saucissedanseuse

How can one lose his job suddenly, with no warning, and in a cold way?

Sigh, here is how.

Yesterday I went to the All Music Magazine office, to get my daily dose of free cds (this time i received a cd by dream theatre with my name printed on the disc, which is cool, and the luxurious new dvd by Turbonegro, among other things...), and to have a usual chat with the head-writer. I am in very good terms with the head-writer, he's a great guy. So, since no one else was in the office, he told me to sit down cause he wanted to tell me something and wanted me to be one of the first people to know it. My heart raced a bit faster and i smiled cause, ahem, i was hoping he'd tell me that i was being promoted as full-time part of the staff, not just a "collaborator" to the magazine (even if i often wrote more articles than the staff!). So, i was there daydreaming, and he told me that the news now is semi-official (but definitive anyway): All Music Magazine is closing! I said: "AH!". What else could i say?
The best-selling music mag in italy, is closing with no warning, and why?
Cause the all-music logo has been bought by another editorial group (the filthy "L'espresso" brand) and they don't want a magazine anymore, they just want to go on with the All-Music tv channel (which in italy is more important and influential than MTV).
So, effective next week, the magazine is shutting down! No last words, no time to finish off the reviews, some huge features have been canned... the new issue coming out in June will already be the last!!!!!!! Talk about sudden death!

So, well, it's a sad day or me, All Music was giving me high-profile writing and was paying me a lot (not enough to be my only job, but enough to let me lead a decent living at least). Now i am back to basics, i still write for Metal Shock (the best-selling METAL mag in italy... which is cool, but still sells one/fifth of what All Music used to score), so i am not out of the music biz and i will still get free cds and stuff, but Metal Shock work does not pay and, well, i only get metal or punk cds, whereas with All Music i used to get more broad genres...

An era ends for me, so suddenly that i didn't have time to worry or be sad about it.
I'll see what the future holds for me. I hope i have enough talent to be noticed by some other well-paying magazine that anyway will allow me to keep my metal/hardcore/punk roots. Even if, who knows, maybe it's time for me to move onto meeting misses spears, lopez, aguilera, lavigne...?

Here's a pic i took with a few random issues of all magazine, in memorial:



(the one on top, regarding music & videogames, was my first - and looks like only, now - cover-main feature on all music, i was so proud of it, and then i wrote half of the stuff for the garbage main feature on antoher issue, and the interviews with good charlotte, system of a down, etc advertised on the cover of the other issues in the pic).

I will miss all music and the good relationship i had with the head-writer. Kudos to him, i wish him good luck, as i wish good luck to all the other writers (20 or so) who got dropped just like me.

Ciao.

p.