Working on this issue of Purr has been very interesting. I have meet so many wonderful people. It's really been a total joy working with them. I want to especially thank Just Plain Folks, it was because of them I meet most the people I have. I also want to especially thank Gary Gold, Shefik, and JT Brown for all their help and support. They are great people to work with!

I am a member of Just Plain Folks and I receive their newsletter. I have also been reading some of the things that Brian Austin Whitney (the founder) says to encouragement to new musicians. I hope they are all listening! He gives very good advice. Actually, I think his advice would benefit anyone! If you are in the music industry or trying to get into the industry or if you would like to help in anyway, it is the place to do it. Them members range from Grammy winners to those just starting their musical journey.

I have always felt music is nothing more then literature put to music, and both just as much an art form as a painting or sculpture. It all works on the same idea. It all starts as an idea and transforms into an end result, a piece of art. I find it so exciting to be able to enjoy the end result of someone's talent. It does not matter if it is a written word, a musical note, a performance an actor gives, a sculpture or painting, it is the excitement of seeing the talent. To read, hear, or see something that is full of heart and soul and the feeling of an instant sense of the person's talent.

I love the Internet, I think I have said that many times before. I guess I keep saying it because some many people are still afraid of it, or think it's bad. It's a tool, a great tool like any thing else it can be used for good or bad. It's up to the user to decide. It just opens up a whole new world to people. I feel it is as great as the discovery of the wheel. You are not longer limited to things in your immediate area. Your experiences in life are no longer limited to your ability to travel, or as far as that goes, to even leave the house. Which for the someone disabled, they must appreciate the Internet even more then I do. The Internet is changing so many things in our lives right now.

The Internet is one of the greatest boost to the arts of all forms. It brings the arts into all our homes. It's also the great tool for arts. They are no longer limited to what a 'real' world critic would say. Artists are not limited on a few people decide as to if they are good enough to be....noted in the world of art. It is the beginning of a time where the individual person's likes and dislikes will actually have more influence over what becomes popular. It's also give those who would be not normally share their art with the world the courage to expose their work. Work that we as a world might not have had the chance to see because they were too afraid of the possible rejection.

Musicians are finding it a grand new world also. They can now set up a site, have their music heard and even sell their music. Even bands that are signed with a record company get a boost from the Internet. While surfing the web within the record company areas I've discovered CD's that are great! I think I tend to be like most people, I buy CD's I know will be good. I really hate buying a CD and getting it home and end up hating it. Sure, there are some stores you can listen to samples before you buy them but I tend to spend as little time as possible in the stores. They are dangerous enough to my wallet as it is!

The Internet has also allowed me to meet Al Aronowitz who is the Blacklisted Journalist. His work is awesome! You must take the time to read the columns on his web page. If you love music, reading his columns is like being there watching it all form into shape. Be forewarned, you will find yourself so absorbed in his work that you will look at a clock in shock as to how long you had been reading.

It still boggles my mind he ever got blacklisted and that he still can not get published in the 'real' world in this day and age. I mean, over the years we seem to have one scandal after another in all forms of public figures and it hardly effects them. If it does even then it is short lived. . I do not know the details of the why he was blacklisted and it really does not matter to me. His work is true art and historical. I personally feel privileged to be able to read what he has done over the years!

As I've said, it has been interesting and I've loved every minute of it!

A special thanks to all of you!.

--Lynn Beck 
LBeckWorld homepages