The Remaking of
Common Ground, Part 2
It is with great pleasure that we present our June issue, themed “Music by the Bay,” our second as an independently produced local magazine. In the event you missed the May news, our magazine has gone through a major change since the previous owners decided to cease publishing after the April issue. While a new business model needed to be built from scratch, our first challenge had been to maintain continuity of the publication. This important milestone was achieved when the delivery truck bearing nine huge pallets of our May issue rolled into San Francisco on May 1, right on time. Many heartfelt compliments were received. Thank you.
This music issue is chock-full of great stuff, beginning with a roundup of innovative (and green) music festivals occurring in Northern California, as well as insights into influential music trends being shaped locally. Musically speaking, the Bay Area is bristling with creativity. For example, we’re ground zero for innovation in the kirtan (devotional chanting) scene, which is largely borne out of our unique yoga community. But we’re also home to a muscular Latin music scene that may get overlooked by some of our regular readers.
With so much going on musically in the Bay Area, I sometimes found myself daydreaming about how much fun it would be to dedicate 100 percent of every issue to this near and dear subject. That’s not our man date, but we’ll cover music more as we go. In this issue we chronicled the Dead’s reunion show at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on the footsteps of last month’s essay on Leonard Cohen’s “Concert for the Ages” in Oakland.
In a different vein, we’re proud to have SF-based global sound visionary Alex Theory contributing a thoughtful piece titled “You Are What You Hear.” Rusty Wells, one of the bay’s most popular yoga instructors, wrote this month’s Yogapedia entry on the subject of nada yoga — the yoga of sound.
Lloyd Barde joins us as music editor, bringing vast experience that includes having written over 3,500 album reviews. Lloyd contributed an article about the current state of the music business. Prajna Vieira, lead singer of an up-and-coming ensemble called Mukti, wrote a heartfelt piece about the unheralded musical side of Amma, the tireless humanitarian known as the “Hugging Saint.” Though said to sleep but a couple hours a day, Amma still manages to sing her heart out to a large gathering for an hour and a half every night. And we thought we were burning the midnight oil!
As ever, we’re honored to be able to contribute to the diet of media consumption in our precious Bay Area. Spread the word! For our friends outside our print distribution area (the Greater Bay Area), we’re reach able on the web as a webzine. Check us out at commongroundmag.com, where you’ll discover a cool, downloadable version of our publication. While flipping the pages via your browser, you’ll find the web links click able, even on the advertisements.
Thank you for supporting Common Ground. Remember to patronize
our advertisers; they have excellent offerings and make it all possible.
See you for the July/August “Summer Issue.”
Many blessings,
ROB SIDON, PUBLISHER