The revolution, or, rather, EVOLUTION has begun.

It’s been a while since I’ve graced you with any words. That’s because sh*t has gotten real, my friends. We’re, like, a real magazine now with a staff and everything!

I mentioned last time that we’d start having other contributors aside from yours truly sharing their words, photos, etc. I had no idea that I’d actually get people who want to seriously be involved. I’m stoked beyond measure and am floored at how quickly things have evolved here.

That said, we’ve brought Brooke Hamilton-Nichols as our Creative Director. Brooke and I met over the summer at a concert we were both photographing and realized, “Hey, another chick music photographer. Let’s be friends!” Brooke reached out to me from the gate about the being involved in the magazine, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Grant Wentzel is our roving reporter/editor-at-large. Grant reached out to be via the website and asked if he could contribute his words. This dude is an amazing writer (and takes a lot of pressure off of me *wink*). Check out his first piece on locals Work Of Wolves. It’s f*cking incredible.

And finally, Thomas O’Steen. My boo. And the man who encouraged me to pursue this little dream and wouldn’t let me back out. Thomas is our multimedia producer, a.k.a. video guy, a.k.a. back up photographer when Brooke and I can’t make it to shows. He’s an incredible talented as well and I’m not just saying that because I’m married to him.

In other news, we are already trashing the six-week publishing schedule. We will now be publishing on-demand, with deadlines every Wednesday at 5 p.m. for the following week. If you have an idea that you just know would be a hit, tell us! Better yet, if you think you have the writing chops, submit your words to us. While this magazine was created for highlighting the crazy talented musicians in our state, we also want to show how many gifted writers and photographers we have here as well.

Thank you for going on this journey with me. I can’t believe how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time. It can only get better from here.

Forever grateful,

Sonja O.

Founder & Editor-in-Chief, SoDak Music Magazine