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Issue:February 1997 Year: 1997
this one

Letter to the Editor

I enjoyed Kevin Gibson's cover story on Chaz Rough in the January 1997 issue, and I'd be happy to contribute a buck to help put shoes on Chaz's feet. (Poor kid. I had no idea . . . .)

In your "Down On the Corner" column you mentioned the Courier-Journal's new Weekend Extra. After passing along a couple of news items from it, you said:

"We here at LMN must always applaud more coverage for live music, even if it is mostly a recycling of current stuff into a Friday paper. And to think, the reason that LMN got started in the first place was because of a comment by then-CJ/Louisville Times music columnist Ronni Lundy that Louisville needed a music newspaper following the demise of the Times and the loss of several pages of music coverage. Of course, here at LMN, we think that the reason for the change is in response to the size of Louisville Eccentric Observer's advertising clientele; Gannett no doubt wishes to put that money into their profit margin.

"Naw, they wouldn't try to do that, would they?"

Speaking for myself, Paul, I enjoy the new Weekend Extra and find it interesting and informative. I also found your item interesting, but not entirely accurate. Let me refresh your memory.

We introduced our first edition of LMN (April 1989) with a shared-byline article in which we stated:

"The inspiration for this paper comes from the work done on behalf of the Louisville Area Songwriters' Cooperative and with the realization that its newsletter -- the L.A.S.C. Letter -- had grown beyond both the scope of songwriting and the Cooperative's budget.

"Research, in the form of conversations with various people involved in different aspects of the business, led us to believe that a Louisville-area music newspaper was needed and would be welcomed. This is particularly true in light of the decreased coverage of local music provided by the major daily paper.

"With encouragement from Rocky Adcock at the Louisville Federation of Musicians, and others, plus the support of our respective spouses, the newspaper began to take shape."

Louisville Music News was indeed inspired by the popularity of the L.A.S.C. Letter, which this writer began as a postscript to the minutes of the L.A.S.C. meetings back in 1986 as a means by which to inform the membership about their fellow members' gigs and other personal items. It grew rapidly in size and popularity and became a separate newsletter. I have in my files a complete set of hard copies.

I clearly recall that when Lundy spoke at a meeting of the L.A.S.C. she did indeed suggest that someone should start a music newspaper. I also clearly recall that I reacted by vigorously nodding my head in agreement since it was something that we had already talked about doing; we wanted to cover more facets of the music business than songwriting.

Also, I subsequently received a phone call from Rocky Adcock, inquiring if we might be interested in publishing the local musicians' union newsletter, thereby saving money for the union and earning money for our songwriters' cooperative. As you were the president of the L.A.S.C. and were by that time helping with the burgeoning L.A.S.C. Letter, I discussed the idea with you. Rocky's inquiry also prompted us to invite other local organizations to publish their newsletters in our planned music newspaper.

In the first draft of your portion of our co-written April 1989 article you credited Adcock as the inspiration for LMN. Since that was not entirely correct, I suggested the revision that would become the final wording of the article, as quoted above. Certainly we recognized and appreciated the influence of Adcock, Lundy and others, although you had made no mention of Lundy per se at the time of our first edition.

I now feel that it is appropriate to let our readers know that "we here at Louisville Music News" does not represent this writer, especially in the area of gratuitous slams.

You are to be commended for your success in keeping the newspaper on the streets without interruption since my departure.

Jean Metcalfe

Crestwood, KY 40014

Does this mean I have to give up my Darrell Ray Elmore (Hard Times) impersonation?

Frivolity aside, all credit is due to Ms. Metcalfe for inventing and developing Louisville Music News. – Editor

When I voluntarily stepped down as editor effective May 1, 1996, you continued to publish LMN, as per your request. Unfortunately, you have not carried out an important part of our agreement, i.e., that we would have meetings at least monthly to plan future issues, since I would continue to co-publish and co-own the newspaper and therefore share responsibility for its content, especially in light of your years of declaring that you couldn't take on any more responsibilities than those you were already handling.

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