Caught in the Carousel

Letter from the Editor - February 2008

By Alex Green

We've done more than move the couch.

To celebrate our third year on this planet, CITC has made some dramatic changes to our design. Not only is our presentation cleaner, tighter, flashier and more functional than ever, we’ve got tons of new content.

Let me show you around:

**David Porter, our Editor-At-Large, got a chance to catch up with former Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie for our Consummate Top Ten. Mr. Currie’s chosen topic: Top Ten Glasgow Pubs. Justin’s descriptions of each establishment are literate, hilarious and altogether brilliant. They come across like Tom Waits writing a Lonely Planet book. And although Justin is busy promoting his first solo album What Is Love For, he sat down with CITC and answered a few questions we had about his career. David Porter’s ruminations on What Is Love For make for an excellent read and as usual, the piece is written with remarkable sensitivity and grace.

**We’ve got a new feature here at CITC and it’s called the Scouting Report. The purpose of this is to introduce you to artists that you’ve never heard of by discussing their work and then having them fill out our Scouting Report Questionnaire. The artists are not all unsigned—some have just signed a deal and are just getting started, while others have had records out for years but have somehow flown under the radar. To kick things off, this month we’re happy to introduce you to Armstrong. All the way from Wales, this band is a great find. Playing acoustic, pastoral pop that brings to mind Aztec Camera and The Pearlfishers, Armstrong are currently unsigned, but after one listen to their debut album, CITC is pretty sure that’s about to change.

**Ten new album reviews!!! That’s right—we got to work over the holidays and took deep and critical listens to new albums by Kula Shaker, They Might Be Giants, Ministry, The Coathangers, Pelle Carlberg, Saint Bernadette, Johnossi, Disco Not Disco (comp) and soundtracks from The 11th Hour and Atonement.

**We’re re-running our Consummate Top Ten with The Real Tuesday Weld and our comprehensive interview with Max Eider. The Real Tuesday Weld gave us four top ten lists and Mr. Eider gave us mountains of his time. We’re indebted to both of these artists and wanted to give you a chance to read them now that the holidays are over.

**A lot of you have written in and asked about our archives. From the Jasmine Minks to Rocco DeLuca, we’ve run some great Consummate Top Ten lists and interviews and now you can find all of that wonderful material in our archives.

**The CITC store is up an running and yes, you can still get the bears. Look out for more CITC goodies soon!

**If you have questions or comments for CITC, please don’t hesitate to write me: alex670@earthlink.net. Thank you to everyone who continues to support, visit, and link CITC.

**And lastly, none of this, and I mean NONE of this, would have been possible without Lyn Dunagan, who steered our little ship into rich and colorful waters. She’s ace, friends. Without her, all we would have been able to do is move the couch. And not very far.

Love and Rockets,
Alex Green
Editor, Caught In The Carousel
Alex670@earthlink.net