Published September 21, 2007

This issue is the last of our summer issues. That means we will accept the inevitable winter, and instead of bringing you a new issue every two weeks, from now until May, we will bring you one new issue a month. Obviously, that does not include our daily publication during the Airwaves festival, which is something worth being excited about. I’m psyched at least.

Next issue, you might notice some changes to the paper. We will use this period to do some fine-tuning, go over what has been working this summer, and what not. We will change the look somewhat, to bring you a fresh and exciting Grapevine this winter.

Content wise, there will probably be some changes as well. The quick turnaround during the summer (the summer issues are more or less done in one week) means that we often don’t have time to spend on stories that we find interesting, but would require a longer work period. The winter is our opportunity to follow such stories. But enough about next issue, let’s talk about this issue. Iceland – China free-trade agreement has been subject to some speculation for a few months. This issue, Ian Watson takes the difficult challenge of examining what the agreement actually entails. Exiting stuff, I’ll tell you.

The Lonesome Traveller is actually a person; he is a little different from the rest of us, obviously, for he elected to stay up in the highlands for over 40 days, walking from coast to coast. He is back. And he is ready to tell his story. His Walden will be published in six to eight installments over the next few issues.

I suggest everyone read the interview with Gerd Leonhard on page six. Gerd is a forward thinker who has incredibly intelligent things to say about the future of music distribution. His point of view is similar to that of Lawrence Lessig, the author of Free Culture, a book that everyone should read. (Download it from the Internet, it is free.)

May you live in interesting times.