The new issue of FSMOnline is out—I am very happy that Jon Kaplan and team have kept this going for nearly 20 years!
A thread at the FSM board reminded me that they (we) still do the “Record Label Round-Up.”
This blows my mind because I remember doing it in the 1990s. Back then I did it by phone, systematically calling up to a dozen labels see what they’d tell me.
This was, I imagine, one of the most popular parts of each new edition of FSM, because in the pre-Internet era it was how you’d get news of upcoming releases. I can imagine turning to it first when I got a new issue.
And it was fun for me to hear about something cool and look forward to sharing the news.
I have written about this before—not sure where—but the “old days” offered up more opportunities to meet people when you had to play “phone tag” (so annoying) and eventually connect and talk.
I would make (handwritten) notes and it was sometimes stressful trying to make sure I wrote everything done correctly. Having to run a correction later was time-consuming and embarrassing.
The calls were a chore, in some ways, but they could also be fun. You’d hear somebody else’s voice and get a chance to make a human connection, and it could lead to opportunities. Email is certainly more convenient but it’s just not the same.
I do remember sort of flirting (or whatever my 19-year-old nerd self thought was flirting) with a woman from Epic Soundtrax whose last name was Cohen I dimly remember. She sounded cool.
Don’t cancel me, man!