This is my 22nd issue of editing Copper. 22 issues of fun, hard work, passion, power outages, a moment of panic or two and many other feelings. Deadline pressure and occasional writer’s block aside, I think I speak for all of us when I say we love doing this.
So what’s the occasion for marking my 22nd issue? Well, I forgot that Issue 117 was my 20th anniversary, duhh! And number 22 is double deuce, and “The Deuce” was my nickname in college (and still is to some long-time friends). In college a bunch of us played cards. As any card player knows it’s usually advantageous to pull a high card like an ace, king and so on. But I would usually draw a deuce whenever I needed a good card. To the point where my frequency of pulling a deuce went far beyond the laws of chance. Way beyond. Seriously. After a while, when I pulled a deuce everyone at the table would exclaim, “The Deuce!” in astonishment. The name stuck.
Our group has been playing for more than four decades. So the number 22 has meaning to me and also a kind of symmetry, don’t you think?
In this issue: Anne E. Johnson digs The Incredible Jimmy Smith and finds true purpose in the music of Patty Griffin. J.I. Agnew interviews acoustic design consultant Philip Newell, who worked for Virgin Records among many others. Rich Isaacs gets into record collecting, while Rudy Radelic offers an alternative opinion on Record Store Day. Wayne Robins plays on Themes From a Summer Piece. Things get too hot to handle in “Confessions of a Setup Man, Part Eight.”
Tom Methans rocks out with Motörhead! Ken Sander and singer/actor Carl Anderson take us to the Forty Thieves Club in Bermuda. Roy Hall visits Israel, and it’s no ordinary journey. Tom Gibbs reviews new releases and re-issues from Walter Trout, Angel Olsen, Elliott Smith and The Allman Betts Band. John Seetoo continues his series on unusual artist collaborations and cameos, and his interview with Quilter Amps/QSC Audio founder Pat Quilter. Ray Chelstowski ponders when Dire Straits made a Springsteen record. Our A/V department rounds out the issue with a groovy girl, a disappearing act and a Chicago get-together.
