Date of Premiere Issue : 2003
Editor-in-Chief : Alan Light
Publisher : N/A
Dimensions : 8.125" x 10.75"
Frequency : N/A
Country of Origin : USA
Website : N/A
Statement
Blood on the Tracks. Bruce Springsteen's Tracks box set. Eighteen tapes. "Tracks of My Tears." And now, at last, TRAXCKS the magazine. A music magazine for real music fans - meaning fans of real music, looking for something other than what the ultrabrite pop outlets are hawking 24/7. Not just the flashy video, the hot remix, the flavor of the moment, but something more substanstial, the stuff we call "music built to last."
One fascinating thing you'll discover in this issue is the way that artists with extensive careers start to bounce off each other over time. Consider Sting, our very first cover subject. In addition to an account of the revealing conversations he and I had at his manor in rural England, he turns up throughout these pages: R.E.M's Peter Buck recalls opening for the Police at Shea Stadium two decades ago. Sting's live set All This Time appears on our list of the best music DVDs. The glorious Cassandra Wilson interprets his song "Fragile" on her new album. Chronicling the ways that music transcends categories and crosses borders lies at the very heart of our project.
In the words of Bob Dylan, we hope that everything in this issue - from the opening photo of Bruce Springsteen defying both age and gravity onstage to the closing essay by Ryan Adams vividly describing the fears that rocks stars usually keep hidden from their fans - comes "pouring off of every page/Like it was written in my soul." That line, of course, comes from "Tangled Upin Blue" - the opening song on (what else?) Blood on the Tracks.
Like my not quite one-year-old son, Adam, we have to crawl before we can walk, so the next issue of TRACKS won't be out until February 2004. But if this thing is really going to work, we need to hear from you. Please send all reactions, suggestions, mash notes, hate mail or care packages to 304 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, or email us at mail@tracksmusic.com.
It's been a long time coming, but we're finally out of the starting gate. Thanks to everyone who helped us get this far.
Now...hey, ho - let's go!
Alan Light
Editor-in-Chief