I thank you very much for the copy of OffBeat you sent. I was formerly a Wavelength subscriber and I appreciate highly that there is another magazine covering so well the musical scene in Louisiana (I wrote a book, in French, on Cajun and zydeco music and I have been in Louisiana seven times so far, exploring the Cajun land and New Orleans). I’ll visit you next time I am in New Orleans. I wish to get a subscription to OffBeat. I also wish to get as many back issues as possible.

—Robert Sacre, Liege, Belgium

First of all please accept my sincerest greetings by music fans from Czech Republic. My name is Bohuslav Budina and I am 42-years-old. I have been interested in blues for twenty years. I am a blues collector and also one of the producers of the “Nonstop Blues” Festival for our Czech blues scene. I also enjoy folk music very much.

Me and some of my friends have been preparing shows in our local club for young people—besides blues, also rock and folk. These performances consist first of all of information about the group or music. The purpose of these performances is to make the audience acquainted with the music evolution and the main personalities of that music. After performances about blues before and after the second World War, about the white blues of the ’60s in England and America, and other performances such as “The Giants of the Delta,” “Tennessee Blues,” “East Coast States,” “Texas Blues,” “Slide Guitar Players,” “The Chicago Giants,” I would like the next ones to be “New Orleans and Louisiana Music,” consisting of several parts this year.

I turn to you with a great wish, if you wanted to help music in this country—if possible, provide us with a copy of OffBeat. That could be very important for preparing the mentioned performances. A little help from abroad is unfortunately the only hope for our enthusiasm. We thank you in advance for your help. These performances, with your help, could be one of the propagators of music from around the world in this country.

—Bohuslav Budina, Most, Czechoslovakia

Far be it from us to stand in the way of the musical education of Czechoslovakia—your copy is on its way. And we’ll send a copy of our Louisiana Music Directory when the new edition is completed by the end of July.