[Dixielandjazz] Jonathan Russell & Mississippi Rag

[Steve barbone]

Hi Leslie:

Enjoyed your "PS" on a post to the DJML (snipped below). Loved it and just
wanted to tell you that you are indeed a great writer, great businesswoman
and persevering in a very tough business. It is a largely thankless task. My
wife Martha works for a very similar publication in the Equine World. "Horse
of the Delaware Valley". Regional in the Mid Atlantic States, though they
have far more subscribers (25,000)

Best wishes for the future, and an admonition to the many on the DJML who do
not presently subscribe to Mississippi Rag. Dammit all, do so now.

Cheers,
Steve 


"P.S. I also saw Steve Barbone's note about non-coverage of Jonathan Russell
in a rather ancient posting. Steve, the RAG doesn't ignore suggestions...we
simply have to depend upon freelancers to write articles, and though we try
to follow up on suggestions, we aren't always able to find the right writers
to do the stories. The administrative staff of the RAG is 1-1/2 women, and
we definitely don't have money to send reporters out in the field. (As Don
Ingle noted in a follow up posting, we do pay freelancers a modest fee, all
we  can afford.) Quite frankly, many more people read the RAG than pay for
subscriptions, so though the RAG is well known worldwide, it's not well
funded,  a common problem with special interest publications. Our coverage
has never been based on who subscribes or advertises--we determine coverage
based on newsworthiness, space available, and availability of good writers
who will do  justice to the piece, and we devote a good share of the RAG to
free  listings to support musicians and jazz events. (Far more content  is
devoted to jazz of the present than to historical features, although the
latter are actually the most popular articles we run.)"

"Anyhow, this is a long-winded way of saying that we haven't forgotten about
Jonathan Russell--we just haven't found anyone to do the story and we have a
pile of other manuscripts that need to be published first. This isn't meant
to  be a plug for the RAG--I just felt a need to respond to criticism
regarding  our coverage (or non-coverage, in this case). That being said,
thanks to  those of you on this board who have been such loyal and
supportive subscribers (including Steve). You're wonderful!"