Mary C. & Option subscriptions

[katefans@world.std.com (Chris'n'Vickie of Kansas City)]

   Neil Calton writes:

> The next Mary Coghlan album (out later this month) will be called
> Uncertain Pleasures. Mary has had a relative surge of TV appearances
> recently - appearing twice on Channel 4 last week.

My heart! It beats fast! Have you been taping these appearences perchance?
We have access to a PAL machine and our projector (a Sony 2020Q) will
take all formats. So wattaya want? First-born male child? No, can't have
him. How about life-long love, gratitude, undying and eternal devotion
and lots of mental hugs'n'kisses? 

> What is this magazine called Option - is it a pop mag? Is it available
> outside the US, anyone?
-
Option is a very interesting bi-monthly music magazine that publishes
out of Los Angeles. It's subtitled "Music Alternatives" and the one with
Kate on the cover is their 5th Anniversary issue. It's grown a lot since
the beginning, when they looked like a very nicely put-together fanzine,
to now, they look like a real magazine, slick paper and all. In the front
of Kate's issue is a letter from the publisher, Scott Becker, and he says
that they only have three full-time employees. Amazing! Option packs more
music information in one issue than Rolling Stone does in 5 years, yet I
bet RS has dozens of employees! They review CDs, LPs and cassettes, many
of which were sent in by readers. Long-time Kate fan Douglas Bregger sent
a tape of his to them and they reviewed it! They review very little
"mainstream" music. As a matter of fact, people like Kate and Ian Mcwhatever
are about as mainstream as they get. I think they solicit reviews from
readers because all the reviews are signed and there are lots of different
people reviewing. (They're not always right. Anyone who reads Option cover
to cover like I do, don't pay any attention to that review of Mary Kelley.
It's a great EP and I like it a lot!)

It's available for subscription outside of America but it's expensive.
Here's the subscription information:

$15.00 for six issues-USA
$28.00 for twelve issues-USA
$21.00 for six issues-Canada
$30.00 for six issues-Europe & S. America (air-mailed)
$36.00 for six issues-Australia, Asia & Africa (air-mailed)

Make checks payable to: Sonic Options Network
                        2345 Westwood Blvd.
                        Suite #2
                        Los Angeles, CA 90064

If you subscribe right away you will most likely get the Kate issue. You
should specify that that's the one you want though, just in case the next
issue comes out before they process your order.
Kate's is Mar/Apr 1990 (No. 31)

It really is a great magazine. Reviews, features, spotlights on specific
artists, music news, interviews, articles on things like Independent
Record labels-all sorts of really interesting stuff.

Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris)
katefans@world.std.com