Ahhhh... It feels good to be back in the saddle again. For the last couple of years my life has been somewhat of a jumbled and haphazard thing, like a puzzle with too many pieces to ever sort out. With a lessening of responsibility in several aspects of my life I'm now able to focus more on this magazine (I know I've said that before, this time it should have more extensive effects). I hope this is evident in the more in-depth reviews that I've included for this issue (Mary Ann Farley, Popa Chubby) and the ones I have planned for inclusion very shortly (Wally Pleasant).
I've recently installed a decent modem and communications software on the PC we received as a gift late last year (an older 486 that needed a modem boost from the 2400 baud it came with). Now that I can connect conveniently from home I plan to add news or reviews as often as I can. I can't commit to doing this daily, but I will try. For a magazine that's run totally as a hobby, what more can you ask? To that end, I've begun posting the add date for each review or news item(s).
Back in December of 1995 I ran a brief piece of news concerning the band Love In Reverse. The news bit was about their being signed over the internet. ABC recently devoted an hour of the show Turning Point to the workings of the recording industry. The show focused on the signing and recording process for the band Love In Reverse and Reprise Records. I wasn't aware that the show was going to be on. I happened to catch it right at the beginning as my wife had flipped onto ABC. The mention of the recording industry caught both of our eyes (and ears). When the band was mentioned I told my wife that they were signed over the internet. Imagine my surprise that no mention of this was made on the show. Indeed, the show went into a good bit of detail about the signing process - shopping demo tapes, working with managers, etc. Nowhere did they mention any involvement with the internet.
Well, since my memory can be faulty, I checked through my files and sure enough, the announcement sits in my December 1995 issue. Somewhere I've got a press release from Reprise stating what I related in that news item. So, why didn't they mention anything about this aspect of the band's signing on Turning Point? Is this just a case of the label over-hyping the fact that they may have used e-mail to deal with contractual details rather than fax or Fed-Ex? I'll see what I can dig up from Reprise and let you know.
Murph
Michael A. Murphy
Publisher/Editor