Joseph Finkel is a Ph.D. student studying musicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts at degree at Youngstown State University in Ohio and his Master of Arts degree at Arizona State University. Some of his interests include late twentieth–century experimental music composition, politics, and environmentalism. Joe has given papers on John Luther Adams, Ben Johnston, and La Monte Young. He has also published works on the music and ideas of Alvin Curran and John Cage. Recently, Joe has been examining ambient music and Southern California minimalism. He is also interested in independent music publications around the United States (ca. 1970s) and specifically intersections of culture, identity, and narrative, in EAR magazine.