Barbara
Oct-21-2007, 11:49 GMT
USA - United Staates America
 | Hello to all ex-PSAS members and anyone else who is interested!
It was a shock to find this thread. And it appears to be over a year Old as Wayne says he will be going to see Paul in Dublin later in the year, so I´m assuming it´s from 2006. I´d looked at the ´site before, but never at the messageboard.
It felt very scary to see all my personal information all over the internet, but also quite gratifying that ex-members remembered the PSAS so fondly. This is particularly so because, after it ended, I felt very strongly that we had let members down.
Why did it end? Yes, it was down to the changes in my personal circumstances but, also, for different reasons, Sheila was unable to continue either. But really, it was just the sheer logistics and (im)practicalities.
It all seems so archaic now. Our header was letrasetted, the content was typed on typewriters, more or less 50 / 50 by Sheila and me, and then everything was photocopied, including photographs, so they were only ever in b/w. We advertised in music papers, and our ´database´ of members was a typed list of names and addresses which were photocopied each mailshot onto sticky address labels. Then, the physical sticking on of stamps to all those different places - our membership was about 75% UK, about 20% Europe, and about 5% everywhere else, from the US, thru´ Israel and Malaysia, to a French sailor stationed on a French territory island in the Pacific.
The photocopying was the most difficult problem for me. It became a larger amount as the newsletter grew longer (with ´H+B´ and ´Graceland´) and memberships grew (to about 300 at the end?), and this became expensive, time consuing and - just so difficult in where I was able to do it. Sheila and I were 250 miles apart and communicated by long, expensive phone calls and handwritten letters, as did most members.
And, if I remember correctly, the final issue was actually handwritten! In the days before laptops and internet cafes, I wrote it up longhand in Sydney, mailed it to Sheila (which took 10 days) and, on this occasion, she copied it and sent it out.
Now, it´s a different world. For eight years, I have moderated two Yahoo groups (nothing to do with music) with 850 members between them, and it is so comparatively simple to post immediate news and information, to keep in touch with members, generally and on an individual basis, and to manage my membership database. We can upload full color photographs as soon as they are in the media or online. We can share audio and video, words, or chat online, and members´ content (as opposed to my own) is much more accessible to all.
Of course, you know all this, but I´m trying to explain how easy it is now to keep a group going as opposed to back in the early 1980s. And now - I´d blog my ´Graceland´ tour online, too!
Simon, you remembered well. Yes, my ´Mastermind´ subject was Modern Art: 1848 to Present Day´. In those days, they only allowed ´serious´ subjects altho´ as you mention, I did see someone answer on Paul Simon since they modified the rules a few years back.
Monique was 19 when we met, and now she´s 39 with seven children! I was 35 at the time of the ´Graceland´ tour. I hesitate to tell you how old I am now! :)
I´ve lived in London since 1987, except for 14 months working in NYC. However, I´ve really had enough of London and am hoping to move back to Kendal in 2011. I´m as much a fan of Paul´s music as I ever was.
In retrospect, I´m proud that Sheila got PSAS started and that we continued it as long as we did, and especially that we were the first.
Some of the people I remember from PSAS besides Natacha, Monique, Simon, Wayne, Rob and Haakon - Roshmi, Ann from Boxmoor who moved to the Western Isles, Sue in Bristol, ?? in Wootton under Edge, a married couple whom I met and talked to at Birmingham, 1987 and in 1990, I think, Joe and his brother, the couple from Grange who helped out with Xeroxing, Milly in the US, and others whom I can´t bring to mind right now.
In the last ten years, I have met again with Sheila Brant, Jen and Dot Duncan, and Les from Fife (he and I met unexpectedly at a S+G tribute gig in a London club).
It would be good to do some catching up. How about scheduling on online chat at some point? |
