Greetings
Letter from the Publishers
IMAGINE LOSING ONE’S CHILD.
That’s how the staff of Michael’s Entertainment Weekly felt when, on April 11, 1994, the announcement came down from above that the magazine would cease publication.
We all heartbroken by the decision, because we felt the magazine was finally starting to take shape, that it was starting to have an impact on the gay community—our community.
We bid our fond farewells to the previous publishers and, after licking our wounds for a minute or two, turned to one another and said, mimicking those grand old Judy Garland! Mickey Rooney musicals of the ’30s, ”Let’s put on a show!”
MW—or Metro Arts & Entertainment Weekly—was born. (We won’t be presumptuous enough to call ourselves a star yet, we realize we’re still in our infancy!)
At any rate, you’re looking at our very first performance right now. You’ll be looking at our second next Thursday, and our third, the Thursday after that. And so on and so forth. Frankly, we plan not to be taking any curtain calls for a very, very long time.
You’ll notice a few differences.
The most obvious is our decision to publish on newsprint. It’s based on several factors, not the least of which being that newsprint is easily recyclable. Yes, we know that some of the ink may rub off on your fingers—we’re working with our printer on ways to decrease rub-off—but we feel that a good read is worth an occasional trip to the bathroom to wash up.
You’ll also notice that we’ve given the format a pretty substantial makeover; even though you’ll find most of the columns you’ve come to live for each and every Thursday, it is a magazine. We’ll be tinkering with the format, getting it perfect, over the next few issues, so please be patient with us as we grow and develop.
Finally, we’re broadening our scope to include the WHOLE community. We want to explore all aspects of gay and lesbian life, although our focus will be still be entertainment, we’re not afraid to tackle serious issues.
Last but not least, a few acknowledgements are in order. We couldn’t be here in your today without the valiant efforts of our production/art staff, Mark Tucker and Richard von Zimmer. They put forth an effort that is best described as Herculean. Richard designed our swift new logo.
Thanks as well to contributing editor Sean Bugg, who was instrumental in contributing to our new look, and to Mark J. Schroeder, Paul Myatt, and several of our friends for their continued support.
Also, thanks to the advertisers, without whom we’d be just a concept.
Well, that’s about it. We’re racing a deadline here, so we’ll just say, if we’ve forgotten anybody… we’re sure you’ll let us hear about it.
[signed]
Randy Shulman
Marc Slyman
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