What The Editor Has To Say
 THE BIGGEST HAPPENING in Bluegrass since the Extavaganza
at the Barbican Centre, London, 11th April was the move of Edale to Nottingham
(Nottingdale?) so you won’t be surprised to find coverage within. Though
it wasn’t a NW event directly, several NW bands played! I had hoped
not to have to write a report but rather to have one along the lines of the
Barbican one (May 1998) with several
people sending comments. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a sufficiently
balanced set of reports... In Bluegrass circles there seems to be a tradition
of “Glorify the good and sweep the bad under the carpet” and I
for one think that is unhealthy and bad for improvement. Some people might
not be happy with an honest objective, critical report - any comments should
be sent in writing. Let’s have an open forum!LAST ISSUE I MENTIONED we’ve had an article re-printed in a California Bluegrass Association magazine. The same mag has now reprinted Jean’s article on Tony Furtado (NWBN, March 1998) but it doesn’t end there. Phill Morley is reprinting Bryan Chalker’s J.D.Crowe interview in the August edition of his quarterly mag The Banjo Gazette and the French Bluegrass Association is reprinting the J.D. interview, Eric Kwiatkowski’s Charlie Waller interview and Jean’s Nashville Bluegrass Band workshop report - all in French! All the reprinted articles give due credit to our mag, the NWBN, so that’s very gratifying and a boost to the authors - it’s quite something to have an article re-published by these senior Journals. WE DON’T GET A LOT of feedback on Tab and contributors ask me “Is it worth doing them?” But we do get some and sponsor Dr. Paul writes “I particularly enjoyed Dave Cotton’s tab of Aura Lee in the May issue” - any other comments appreciated! I GET A LOT OF COMMENTS about how interesting NWBN is. If it is, I think it’s because of the wide-ranging and varied content, including a Letters Page. But then I get some (verbal) comments complaining about the waste of a page on “gloryfication” letters. There aren’t any this issue because none came, but be sure they aren’t published for glory. They might start out that way, but there’s always a message in there. Writing long articles, getting them refereed, re-writing, etc., is very time consuming and very hard work - if people like the article why not let the author know? And why not do it publicly? Also, I feel it might be interesting and revealing to some readers to learn how the NWBN is appreciated both at home and abroad and how widely read it is. Also about the success of our Internet site - we’ve had over 7,000 ‘hits’. Or should I say your internet site - you pay for it! I’LL PROBABLY BE stopping bricks for including the report on the Graves Mountain Festival, but I thought that, like me, many will find it interesting to see what can be had at a USA festival. This one certainly was good value. How is it done? They must have a large number of satisfied customers, each paying little money. Thanks to those who sent large, lightweight envelopes following my appeal last time. But we’re still short, so save up your old ones and pass them on when we meet!
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