Posts filed under 'Magazines'
We know at least a few of you from Chicago read this board, so here’s a head’s up for you: Photographer Eric Futran, the guy behind the lens of our Specimen Guitars photo essay (Fall 2006 issue), our Old Town photo essay (Summer 2007) and our new photo essay on Paracho, Mexico (Spring 2008 issue), will have an art opening tomorrow night at the Old Town School of Folk’s Harris Gallery. The opening reception takes place between 7 and 9pm and copies of the new issue should be available for purchase and autographs. Go say hello to Eric and see (or buy) these gorgeous shots up close!
March 6th, 2008
FJ contributor Andy Volk alerted us to this great online find: “The University of Rochester has digitized and posted online its archive of public domain scores and music ephemera. Included are copies of the amazing S.S. Stewart’s Banjo and Guitar Journal from the 1890’s.”
Andy describes the rag as “The Fretboard Journal of a century ago” (which we’ll take as a compliment). For those who don’t know about the Banjo and Guitar Journal (original copies sometimes show up on eBay), the mag was published by the S.S. Stewart company, ostensibly to promote their instruments and network of dealers. But the writing is filled with fascinating (and sometimes just plain bizarre) commentary on the then-current state of music (when banjos and mandolins were more popular than guitars): how lazy music students can be, random notes about instructors who have moved or plan to sometime and now quaint editorials about gear and live performance trends. There’s also sheet music in each issue. At the risk of getting even more obscure in this posting, if any of you are fans of illustrator Chris Ware (and especially his self-published Ragtime Ephemeralist magazine), when you download these files, you’ll see the huge influence that magazines such as this have on his artwork. -JV
November 15th, 2007
The annual music issue of the Oxford American hit the newsstands a week or so ago, and it’s a good one. As you can see from the cover, the big story is about Sam Cooke, but there are also excellent stories about Big Star, Eartha Kitt, Sun Ra, Uncle Dave Macon, Townes Van Zandt and Richard Hell. (And I thought the FJ was eclectic!) As with their previous music issues, a CD is included. Actually, the Oxford American has started something of a trend for lit mags to put out special music issues. A few months ago, for example, the The Believer put out a music issue of their own. Maybe the FJ should respond by putting out an annual book of literary criticism or maybe a poetry chapbook. Seriously, though, you should check out the Oxford American. It’s one of the periodicals that inspired me and Jason to start our own magazine.-MJS
October 17th, 2006
This Slate.com article about the number of words in the English language mentions that some people refer to all-mahogany guitars as “hogs,” which is something I’d never heard before. You learn something new every day, and sometimes it’s something interesting.-MJS
April 11th, 2006
Do I really have to tell you what they picked?-MJS
March 31st, 2006
If you stay up late at night wondering if it’s better to use a Japanese JRC4558D op-amp chip or the Malaysian 4558 when modding an Ibanez TS9, then the Tone Quest Report is the magazine you have been waiting for. Along with answering hyper-geeky questions like that, they also review electric guitars and amps and really dig into the guts to find out how and why the instruments we all love sound the way they do. Their website reprints a few sample articles and interviews from the print magzine and has an active bulletin board where readers swap tone tips. They also have their own record label with releases from tonemeisters like Ronnie Earl and Jim Weider. -MJS
February 18th, 2006
We know at least a few of you from Chicago read this board, so here’s a head’s up for you: Photographer Eric Futran, the guy behind the lens of our Specimen Guitars photo essay (Fall 2006 issue), our Old Town photo essay (Summer 2007) and our new photo essay on Paracho, Mexico (Spring 2008 issue), will have an art opening tomorrow night at the Old Town School of Folk’s Harris Gallery. The opening reception takes place between 7 and 9pm and copies of the new issue should be available for purchase and autographs. Go say hello to Eric and see (or buy) these gorgeous shots up close!
