Victoria Koelkebeck
Eric Gladstone believes in time travel "If one thing has defined my life, it's feeling like I came from the past and the future,” he says. His ideas usually manifest with a star date two or three years in the future before he hears the inevitable, “Now I see what you were getting at.”
Eric is seated at the edge of Mae Daly's, a vintage-style bar with penny tile tuxedo flooring and an embossed copper ceiling. He's nursing an old fashioned in a cut crystal rocks glass and wearing a trusty Ben Sherman shirt with a hoodie, equal parts Brit-mod and Beastie Boy. He's tired and seems distracted by the server dancing around in a black lace dress like a honeybee. Nina Simone serenades overhead with her original version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a loud and clear message from his subconscious.
Eric's turning the clock backward tonight as he shares his life as a rock/music journalist in the 90s, writing for well-respected publications including Rolling Stone, SPIN, Blender, as well as freelancing for Genesis, a filthy little porn rag. Eric even served as the Editor for the Beastie Boy’s magazine, Grand Royal.
His career spans a decade of interviews with rock legends like Nick Cave, Foo Fighters, Yoko Ono, PJ Harvey, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The interviews take on a natural conversational style distilled into his book, Anything But Nirvana, which he considers his greatest accomplishment.
These rock icons often turned the tables and asked him, "So, what do you think?"
There's a nostalgic charm about his boyhood when he talks about a certain romance for trains, how he fell into philately, collected coins for a time, read lots of older books, and encountered swaths of dead flies while rifling through his grandmother's attic in Syracuse, New York.
He and his friend Matt Pinfield, a former MTV host, still pick through the $2 record bins at Record City to seek vinyl treasures because they're both "cheapskates." His collections don't care about completing a collection; Eric craves serendipity. After all, this man "lives between worlds, never fully immersed in one thing. I always kept one foot outside the blanket, even with subcultures I love." He also drops literary references like it's nobody's business.
His father favored Sinatra, and his mother followed family music tradition by gifting her son his grandfather's scrappy violin to learn at the age of four.
By 14, Eric switched from classical violin to punk rock bass. "It's the same four strings reversed; I wanted to be in bands,” Eric says. “I love 60s British (music) — The Who, The Stones, The Beatles. But I loved what punk was saying. You can write your own rules. You don't have to respect authority all the time. You don't have to accomplish something before you can do it."
In Connecticut, sometime just shy of 1980, Eric Gladstone became “Eric Generic” of The Generics and debuted their $3 garage shows to friends. Back then, high school crowds held bands to standards of punk rock originality; otherwise, you'd get canceled or deemed a poseur. To his credit, he probably lost his physical and spiritual virginity to The
Damned anyway.
Eric’s journalistic drive led to him writing about music for the Rutgers University newspaper with a college audience of 30,000. He used his influence to cover local bands over charting musicians like Elvis Costello. His unwavering dedication to writing about what no one else would open the doors to started a professional writing career, allowing him to continue breaking stories about the bands he cared about. The Smithereens, Ween, Monster Magnet, and other acts became indie rock icons through his advocacy. He wrote the first musical missives to bring them attention.
The Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, and Beastie Boys benefited from his benchmark articles that shaped perceptions and their careers. Sometimes, interviews went south; David Robach from Mazzy Star proves you don't meet your idol's theory. "You don't need to know the people because it will ruin what they've created," Eric explains.
Eric proudly displays his copy of Combat Rock by The Clash, the band’s fifth studio album released on May 14, 1982. A commercial success, the record climbed to No. 2 on the UK charts, where it remained for 23 weeks, and reached No. 7 in the US, staying on the charts for an impressive 61 weeks.
At the same time, seminal moments of musical beauty include his favorites, The Beatles' psychedelic reverie "Strawberry Fields Forever," The B52's berserk space-age/beach party ditty "Rock Lobster," and The Clash's anti-establishment call to arms "Radio Clash".
“Art is often artifice, and sometimes it's great artifice,” Eric tells me. “The music. The aesthetics of the artist. The sound of the music. The statement. This is where you understand how important music is
to life."
He wants music to remain important. "We've lost a different kind of dialogue about music — they're not making crucial music. No one is making a statement anymore."
He laments Las Vegas needs a concerted effort to cover local bands and decide if we have a music culture here. Or whether bands are just trying to get signed and be the next Killers and make money based on their address. For Eric, a scene and dialogue around music are the cornerstones of music's cultural significance and life. He points out we need more music influencers in a city filled with food influencers.
He's got designs on the song of the year for 2024: Pussy Galore's "White People (You Suck)" and the song for The End of the World: Fun Boy Three's "The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum."
"I've Got Soul, and I'm Superbad," he sings as he rattles off a list of his funk, soul, and jazz favorites like The Queen of Memphis Soul Carla Thomas, Jazz Bassist Gene Wright, Soul Singer-Songwriter Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin. Superbad serves as the soundtrack to his life. True to James' lyrics, Eric has embraced a 'show, don't tell' mentality, embodying a 'Watch me!' ethos in everything he does.
From Eric’s archives, a rare appearance of “Eric Generic”
He's taken his love for music to Feast of Friends, his PR & marketing firm for local independent restaurants and bars. FOF has elevated the Las Vegas food and bar scene from weepy local dining to highly coveted seats at Esther's Kitchen, circling around the lot at Golden Tiki for parking and enjoying the award-winning wine at Ada's. Eric's stamp on Las Vegas brings a sense of soul, visionary originality, and the guts to hold restaurants on the Strip to task. His food and bar clients remain ever popular with a palpable energy because Eric's vision feels good, sounds good, and tastes good. He's got soul! He doesn't just keep these destinations in the news; he influences their energy.
"Transitioning into the food world — (I was) talking to musicians and chefs to find artistry in both disciplines, inspiring and endorsing originality," Eric says.
Because music is life in Eric's world, he works collaboratively with the chefs and owners to craft playlists perfectly married to the culinary experience. We hear Eric’s influence on playlists at Esther's Kitchen, the brunch at Gaetano's, and the upcoming Boheme French concept by Chef James Trees. To that end, Eric promises the best pommes frites in town at Boheme and a liberte, egalite, fraternite-worthy playlist of France Gall, Francoise Hardy, and French rock.
Three hours, three old-fashioned cocktails, two coupes of champagne, and one bloody burger later, he never mentions being the power and brains behind the most successful local chef food festival. For six years running, Vegas Unstripped has hosted sold-out crowds with lines wrapped around city blocks and casinos. The festival benefits various charities and spotlights many exceptional local chefs.
Eric doesn't mention it because, like most quietly influential people, he's just a soul whose intentions are good. He's Superbad.
Eric among the cherished pieces he's gathered over the years, each one a story from a lifetime of collecting.
To stay in the loop with Eric, follow him on Instagram @ecgladstone, or dine at one of the standout spots featured in this article — your chances of spotting him will soar. And for a deeper taste of his world, grab a copy of his book, Anything But Nirvana, available on Amazon.
Poly Schmitt likes connecting new Las Vegas denizens with old homes in DTLV as a Realtor. Poly's forever obsessions include writing novellas, watching Czech New Wave movies, communicating via tarot and telepathy, and admiring International Style and Brutalist architecture.
