Season's Greetings!

Is it just me, or did this year practically FLY past? Seems like only a few weeks ago that I wrote my annual "report on the family" letter to go out with my Christmas cards, and it's past time to write the one for this year! But, as I think back, this HAS been one hell of a year for me - both with AMZ and personally. I've shared my thoughts with you, our readers, about my rants and raves related to the music industry, as well as the loss of my mother last May. And you've responded to all of it, thank you very much! Since I did my reflecting on the growth of AMZ in our Anniversary Issue, there's no point in going over that ground. I also don't want to gripe in what's supposed to be a happy, friendly season (although going to the mall and trying to get a parking place, or trying to buy one of those "Furbee" things have brought people to blows!), so instead I've asked the Staff Writers to send me two recommendations out of all the albums they reviewed this year to help you make your musical gift choices.

Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to list each reviewer who is currently on staff, and their two recommendations for best albums of the year. I'm even going to throw in a couple Editor's picks! Instead of making a separate page of these, with a bunch of graphics that you have to wait to load, if you want to know about any of the bands listed, just click on the SEARCH AMZ button above, type in the band name, and you'll get a link to the album review - and concert review if there was one. Pretty easy, right? Also, this will give you the opportunity to use our searchable database if you haven't prior to now. We've covered a LOT of bands since this 'zine started, so don't just search for the Staff picks, see if we have an album or concert review for some of your favorite artists! More than likely there's one somewhere! :)

Now, on to our Staff picks, in no particular order:

From Dave Merrill: