Editors’ Biographies
John Aiello has been a practicing journalist for over 35 years, with an abiding interest/expertise in the Beat Generation and post-20th century poetics. In the course of his career, he has written on the fine arts (books, music, film and popular culture), in addition to science, psychology, biology, medicine, religion, business, law, government, the social sciences, the Constitution, civil rights, abuse of power by police, and corruption in the insurance industry (as a consultant). He is also the author of A Higher Calling: A Review of Judges & Lawyers Who Shaped the San Mateo County Courts, which was published by the San Mateo County Historical Association in August 2020. Educated at College of the Siskiyous, Southern Oregon State University and San Francisco State University, Aiello has published his journalism in The San Francisco Chronicle, (as well as The San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle Sunday Edition), Jack Magazine (with links to Big Bridge), McClure-Manzarek.com, Beatdom.com, Larry Keenan’s Dead Beat Picture Gallery (introducing Keenan’s photo feature), The US Review of Books, The San Francisco Daily Journal, American Muse, The Siskiyou Pioneer, The San Jose Mercury News, Produce Business, Perishable Pundit, Anderson Valley Advertiser, Consumer Health Interactive, The Beat Page, Mule Deer Foundation Magazine, 49ers Webzone, The Auburn Journal, Auburn Journal Extra, The Mount Shasta Herald, The North Bay Bohemian, The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center’s website, California Wine & Food, BookZen, North American Precis Syndicate, Taste California Travel, TNT’s Drama Lounge, Chico News & Review, Reno News & Review, the Redding Record Searchlight, Wavelength Magazine, Griots.net, The Sacramento Bee and The Los Angeles Daily Journal. He served as the National Correspondent for American Muse and contributed significantly to both the magazine’s genesis and evolution before it ceased operations in 2002. Additionally, countless reviews written by Aiello have been excerpted and used by publishers, authors and record labels in the course of marketing their products. Aiello’s work is known among writers, publishers, literary agents and publicists who trust that his critiques will be fair-minded and thorough and his knowledge of the subject matter complete. Many well-established and award-winning authors have championed his work, including Michael McClure, Michael Baughman and Peter Sussman, as well as the late Herb Caen, the late Richard Hemp, the late Arthur Hoppe, the late Allan Temko and the late Allen Ginsberg. In the summer of 2001, Aiello retired from his position at The San Francisco Chronicle, having spent over 14 years working in the newsroom there. Presently, Aiello continues to publish The Electric Review (having launched the magazine in 2003), further showcasing some of his journalism in various print-based newspapers and on-line magazines throughout the country. In addition, Aiello’s first collection of poetry, Hymns To The Night Road, will be released in December 2021.
Jacob Aiello’s ancestry can be traced back to rabbis and horse thieves. In 2018 he received the Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship in Literary Nonfiction from Literary Arts. His essays have been published in or are forthcoming from december, Salt Hill Journal, Buckman Journal, The Sun, Entropy, The Rupture, Carve Magazine, and Ninth Letter, among others. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, two dogs and four cats. Reach him via The Electric Review.
Paul J. Aiello is a retired Judge from Northern California who was educated at The University of California, Berkeley (B.A. History) and at U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law (J.D.). Subsequent to retiring from the bench, Aiello embarked on a career in alternative dispute resolution, conducting hundreds of mediations and arbitrations since 1992. Additionally, Aiello served on the adjunct faculty at College of The Siskiyous in Weed, California for over a decade, teaching courses in the Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as in Police-Community Relations. Reach him through The Electric Review.
Electric Review 