Gary Singh

San Jose, CA USA
Contact

Professional Experience

As either a staff journalist or freelancer, Gary has published hundreds of articles on a wide variety of subjects including travel essays, art and music criticism, profile pieces, business journalism, lifestyle articles and much more. For 320 straight weeks, he's also penned the widely-read Silicon Alleys column in San Jose, one native's weekly offbeat glimpse into the frontiers of the human condition in Silicon Valley. Independent of subject matter, several components of Gary's writing style make him unique for your assignment: * He supplies natural, flowing copy that keeps the reader's attention * He weaves a story with multiple layers of meaning * He excels at depicting the forgotten, the ignored, the quirky and the in-between * He rarely needs extensive editing Every clip below is at least 95% as it was turned in. Gary is a dependable freelancer, always available for assignments, and can provide razor-sharp copy with a distinctive voice. Hire him to work for you.

Expertise

Researcher
12 Years
Reporter
12 Years
Writer
12 Years

Specialty

Arts & Humanities
10 Years
Lifestyle
10 Years
Other, Specify
10 Years

Industries


Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines
10 Years
Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B)
10 Years
Newspaper - Local/Regional
10 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

12 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

The Meeting Profressional/ONE+ (6-10), Meetings Focus (6-10), Wine Enthusiast (3-5), Metro Santa Cruz (10+), Metro Silicon Valley (10+), IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications (10+), Sunset (6-10), Mabuhay Magazine (6-10)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

International Computer Music Association (10+), The Stephenz Group (10+)

Other Work History

Columnist at Metro Silicon Valley, 2005-present Staff writer at Metro Silicon Valley, 2001-2009. Freelance 1999-present

Technical Skills

Too long to list, available on request.

Foreign Language Skills

Menu French, Italian and Spanish.

Computer Skills

Competent on all platforms: Mac, Windows, Unix. Software and hardware experience too long to list, available on request.

Equipment

Laptop, digital voice recorder, access to all standard software.

Associations

Society of American Travel Writers, Bay Area Travel Writers.

Showcase

Cover Features for Metro Silicon Valley

Rudy Rucker
(Metro Silicon Valley 8/7/2003)
Profile of the cyberpunk science fiction pioneer, with he and I walking through San Jose and Los Gatos, investigating the locales he placed in his novels. Featuring tirades on fractals, cellular automata, plot development and San Jose's redevelopment failures.
Mind Over Metal?
(Metro Silicon Valley 11/27/2003)
Cover story where I infiltrate a spoonbending party. Sooooo 1970s.
Sustain in the Brain
(Metro Silicon Valley 4/23/2008)
They put electrodes on Gary's head and convert the EEG to a piano track so he can sleep better. Featuring secret Russian technology.
Saved at the Goal
(Metro Silicon Valley 1/12/2005)
How a group of die-hard fans banded together and saved the San Jose Earthquakes for one more season, before the team moved to Houston.
Bidet, Mate
(Metro Silicon Valley 12/11/2003)
Cover story about $5000 Japanese toilets. Asiaphile pervs will love this one.
Bite Out of Time
(Metro Silicon Valley 5/1/2003)
Hedonistic story on the Silicon Valley Chapter of Slow Food USA, with a last minute gorgeous cover painting by Alfonso Kellenberger.
Scalpelbots
(Metro Silicon Valley 10/6/2004)
Intuitive Surgical attempts to pioneer robotic surgery.
Leonard Cohen: The Poet King
(Metro Silicon Valley 11/11/2009)
A heartfelt tribute to the hilarious poet, singer and songwriter, as his 2009 tour concludes in San Jose. Featuring one section with the author wandering through Cohen's neighborhoods in Montreal.

