Went through my old stash of these rags last night (I have them all).
What a treasure trove of mando-centric stuff - tunes from the greats, picking exercises, record reviews, I even spotted letters from familiar names on this board. John M. wrote a regular column with tons of bop lines and tunes. John Baldry contributed many transcriptions of mandolin breaks and tunes.
If anyone is looking for off-the beaten-track stuff to energize their playing, I suggest getting some of these issues. They may be old, but they are worth it
Mike Bunting
Jun-03-2009, 1:25pm
I still have nearly all of them. Great stuff.
drewgrass
Jun-03-2009, 2:18pm
i love niles books. i own bgun and the chord and pentatonic book.i would buy these mags if i knew how to. i sent niles a pm. how can i get ahold of him to order some of these. do you just mail him a check
mandocrucian
Jun-04-2009, 9:09am
What a treasure trove of mando-centric stuff
I still have nearly all of them. Great stuff.
Thanks for the (rare) public endorsement. I get the impression that the Digest, like Voldemort, is a name not to be spoken.
I think the content of those issues is/was superior to the previous and post mando-rags. Instructional columns from the likes of Mike Doucet, McGann, Evan Marshall, Moloney, Judy Hyman, Radim, Tommy Comeaux, and others. Long, in-depth interviews focusing on actually playing and the mental processes of the player, rather than music scene gossip and artist product plugging superficialities.
The last few times I've run sales specials on these, the response has been really minimal.
I didn't get around to it in 2008, but financially and tax-wise it makes a lot more sense to just shred/burn the remaining MD copies and reduce the $ balance on my inventory. I'll probably do it this year - I'm just tired of fooling with it. Let all that stuff just evaporate into out-of-print oblivion*, never to be reprinted; I have no moral responsibility to keep this perpetually available as resource materials. *(Except for 1maybe 12 full sets which will be vacuum-sealed in plastic bags and put aside for 10 years or whenever they have become rare "collector's items" (with a corresponding "rarity" price on e-bay.)
For MD contents listings, etc., my catalog link is in the signature on at least half of my posts. See below.
Niles H.
The thrill is gone, the thrill has gone away.