It's one of those nights. It is 4:15 a.m. and I can't sleep. You know how it is: I'm tired, but my mind is racing and I can't fall asleep. So, what the hell? It's a perfect time to write this month's missive.
It will be early to mid-January by the time you read this, but I am writing it a few days before Christmas. As we begin 2006 with this issue, I find myself looking back on the past year. Most of us do that and, like most of you, some years bring a sense of opportunity lost and others of accomplishment, some of sorrow and some of great joy. As I look back over the last 12 months, I am struck with a profound sense of gratitude. It has been a year of growth, both personally and professionally, and a year of many changes. To start out, thanks to my family. My wife and daughter put up with a lot, and the pressure of putting out a monthly magazine, doing production gigs, playing out with the band from time to time and doing some freelance writing here and there can make things tough on the home front, but they have never been anything less than supportive. I realize just how blessed I am to be able to say that, 'cuz not many people can.
Thanks to Terry Lowe and the crew at Timeless Communications (the parent company of FOH, as well as Projection, Lights & Staging News and the Event Production Directory). I can be pretty demanding when it comes to maintaining the quality of our publications, and my colleagues are most often on the end that's taking the demands, not making them. A couple of years ago, after a particularly loud rant over some glitch in the production process, my friends in the art department made up a fake cover of FOH with my picture in one of the news stories and the headline "Ass-munch Editor Yells at Employees." I think they thought I would be pissed about it, but it hung on the wall beside my desk for a couple of years and would be here today if I could figure out what box it is packed in. To Terry, thanks for the opportunity to lead a publication that puts people ahead of gear and works hard to maintain a reasonable balance between editorial integrity and business reality. Like any business, we exist to make a profit, but every time there has been a direct conflict between the interests of an advertiser and the FOH readership, Terry has come down on the side of the readers. I have been in the publishing business a long time and can tell you that is often not the case. He has worked like a fiend to ensure that FOH has the tightest and most qualified circulation in the industry and to make people understand why our message is important.
Another big tip of the hat to Peggy Blaze, our national sales manager, who brings in the money that makes it possible to publish. I have always referred to my ad sales people as "ad weasels," but Peggy exhibits no weasely tendencies, so I will have to come up with another moniker. Besides, with a degree in journalism, she helps keep us ink-stained wretches honest.
On the editorial side, I have been lucky enough to have not just one, but two really good associate editors at my side. Stephanie Fletcher was with us through mid-year before taking off for grad school in New York, and Allison Rost has done an excellent job of replacing her. Neither of these people had any background at all in live event audio, but they have educated themselves, and I can count on Allison to catch my mistakes.
I also have a great crew of freelance writers who would be perfect if they would just hit their damn deadlines. Seriously, without listing names ('cuz I know I will leave someone out), a blanket thanks goes out to the entire group for keeping the content of FOH current, dependable and relevant to working audio and production pros.
Thanks to the production department for making sure you readers actually have a magazine to hold in your hand (or lay on the bathroom floor…) each month, and to our administrative support, William Vanyo and Nancy Lopez, who go above and beyond the call so often that we are no longer really sure what the limits of their job descriptions actually consist of.
There is a large group of friends and supporters both in the industry and out of it who have seen me through some major life changes this year, and I thank them all for being there when they were needed, even if that meant getting a call at midnight. Life today is infinitely better than it was a year ago, and these folks deserve a lot of that credit.
Those of you who don't do the God thing can skip this next sentence, but I also need to thank that power greater than myself for putting up the dominoes that have fallen so neatly into place in 2005. From moving my family to growing the magazine, it has been a challenge and a joy, and I look forward to bigger and better challenges in the coming year.
I am taking the time and space to do this because in the daily nuttiness that is the publishing business, it is easy to forget to thank people and give props for a job well done. Ditto with the world of live event production. Like any business (actually, more so than most), audio providers are dependent on good people, not just state-of-the-art gear. Make sure your people know that their work and contributions are appreciated. This year, I will try to remember that a simple "thank you" can be a big thing. I hope you will join me.
