Too Kind

All the time people ask me, Are you still making that magazine? They mean Sideburn. I say yes. Then they ask how it's going. This is a tougher question. As Ben and I didn't have a business plan and my expectations were lower and hopes different to Ben's, it's actually doing better than I expected. About 10 issues better than expected. But it's a constant distraction from a day job I liked anyway. I could be earning more if I just concentrated on that.  But this was never about money (fortunately). We turn up at events and meet people we've 'met' through the internet. Like at Wheels and Waves and even the 65th anniversary of the Lambretta yesterday in Lincoln. I bumped into Rusty Li150 (who made our rings) in his Sideburn sweatshirt, Gareth who raced his Vespa at Dirt Quake, and, for the first time, met David from the Enjoy the Ride blog/Team S Equipe and Darrell, a Sideburn reader who'd had his helmet painted by Ornamental Conifer.

The side effects of Sideburn that are harder to explain on the spur of the moment are the occasional little presents and letters that turn up. Like a group of CDs from Kirk in California. He had listened to my appearances on the Killer Diller internet radio show and thought I'd like copies of some of his most bizarre records. He was dead right. He sent Bolivian and Chinese Go-Go; Folk and Pop Instrumentals from Pakistan (1966-76) and Indian Simla Beat (70-71). I love the music, but the best thing about the package are the hand drawn covers and tracklists had done by Jill Jordan.
Thanks Kirk and Jill. I love them.

Then Danny Clark in Texas sent me his fanzine Dang! It's a photocopied, bizarre, cut and paste art project with a Comstar on the cover. It's not for sale. It's of very limited appeal. It doesn't contain articles or even sentences. It's one person's time and effort put into something they really wanted to do, then posted out at their own expense, for no other reason than to share it. Wonderful. Thanks Danny.

So, yeah, we're not making much money, but Sideburn's going pretty well. thanks for asking. G