I am an experienced reporter/writer/author with hundreds of samples (stories, releases, reviews, features) listed in the links below. I specialize in writing crisp, informative, and detailed writing assignments. I always produce top quality work on deadline and on budget. I am serious and interested in building long-term collaborations. Thank you. [login to view URL] ----------------------- BIO: 1.07 RAMIRO BURR Ramiro Burr is a writer, blogger and syndicated music columnist and A&E reporter. He is also an author, a Billboard correspondent and a free-lance music writer published by Pulse, Rhythm Music, Songlines, Cashbox, Latina, Performance and New Country Music magazines, as well as the Houston Chronicle and Austin Chronicle newspapers. His CD reviews have also appeared at [login to view URL], [login to view URL] and [login to view URL] and his picks have been part of the Village Voice's prestigious 2001 and 2002 Pazz & Jop critics list and Billboard's annual yearend 2001 and 2002 Critic’s Choice issues. In a 20 plus career Burr has written some 20,000 newspaper articles, columns, biographies, features, profiles, reviews, news releases, web articles, travel and entertainment stories, keyword articles, newsletters, banners, etc. Burr's new book, "The Billboard Guide to Tejano and regional Mexican Music," by New York publisher BillboardBooks, is the genre's first-ever sourcebook. Burr also contributed chapters to "World Music," by the London-based Rough Guides, "Hispanic Almanac," on Visible Ink Press and "Puro Conjunto" on UT Press. His next book is on the history of the mariachi and ranchera music for University of Texas Press. Since 1986, Burr has also specialized in Spanish-language music, a growing field rarely covered by the mainstream press. Burr's weekly syndicated Express-News music column, has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Austin-American Statesman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Angelo Standard-Times, Albuquerque Tribune, and the Laredo Morning Times. A nationally recognized music authority, Burr is a regular panelist at major conferences presented by Grammy in the Streets, South by Southwest, Smithsonian Institute, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and industry trade groups. Burr is also an articulate and critical analyst quoted often by American national publications and network news shows including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NPR's Talk of the Nation, ABC News Radio, ABC's Primetime Live and PBS' Newshour with Jim Lehrer and international press such as the BBC's World Service, Mexico's Notimex and Spain's EFE wire service. Through his career Burr has interviewed hundreds of top artists including U2's the Edge, Robert Plant, Shakira, Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament, the Eagle's Don Henley, Phil Collins, matchbox twenty's Mark Doucette, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Yes' Jon Anderson, Carlos Santana, KISS's Gene Simmons, Ted Nugent, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Clint Black, George Strait, Joan Jett, Mark Farner, Juan Gabriel, Jose Jose, and others. Through his experience, Burr has become a professional speaker whose insight and analysis of music, journalism, culture and the arts has been sought by colleges and civic groups such as the University of Texas, the University of Houston, Texas A&M, DePaul, California State, Southwest Texas State, St. Mary's, Trinity and Rice universities and LULAC. In 2001 and 2002, the Hearst/Express-News volunteer corp. named Burr the "Speaker of the Year." His provocative talks cover the urgency of literacy, the importance of the arts, the purpose of music, the politics of modern journalism and the decay of American pop culture. His intriguing insider's view offers incisive, sometimes hard-hitting, but always amusing perspectives that challenge universal truths with philosophical questions. His reputation as a no-nonsense, straight-shooting reporter has won both friends and critics. In 1993, the tough alternative weekly San Antonio Current named him "Best Music Reporter." Burr has also written for the Associated Press, United Press International and Hispanic Link, Mexico City's El Nacional and La Jornada and Los Angeles' La Opinion and Novedades. A native of Laredo, Texas, Burr received a bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Before the Express-News, Burr worked for the San Antonio Light and the Laredo Morning Times. Website [login to view URL] Samples, stories links: Music features, interviews, reviews: Ramiro Burr website: [login to view URL] (Redesigned; updating all pages.) My rate is negotiable. I am serious in establishing a long-term relationship.