LYNN – Lynn resident Nick Parker spent his Sunday night celebrating in Boston after the blog he writes for, Ryan?s Smashing Life, won Boston Music Award?s Best Music Blog category.?It was a great night, really fantastic,” he said.The hipster music blog, which was launched by Malden resident Ryan Spaulding four years ago, reviews new music from various artists. They also write albums of the year lists and “ones to watch.”As one of the blog?s five contributing writers, Parker, a native of Manchester, England, said he typically writes about the English music scene in his spare time from his main gig as an English teacher at Babson College.?I?ve been writing for the blog the past two years or so with personal narrative pieces on local shows and CD releases,” he said. “The blog gets about 15 albums a week and we sort of cherry pick through that stuff and go to shows.”Parker, 34, said he met Spaulding at a show when he was working as a sound engineer in grad school. That night he also met several people working in various capacities in the music field and quickly became friends.?Five of us sort of got together, and we were all really into music,” he said. “And now the site has become the biggest music blog in New England.”This year, Parker said the Web site has gotten nearly 900,000 hits.?Ryan has just done a really great job, he?s fantastic in networking,” he said. “He does the majority of the work and we all contribute to it. There?s a constant turnover of new material.”To read Parker?s content, visit www.rslblog.com.
