LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
LETTER T
hese are indeed strange and turbulent times. In the last issue, we recounted all the shiny new things we saw at Winter NAMM and could barely contain our excitement at the prospect of getting our grubby little mitts on all the new gear to review in the weeks and months ahead. Then the world came to a stop. Now those shiny things at NAMM seem like a distant memory. And I think how lucky we all were, the tens of thousands of us walking those convention center floors, that the virus that’s taken away our normal lives didn’t hit our shores any earlier. How different the industry would look if it had.
from the editor
Of course, that’s not to say the industry hasn’t already undergone a seismic shift in the past few weeks. As most of you are well aware, since your tours and recording sessions have been cancelled, we’re all trying to make sense of our new normal, including Performer. Our governor here in the State of Massachusetts has ordered us to stay at home, which means navigating the dayto-day operations of the magazine from my home office and finding myself in the new position of homeschool teacher to my two young kids. The festivals are all cancelled for the foreseeable future. Many new product launches have been delayed, and a number of manufacturing facilities shut
down for the time being. Summer NAMM was just cancelled. Then we got the news that the virus had taken John Prine. And then there’s the constant updates on the unemployment numbers, and the stock market, the death toll… And you could sit there and wallow in it. Because it is bad. And it’s OK to feel bad about the situation. And it’s OK to be angry and even annoyed at the trivial things we’re missing out on. Of course, I recommend you watch John Oliver’s take on just how angry and annoyed we should allow ourselves to be. If nothing else, it might give you a muchneeded laugh. I know it sucks. Many of our careers have been upended. Sports are cancelled. Movie theaters are closed. We’re all doing our best to practice safe social distancing when all many of us want is to be close again. A routine trip to the grocery store now feels like something out of The Stand. And yet, even though things are looking grim, I’m reminded of what Mr. Rogers used to say to me when I was a small child, when I had a hard time making sense of turbulence in the world. “Look for the helpers,” he’d say. Even in the most tragic of circumstances, you’ll find the helpers. And the helpers are here. We see them every day. The medical professionals who work tirelessly to ensure public safety and enter a war zone every day to combat this pandemic. The first responders and others who are on the frontlines, doing everything within their powers (even with limited and sometimes non-existent resources) to save lives. And in our own little way, the music community has its own helpers. Those who are out there, doing what they can to assist their fellow artists financially – especially those who are losing their sources of income with all that’s going on. I’m proud to call Kristen Ford a friend of the magazine. I remember meeting her for the first
4 APRIL/MAY 2020 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
