They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but January, boasting a global opening-night party, typically barges in like a dancing bear and—after 31 cheerless days of unfulfi lled resolutions—slinks out like a slug. This year January is a month of new beginnings and promise for Americans, for American music and for Elmore. While the nation welcomes a new president and looks ahead to meeting our worldwide diplomatic and economic challenges, right here at Elmore Central, we’re pushing forward as well. We’ve added columns and columnists, redesigned, rescheduled and recommitted for a 2009 Elmore that will outshine anything seen in 2008.

During these tough and uncertain economic times, it behooves us all to pull together and support what’s really important. Music, for example. Supporting music builds the classic win-win situation. If you need to stretch a dollar (and who doesn’t?), go to a festival. Some are free, some will set you back $50, but you’ll receive 12 hours’ (sometimes two or three days’) worth of entertainment to lift and enrich the spirit, and memories to last a lifetime. Chances are you’ll never have the opportunity to see those performers in one spot again, and even better chances are that you’ll discover a new act you’ll want to see again. From the other side, artists earn a living, the local community benefits and people talk about the music.

Please try to support artists directly, especially independent artists, by actually buying CDs. At $10, between the CD and the liner notes (read them!), your purchase supplies musicians with two life-supporting commodities: money and hope, both of which can be in short supply among artists in any medium. In return you’ll have music to take with you, both literally and spiritually, even if you never leave your living room, and you’ve just bought yourself a ticket into a wider community, an important community of participants, of people who make things happen.

From our own perspective, magazines like Elmore deliver bargains not found elsewhere. For under $5 an issue—or a subscription of $18 for six issues—you can find hours of entertainment and intelligent information with which to wow anyone who doesn’t “get it.” Once read, go back to it and reference something you’ve forgotten, tear out a page and show it to your kids, or your mom. Take Elmore to the beach, to the bathroom, on a plane or train, in a car or tent; keep the rain off your head or the sun off your face, and when it’s too dog-eared to reread or pass on to a friend, line your parakeet’s cage and pick up after the dog. It’s biodegradable. Contrast that to a $10 movie ticket, which buys a one-time 90 to 108 minutes of fun, boredom or confusion, depending on the film.

What to do in 2009? At Elmore, we believe that life improves with the presence of music. Hear it, see it, feel the bass in your chest and the tingle down your spine. Talk about it with friends and strangers, and work off holiday calories dancing. In short, do something this year. Then relive great experiences and discover new ones on the pages of Elmore, saving American music. —Suzanne Cadgene