Travel Writing and Related

Retro Vegas
(Mabuhay Magazine 6/1/2009)
The Fremont East District in Las Vegas tries to re-incubate itself as a new locals-only area for those who want to escape the tourists and the gamblers.
Maple Marvels
(Airlines Magazine 3/1/2004)
Travel feature on Auberge des Gallant, a Quebec countryside inn.
Destination: Vancouver
(Wine Enthusiast 11/1/2005)
Destination/restaurant piece on Vancouver.
Eight-Circuit Thailand: Absorb, Integrate, Transmit
(Traveling Boy 9/1/2010)
A rip-roaring hysterical piece. While on a tour of Thailand, Gary uses Antero Alli's eight-circuit brain theory to analyze everything that transpires on the trip. Timothy Leary would be proud.
California's Golden Gateway
(Mabuhay Magazine 9/1/2009)
Feature on San Mateo County, near San Francisco.
World's Biggest Potlach
(Northwest Travel 11/1/2009)
The Four Host First Nations have played a significant role in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
A Hip Kind of Heaven
(Mabuhay Magazine 10/1/2009)
A three-pronged glimpse into Los Angeles: The beach, the skyscrapers and the literary underbelly.
Malaysia: A Homestay in Kampung Pachitan
(GoNOMAD 2/1/2010)
Gary stays in a remote Malaysian village to experience how the locals pass the time away. It is Hari Raya Aidilfitri, marking the end of Ramadan. Dean Martin covers included.
Duesseldorf: A Beautifully Incongruous Hodgepodge of Old and New
(GoNOMAD 9/1/2010)
An entertaining travel piece where Gary walks through Duesseldorf, visits a plastic surgery clinic, watches the World Cup and more.
The Eichhorn Schwyzerorgelfabrik and Musikhaus
(Traveling Boy 7/1/2010)
Gary visits the oldest continuously-operating accordion shop in the oldest city in Switzerland. Neo-gonzo journalism at its most succinct.
Berlin: Music Tour Highlights Rock & Roll Milestones
(GoNOMAD 8/1/2010)
A trip through the underbelly of Berlin's rock music history, including Nick Cave, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, The Ramones and Einsturzende Neubauten.
Vancouver's Asian Flavor
(Mabuhay Magazine 8/1/2008)
Travel piece where I walk through the multicultural areas of Vancouver.
Spooky Switzerland: Alien Nightmares and Mystical Savages
(GoNomad 10/31/2009)
Guided by Jungian alchemy, the author travels in the footsteps of H.R. Giger, the macabre Swiss artist.
Cooking With Tam: A Lesson in Thai Cuisine
(Mabuhay 10/1/2010)
Tam runs the Amita Thai Cooking School out of her home in Bangkok. In this short piece, I attend the class and learn the ropes.
Vancouver Spotlight
(Mabuhay Magazine 7/1/2009)
Article on the First Nations' role in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, including places to experience aboriginal art in Vancouver.
L.A. Beach Life
(Mabuhay Magazine 12/1/2008)
Travel story primarily about Long Beach and Redondo, with a little Hermosa and Huntington thrown in.

Book Reviews/Author Pieces

Chuck Amuck
(Metro Silicon Valley 5/21/2005)
Chuck Palahniuk probes for a visceral response in his harrowing new novel, 'Haunted.'
A Rat in the Kitchen
(Metro Santa Cruz 1/21/2010)
Story on Don Lattin's book, "The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America."
Choosing Death
(Metro Silicon Valley 9/29/2004)
A new book puts extreme heavy metal through the grinder.
Tim Cahill, Traveling Man
(Metro Silicon Valley 4/26/2010)
Legendary travel writer Tim Cahill spends a semester teaching at San Jose State University.
'Diary' of a Prankster
(Metro Santa Cruz 9/3/2003)
Author and cult figure Chuck Palahniuk encourages everyone to disrupt his readings as often as possible.

Arts Writing

Mystic Pages
(Metro Silicon Valley 3/24/2004)
Bizarre occult treatises on display at the Rosicrucian Museum.
The Painted Smile
(Metro Silicon Valley 8/11/2004)
Art review of Geisha: Beyond the Painted Smile, in San Francisco.
Canvas Noir
(Metro Silicon Valley 1/5/2010)
Cover story on Chinese-American realist painter Wayne Jiang, San Jose's answer to Edward Hopper.
Stone Secrets
(Metro Silicon Valley 11/10/2004)
Macintosh guru Bill Atkinson's magnified images reveal hidden beauties in the rocks around us.
The Art of Zines
(Metro Silicon Valley 2/18/2010)
A local gallery's annual zines show brings together the ridiculous and the sublime, forever slaughtering the boundaries between art and design.

Trade Publications

The Big Island of Hawaii
(Meetings Focus 10/1/2010)
Destination feature on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Perfect Pitch: Major League Soccer
(Sports Travel 3/1/2011)
Cover story on Major League Soccer and how it's evolving, via new franchises, supporters groups, youth academies and more.
Building Terrain From Pebbles to Mountains
(IEEE Computer Graphics & Applicaitons 1/1/2004)
Profile of Latvian computer graphics artist Armands Auseklis.
Ottawa: Right at the Crossroads
(The Meeting Professional 7/1/2008)
Destination feature on Ottawa and Gatineau, Quebec.
Japan: A Sense of Discovery
(The Meeting Professional 3/1/2003)
Destination feature on Japan for the meetings and conventions industries.
San Diego: Better Together
(Meetings Focus 2/1/2011)
Destination piece on San Diego.
Digital Visions from the Subatomic Realm
(IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications 1/1/2002)
Profile of computer graphics artist Eric Heller.
Into the Abstract
(IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications 11/1/2002)
Profile of computer graphics artist John Best.

Lifestyle/Misc

Jim Nysted and the Killer Instinct
(Chess Life 8/1/2001)
Grandmaster and gadfly Jim Nysted talks about killer instincts on the chessboard. Using ideas and characters from Trevanian's book, Shibumi, Nysted ponders his own situation.
Absent of Absinthe
(Metro Silicon Valley 10/17/2002)
Infiltrating the Witches Ball. Tons of French bohemians, but no absinthe.
Geek Central: Do you like Science Fiction, Yuki-San?
(Metro 9/5/2002)
Hysterical rampage through the 60th World Science Fiction Convention.