Editorial Notes | January 2024

Greetings from the Dust & Grooves HQ.

The holiday season is over, and the world is again divided! 

Those still slumbering, gaining winter fat while tuning in to Kenny G, and those with ants in their pants, high on producing and filled with exciting possibilities.

Here, for lack of time and a hard deadline kicking our butts, we’re forced and excited to join the latter. 

Here are some updates from our editorial desk.

We’re setting the stage for a groove-packed August 2024, the proposed publication date for Dust & Grooves Volume 2. The clock is ticking, and our team is in overdrive, trying to squeeze in creativity and productivity to every second. 

Our intern-turned-rockstar, Kait Venneman, has stepped into the role of editorial assistant and contributing writer. She’s embarking on her maiden voyage, her first paid assignment for us, chronicling Eilon’s tales from our digging road trip to Brazil and weaving the story of Dust & Grooves for our upcoming website.

 

How do you photo edit a visual story? How do you narrow down over a thousand to best illustrate your story? You do it slowly and in stages. I’ve started editing our two-week-long epic Japan road trip, where I visited over 20 Jazz Kissas and vinyl bars, traveling over 2000 miles with the fantastic Japanese train network. Here is a quick screenshot of how my photo desktop looks at the moment. It will change and develop over time while trimming down my selections to reach a final tight edit for the book. It’s a fun but excruciating process. One trick I love to pull is to quickly browse through the initial rough edit of over 500 photos in a grid view and then quickly mark the images that caught my attention, no matter what it is, solely by instinct. This initial first step always turns out to be a good starting point, proving that I should trust my instincts. The further I go into the editing process, the more I get calculated and critical.

On the design front, we’re auditioning some talented book designers and would love to crowdsource this task with you all. Any favorite book designs you’ve come across lately? Send us a note and leave a comment; you know the drill. 

Our December mixtape has hit our Patreon page. Now, with the added bonus of offline downloads, it’s the perfect companion for your next remote digging adventure in the Congo, where 5G bars might be lacking. Check it out, and remember to tell your grandma about this free fountain of youth.

Behind the scenes, our editor extraordinaire Dave Ma, is deep in the trenches, meticulously refining our editorial copy, restructuring narratives, and ensuring our stories hit all the right notes. No place for errors, no inaccuracies—just storytelling at its finest.

We’re also hustling to keep this wonderful machine spinning, constantly looking for brand partnerships and sponsors. Got any brand ideas or any connections in high places? Know someone who knows someone? Send them our way. Your support keeps us in the groove. 

And we’re always looking for great new stories and excellent wordsmithing. If you’re passionate about vinyl and music history, join us in the Digging Our Own Crates column. We’re constantly on the lookout for talented writers.

Thanks for tuning in, and I wish you all a year filled with timeless tunes and vinyl discoveries.

Keep digging,

Eilon and the Dust & Grooves team