Winter 95,96 Volume I Issue 1

Welcome to the Music Gallery. This department is written by several journalists who have experience and "sound" knowledge of the music industry. They are not frustrated musicians. Rather, each is a professional writer who has chosen music as a career focus. For those whose musical interests have begun to embrace sounds that once seemed remote to us, we hope we can find something to hang your hat on. Just recently at Lincoln Center I was enjoying one of the best productions of La Boheme to be presented in many years here in New York. Then, hardly an hour later, while reading about Uncle Tupelo (see Bud Scoppa's piece in this issue--"Mainstream Americana"), I thought it interesting for a listener to experience so much different music in the course of an average evening. But there is was--Puccini visavis Mainstream Americana circa 1995. Professional musicians no doubt experience their fair share of these wonderful surprises, those magical moments when music lifts us in a new way. But we mortals have our share, we remember the discovery of music and we treasure the way first listenings stick with us. Several years ago, former Plimsoul turned folks singer/songwriter Pete Case and I were walking to our cars in a Hollywood parking lot following an interview. We were continuing a discussion and suddenly we became aware of some Latin

music that was coming from a tenement nearby. "Sounds good, doesn't it?" I asked. And to be honest, I was more impressed with the acoustics of the parking lot than anything else. "Oh, yeah," Case agreed. "Music sounds best sometimes when it surprises you. When you just don't expect it." Case was right and for the better part of a decade I have experienced those chance musical encounters with enthusiasm. It would be presumptuous to suggest that we would ever really surprise you in this department, but we will endeavor to give you a listener's rare treat: A view of the world of music from the industry that makes it happen, and all in the context of a magazine designed around an important aspect of your leisure lifestyle. Some feel that the best the music industry has to offer can be had for $15 at any record store, so we will try to keep it straightforward. With any luck, we can steer you toward any number of good selections. Later, in the discovery of new sounds that may follow, you might even catch a magical moment or two of your own. --Murdoch McBride, Music Editor