Every year around the time when voting in the Tucson Area Music Awards comes to an end, someone points out to me a rant that some musician has made online, in which he or she complains about the lack of attention that he or she has received from the Tucson Weekly.
These rants almost always have several things in common:
• They're contradictory. The musician whines that he or she has gotten the short shrift, and then claims that he or she does not care, while the very act of the complaint indicates that said musician does, in fact, care.
• The rants often make good points. Often (but not always), the ranter is correct about the lack of recognition from the Tucson Weekly, and often, the ranter is actually a musician of some importance who does indeed deserve coverage.
• Without fail, the musicians are making these complaints in some semi-public online forum, and not to someone who could do something about it—like, for instance, me.
Folks: We have never claimed to be perfect at Weekly World Central. We are human. We have limited resources and do the best we can with what we have.
All of this means that we're going to make mistakes on occasion; we will occasionally overlook worthy stories; and sometimes, even if a story is worthy and we know about it, we just won't get to it.
In any case, if you let us know about the mistake, overlook or omission, chances are, we'll do something about it. So, if you have a gripe, pick up the phone and call, or type up an email and hit "send." It's a lot more productive than an online rant. Really.
