“Say uncle” definitely isn’t what we called it in my sporadically brutal schooldays. Back there it was “GIVE UP?!” in increasingly threatening tones, as the arm of the victim was twisted past the point of endurance, or their airways choked. But “ow, ow, ow okay okay” was all one had to say to tap out or surrender – not something as ceremonial as “uncle”.
I suspect that say uncle must have entered my verbal repertoire via the Teddy Lester books, or some other such British boy fiction, in which public schoolboy heroes of small stature stoically or heroically prevailed over larger, meaner adversaries, on the cricket field and off. Or maybe it was from the Cagney/Bogart strand of Saturday matinee, local movie-house life – the American version of the same thing.
I realize that what happens to The WholeNote is small (Canadian) potatoes given the extent to which “business as usual” (economically, ethically and emotionally) is at risk right now on a global scale. But those of you who do care are the ones most likely to be reading this. So I have a couple of requests.
First, please check out our proposed 2025/2026 publication schedule (page 6). It’s six issues like last season, but we think in a pattern that matches better the actual rhythms of the arts calendar year. We’ll be giving ourselves till mid-September to publish the first one (September and October), then stick to strictly bimonthly publication after that.
My second request arises from a phonecall from a reader just a couple of days ago, wanting to know where to find a print copy of the summer issue. From the tone of the call and the timbre of the voice I made an automatic assumption – that this was a reader who shuns all digital media for whatever reason, and would be at loss without timely comprehensive print. I took a phone number so I could call back with the information they needed, and then tentatively asked if they had an email address as well. There was a tiny pause, then the withering reply: “Of course I do. This is the 21st century, you know.”
So if that sounds like you, I stand corrected, and here’s what we would like you to consider. We publish a regular weekly listings update which goes out by email every Thursday, looking ten days ahead each time. Unlike the decades when we published monthly, a bimonthly cycle is just too long to keep up with the new listings that flow in on a constant basis, along with changes and corrections. You can sign up to receive the weekly update at thewholenote.com/newsletter so please give it a try.
We are not “crying uncle” when it comes to giving up on print. But print can’t become the tail that wags the dog; we are going to have to use it more wisely and economically than we have in the past – including having to cut back in print on the level of detail we have always prided ourselves on automatically including in our print event listings.
Each of our digital properties comes with things that print can’t replicate: (like this exact magazine in digital form with all kinds of links to follow; or Just Ask on our website which enables you to pinpoint the kinds of music you are interested in.
Please give it a try.
David Perlman can be reached at publisher@thewholenote.com.
