Happy September.
It's September! It's almost Fall, which means chilly weather, pumpkin spice scented candles, and Halloween candy. I'm excited for those Halloween Peeps - you know, the little pumpkin & ghost marshmallows that are covered in sugar. Love those.
We've been quiet over here this past summer, which is my fault. I've been busy with work and haven't had time for anything else. We also have a very small team, who each are all equally busy. It's hard to find drive to do a job that doesn't give you money in return, passion isn't enough, passion doesn't feed you. If this was, say, the 1970's, Wild Honey would be a small print magazine. I'd be able to pay the team members, and we'd therefore have more content. We'd probably run for a couple of years before fading out because it'd be too expensive to keep going - printing costs, travel costs, all too much. With Wild Honey being a online publication, the problems we face are time - not enough of it to create content (interviews, written articles, reviews, etc), different time zones & too much distance between us, and travel costs - press passes are a blessing, but for a bunch of 18-20-somethings, it's just not financially possible to travel all over the US & elsewhere for shows.
I would really love it if someday Wild Honey could reach it's full potential and do everything on-ground, you know, do the whole William Miller bit and tour with a band to write about the experience for a magazine. Do it how they used to do it with Rolling Stone interviews, go backstage, chat with the musicians face-to-face, get to know them intimately. But it's definitely miles harder to do today...and we have to address the big elephant in the room: covid. I started this magazine June 2020, wanting nothing more out of it than to write about music that I liked. And a year & some months later, I want more. I want more out of it, so selfishly. I want it to be firstly a print magazine, the website an afterthought. I want to make working in the music industry my career, I want to make money off of it, I want this to be the rest of my life. I want to tour with a band and write about them & my experiences for Wild Honey. I want Wild Honey to be something we can all look back at in the future and say, "Oh, I remember when that happened. I remember that tour, I love that album, they understand these songs like I do, I miss those days, I love these photos, I love this interview." With covid, I can't see this coming to fruition any time soon. I have no prospected time when covid will be over and it'll be completely safe for tours.
And...I've gotten a new job. I work around the elderly, and I've realized it's far too risky to attend any shows while at this job. I couldn't bear the guilt if I ended up hurting them because I wanted to go see a band. And many people in my life are immunocompromised. I'm unsure when I'll next get to some of the people I love the most without it being a risk, which has made my days fill up with an enormous loneliness and aching in my chest. I miss so many loved ones, and wish to be with them in person, but the distance is the safest bet right now.
Music is important to me, but not as important as the lives of others. I won't be attending any more shows in person for the foreseeable future, which hurts, but it's okay. I'll still be able to write about music, just from the safety behind my computer screen. The music will always be there for me.
If there's anything I can give to you that might help soften the days, it's quotes from Pamela Des Barres' book, I'm With The Band. In the book, she recounts her journey of becoming a "legendary groupie," starting from her teen years onto her early 20's. There's a sequel, Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart, of her years afterwards. I've read both books numerous times, going back to underline my favorite bits and writing in notes.
Some bits I love:
"All I know is that if my friends can make it, so can I."
"The hazards of loving these fools and the music they made were numerous and agonizing, and they didn't do too much for the budding ego either."
"...and I merged with their music like it was beating through my bloodstream."
"I dig musicians, I feel they have the most to offer me mentally and emotionally because they think basically along the same lines that I do; extremely creative people.'
"If only I could realize how full it is all the time, and never ever get bored...I'm so fortune to be blessed with the freedom I have; travel is at my doorstep, new places, new people, new adventures constantly. I want to reach out and learn from every person I meet; take their stories and intertwine them with my own so I can live MORE than my allotted years on this earth."
with love,
Cherri Cheetah
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