Benjamin Nugent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin Nugent is an American writer.
He started his career as a reporter for Time magazine, writing mostly about music. His first book, a critical biography of a musician, Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, came out on Da Capo Press in 2004 and received praise in the Chicago Sun-Times from music critic Jim DiRogatis, who wrote that "Nugent did his research and left few stones unturned in telling Smith's relatively short and very sad story." Salon wrote that "The author understands the magnificently thick atmosphere of Smith's music intimately, and submerges us in it." The book was also criticized, most strongly by Elliott Smith fans on the Internet, for its failure to obtain interviews with Smith's family and some of Smith's well-known friends. The friends of Smith who did co-operate with the book included his producer Rob Schnapf.
It was announced in 2005 that Nugent is writing a book to be published by Scribner, called American Nerd: The Story of My People, about the history and culture of nerds. His essay "Security," about authors and money, appeared in Bookmark Now, a collection of work by young writers on writing.
Nugent was the original keyboardist for The Cloud Room, an indie rock band described as "The Smash That Wasn't" by the influential[citation needed] music web site Pitchfork and best known for its song "Hey Now Now."
