It doesn’t seem like five full years since the first issue of The Syncopated Times began appearing in our mailboxes. Since the February 2016 issue, Andy Senior has nearly singlehandedly recruited writers, wrote articles himself, solicited subscribers and advertisers, gathered copy, laid out the monthly 40 page publication, dealt with printers and the ever challenging US Postal Service, kept up with renewals, and wrestled with the constant paperwork required of a small business. All that multiplied by sixty is a formidably impressive accomplishment.
Recently Glenn Robison remarked proudly that he had an original subscription and I know many others who have all sixty issues. Many of us who have followed Andy’s endeavor from the beginning equate his publication with the earlier Mississippi Rag that Leslie Johnson so capably published. Both have existed through the nearly singular effort and talent of one individual.
Last year at this time I wrote of my impressions of TST and now that Andy has achieved a traditionally significant anniversary, I would like to make a request of his readers, advertisers, and writers.
SEND ANDY A CONGRATULATORY NOTE
If you will, forward a short note of congratulations to Andy, I will select as space allows and help create a felicitations collection for the next issue. Please keep your notes brief and somewhere between the post-adolescent sludge of a senior high school yearbook comment and the pontification of a US Congressional proclamation. Send them to me at lcmelton67@gmail.com, and please put “TST 5TH” on the subject line.
Be sure to include your name as you want it to appear. It is not always discernable from email addresses. I’ll arrange the notes, so they appear in the February issue. And, I also don’t want to neglect Joe Bebco’s great work on the TST website and digital paper the past two years. His technical ability is obvious from the quality of his work and both men have both a wide knowledge of the music genera on which they report and a genuine passion for the music.
And finally, as this issue marks the beginning of a new calendar year, it is time to wish everyone a happy, healthful, and fulfilling year ahead. My personal wish for the New Year is that it will be vastly better for all of us and that we will not only appreciate our own blessings more than ever, but that we will go out of our way to help bless the lives of others by keeping the music alive and more vital than ever. Many of the talented musicians, composers, and audience members who are served and informed by this publication have been hit especially hard. May 2021 be a far better year for everyone.
