Alan Paul (author)

Biography

Paul was born September 7, 1966 in Anchorage, Alaska. He was raised in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduating from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1984.

While attending the University of Michigan, working for The Michigan Daily student newspaper, he met his wife, journalist Rebecca Blumenstein, who is now the Deputy Editor in Chief of the Wall Street Journal. Paul worked at the Hudson Reporter in Hoboken, NJ for one year after graduating in 1988. Upon his graduation in 1989, the couple moved to Tampa Bay, Florida. Paul became a stringer at the St. Petersburg Times.

Paul became Managing Editor of Guitar World in February, 1991, and stayed in that job for five years. During that time, under the guidance of Editor in Chief Brad Tolinski, it became the leading musician's magazine in the US. Paul oversaw production and editing and interviewed and wrote about many guitarists, notably the Allman Brothers Band, the doors, Metallica, and many blues artists, including B.B. King and Buddy Guy.

The couple moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1996, when Blumenstein was hired by the Detroit Bureau of the Wall Street Journal. Paul was a Guitar World senior writer, also handling Online Editor duties, and began branching out more, writing for diverse publications such as SLAM Magazine, The New Yorker, People, and Entertainment Weekly.

Living in Beijing, Olympics coverage and music career

In 2005, Blumenstein accepted the China Bureau Chief position with the WSJ.

By March 2007, Paul had participated in a jam session with saxophonist (and US Diplomat) Dave Loevinger and guitarist/repair technician Woodie Wu. Paul named the group Woodie Alan, in honor of the late Allen Woody, as well a pop-culture nod to American film autuer Woody Allen. By September, the group had added bassist Zhang Yong and drummer Lu Wei (drummer).

In May 2008, Woodie Alan was named 'Beijing Band of the Year' in City Weekend Magazine's readers poll. The group began recording sessions for an album that would eventually be released in May 2009 as Beijing Blues.

Paul was named 'Online Columnist of the Year' by The National Society of Newspaper Columnists in honor of his WSJ.com The Expat Life column. One month later, he began covering the Beijing Olympic Games for NBC.com, as the "Beijing Blogger". as well for the WSJ. He wrote hundreds of posts, covering the Games and events, and how the Olympics were being viewed in Beijing.

In September 2008, Woodie Alan toured outside of Beijing, headlining the Xiamen Beach Festival for more than 5,000 people. Their performance was recorded and later broadcast throughout the Fujian Province on television to more than 44 million people. They then traveled to Changsha, where they appeared live on three radio shows as well as performed live.

In November, they toured Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, at which they performed at the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival. Blumenstein's expatriate assignment ended in December, and the family moved back to their home in Maplewood.

Big in China

Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Becoming a Star in Beijing, Paul's memoir of his time in China was published by Harper in March, 2011. It received favorable reviews. Ivan Reitman's Montecito Pictures optioned the book for a movie, with Reitman attached as director and producer.

One Way Out

In February, 2014, Paul released One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band (St. Martin's). The product of 25 years of reporting on the iconic band, the book was hailed as a "thorough account" by Rolling Stone and "definitive" by Guitar World. The book, which features a forward by founding drummer Butch Trucks and an Afterword by founding drummer Jaimoe, debuted in the Top 10 of the New York Times hardcover Non Fiction Best Sellers list. In October 2014, the Allman Brothers played what they called their final shows- six nights at New York's Beacon Theater. Paul covered the shows extensively, filing reports for Billboard, the Wall Street Journal and Guitar World.

The paperback edition of One Way Out was released in February 2015, and included a new final chapter on the band's final year.