Thank You for Your Support in 2020: The Future is Near

Is it really that time again? 

It’s not very hard to look back on the year that has passed and want a stiff drink. The first (and only) trade show that I attended this year was the New York CanJam which took place right after Valentine’s Day. It was a cold and blustery Saturday morning in midtown Manhattan, and there were some ominous signs of things to come.

Due to travel restrictions, there were fewer exhibitors at the show, and there were a number of attendees already wearing masks. It was far too early to consider any “Best of…” lists and nobody imagined that it would be the last time that most of us would be together at a show.

The day ended with a late lunch at a local pub with some industry colleagues, and we disappeared into the cold as dusk fell across the city (which felt unusually quiet for a Saturday) with a promise to have lunch again soon as a group. 

That never happened. Nope. Hoping to be in the same city as these people again sometime in 2021. 

Fortunately, Adam Sohmer and I managed to find the time (with masks) to meet in Brooklyn twice for dumplings along the East River just to maintain some level of sanity and discuss the state of the industry, family, music, and pretend that things were normal. 

The past ten months have also afforded me the opportunity to discuss all things audio, and life with the pandemic with other industry colleagues like Peter Hoagland, Jaclyn Inglis, Jackie Smiley, Julia Lescarbeau, Wendy Knowles, and the incomparable Sue Toscano.

All of your clients were super lucky to have you working so hard on their behalf during this very challenging year. I hope they know that.

Thank you for being such good people as well. 

Even with all of the delays, supply chain interruptions, and time off dealing with COVID, I managed to produce almost 60 articles for 3 publications in 2020; the day job required a solid 40 hours each week of digital content creation and scientific copywriting. 

Thank you to all of the readers who took even 2 minutes out of their day to explore my thoughts. 

So where do we go in 2021?

Aside from our daily news coverage, we plan on publishing at least 2-3 reviews/features each week. We have some new writers joining the team to help broaden our appeal abroad. 

We’re also launching a brand new weekly YouTube program to bring you something informative and entertaining. The podcast version of each new program will be available to stream as well. 

Show coverage will also return later in the year – and don’t be surprised if we record a few broadcasts abroad – I will be broadcasting from Israel with Brian at least twice in 2021.

Wishing you all a safe and healthy New Year.

Ian White