Whatever

Andrew Smith writes some stuff and you read it. Pretty clever mind control, huh?

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. Sometimes we wish it would, but we're pretty sure that we'd be bored if it did, so we should just shut up and let the music do the talking. Less talk! More rock! That's our motto! Well, it isn't really, but it could be.

So, what have we been up to? Back in 1996, we got cocky and made some big, bold, sweeping predictions about when the world would end and who would still be sucking up air when it happened and we called it the Good Citizen Progress Report. Actually, the Progress Report was our way of highlighting some of the bands and performers from Vermont who we thought were making big waves and making big progress in our mission to take Vermont music to the masses. Good Citizen #5, the Winter/Spring 1996 issue, displayed twelve bands who we wanted to recognize for all their hard work, and who we predicted would be very influential in the Vermont's musical future.

Rome wasn't built in a day, or something like that, and two years later we're back to pick on another group of bands and make their lives a living hell by writing about them in Good Citizen. We think that some serious progress has been made, and we hope you'll agree that this year's crop of bands are making us all proud and spreading the good word about Vermont music. We hope that this isn't the only reward they get and we hope that you'll check these bands out and see why we think they're super cool. They are, you know, and we hope you agree.

The timing of the Second Bi-Annual Progress Report is not coincidental to this issue. We thought that the rebirth of the Burlington Music Conference was a great time to reevaluate our predictions from 1996 and promote the future growth of bands that seem to be teetering on the verge. This year's BMC '98 promises to be bigger and better than ever before, and the inclusion of bands from New England, New York and Quebec has made this year's line-up a pretty amazing group of performers. And for that very same reason, the BMC '98 has swelled in importance. People in the industry are starting to talk about Burlington and good things are starting to happen. We knew it would take time, and it did, but the incredible wealth of music we generate here in Vermont could not be ignored forever. We take it for granted, but try to find a music scene like ours in ANY other city of our size ANYWHERE. You can't. Trust me. Burlington is very special. As if you didn't already know that.

What else? Oh yeah, in our never-ending quest to support our friends who selflessly promote the music scene from off the stage, in this issue we will introduce you to our favorite photographer Matthew Thorsen. In addition to his work for Seven Days and Good Citizen, Matt's pictures have graced album covers, posters, internet sites and even the Boston Phoenix. We thought that it was about time we told you about the man behind the camera. That's him and his Dad in the picture, if you didn't figure it out already.

What else? Oh yeah, Chris Parizo gets to know super-producer Glen Robinson. Glen is a Canadian who has produced some of Vermont's finest albums and bands like Wide Wail, Non Compos Mentis, Envy, Five Seconds Expired (and even my own band Chin Ho!) attest to Glen's prowess behind the boards. He's also very tall. Too know him is to love him, so go for it.

Also, our friend Max Owre gives us the inside dirt on the newest club on the scene, Winooski's Higher Ground and we pick some of our favorite scheduled shows at this years BMC. We hope to see you there.

Another action packed issue of Good Citizen. Hope you like it, and if you don't, start your own damned 'zine, will ya?

Be a Good Citizen,

Andrew Smith