This second issue of Planet Harmonica is released later than we would have liked. Technical problems, time constraints, thanks to many helping hands it is finally born today.

One of the main positive aspects is that more even than issue one, this issue has been a collaborative effort. Many people here in France and elsewhere have given us some input. Articles and contributions have come from the US, and even as far as Australia. We really hope that this trend continues !

A few changes in form as well, following your reaction to the first issue. Concert dates and Reader's mail dissappear, the reason being lack of content. You did write, but mainly to compliment and there seems to be little point in self-congratulation on our part ! Which doesn't mean we won't publish interesting letters. Don't stop writing !

And last, but not least, this issue pioneers an important resource section which will evolve but remain stable throughout the release of the successive issues. What do you get ? An FAQ, Links, Artist listings, an Album guide and much more...

The site costs us money in order to maintain a decent quality of hosting. In order to offset this cost we have affiliated Planet Harmonica to a number of web-based shops for music and books. We hope this will be useful to you and we ask you to purchase through us if you're gonna purchase anyway ! European sites we recommend are Alapage and amazon.co.uk, US-based is amazon.com. Of course the links are only there if the given product is available through that retailer.

One last thing. I want to wish all of you the best of New Year possible and I was going to comment on the great harmonica millenium ahead, but then I heard about Charlie Musselwhite's accident. He's currently recovering from a severe car crash, so I think we should all wish him the speediest of recoveries and a happy New Year. If you want to send him a more personal message, e-mail him here.

Happy New Year to you all,

Benoît Felten