In the merry sequence of things, Cameron Crowe was the third of a conspicuous trio of teenage rock-crit wanna-bes, junior spuds from the gitgo, whose paths crossed mine in the early 1970s.What’s troublesome is Fast …
June 25, 2026
One of America's premier rock critics, Meltzer wrote features for the Reader from 1985 to 2000.
Articles by Richard Meltzer
Rock critic Richard Meltzer casts a cold eye on Cameron Crowe
The Reader's Father's Day extravaganza
To commemorate Father's Day, this issue contains a collection of reflections from Reader writers about their fathers:The Last Tag Sale — Jeanne SchintoAn Air of Exoticism — Duncan ShepherdKinder Than I Would Think Possible — …
June 20, 2026
Richard Meltzer goes into his musical faves
Things we’ve saved and saved and SAVED. For all the stupid reasons you or I or anybody saves things. You can’t take them “with you,” not all, not any, but chances are what’s left is …
June 4, 2026
Ultimate Gonzo man Richard Meltzer buzzes San Diego for souvenirs
The Reader has started this series of its best stories from the past 52 years — 2600 cover stories and some remarkable interior features — to help make up for the loss of its physical …
October 17, 2025
Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?
At the absolute height of my collectional zeal, bloated by too many years on the promo-album dole, my LP stash numbered in the THOUSANDS. Three? Four? Five? I now own, well, hundreds—many, most, almost all …
March 27, 2024
Reader writers' dads
29 Reader writers on their fathersBy Abe Opincar, Anne Albright, August Kleinzahler, Bill Manson, Deirdre Lickona, Duncan Shepherd, Eleanor Widmer, Ernie Grimm, Jangchup Phelgyal, Jeanne Schinto, Jeannette DeWyze, Jeff Smith, Jennifer Ball, Jim Eichel, John …
September 3, 2023
Dead dolphin off La Jolla Cove
Every dive around San Diego yields discovery One of the oddest of these noises, an irregular bumping sound heard frequently in the rocks and ridges off the beaches from the La Jolla Caves south to …
July 23, 2023
The cute boys are at La Jolla Shores
The girls of summer Right after the Fourth of July, a series of perfect days unrolled across San Diego County beaches. Sun sizzled away the coastal low clouds by no later than eleven, and girls …
July 15, 2023
Hotels at night
You want the night staff Do all these people pass through in the night, millions of little desperate atoms on their way to conventions, underground bingo palaces, or whores' bedrooms? The only person who sees …
August 13, 2022