Richard Milner

• Whether it's Erik Satie, '80s King Crimson, OSDM (old-school death metal), or cutting-edge thall, Richard loves moving, inventive, provocative, artfully-composed music.
• Richard's exerptise in all realms dark, heavy, and extreme has granted him as much knowledge of metal history and sub-genres as it has a collection of black t-shirts inscribed with variously indecipherable logos.
• Richard plays the guitar and piano, knows music theory, has written and performed his own music, done musical theater, and is a huge fan of bold and reckless karaoke.

Experience

Richard grew up obsessed with music and literature, and in that regard not much has changed. Drawn to explore both external and internal worlds as deeply as possible, Richard took a gap year to write and perform music, has traveled the world over and lived in multiple cities on multiple continents, speaks Japanese, Spanish, and Dutch in addition to his native English, and exults in local musicians playing ramshackle instruments on street corners in far-flung cities. In his professional life, he's worked in academic circles as much as artistic circles, and above most things, enjoyed poetry slams in underground Tokyo venues. In addition to journalistic and travel writing for Islands, the Japanese National Tourism Organization, Voyapon, Metropolis Magazine, Rabbit Hole Magazine, and others, Richard more recently launched Fifth Muse Missives, a literary venture meant to condense his past work and future work into one repository.

Education

Richard obtained his bachelor's degree in psychology vis-à-vis cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), graduating Magna Cum Laude from Western Connecticut State University. Later on, he turned his attention to the merger of technology and the arts by getting his master's degree in interactive technology at Southern Methodist University.