First Posted: 1/2/2013

I, for one, am very excited about 2013.

Much like last year, it’s going to be a year of big changes for The Weekender. In our first issue of the new year, we wanted to come right out of the gate with a bang, so we’re re-introducing Weekender Sessions, our series of filmed intimate performances with local bands, with a more professional tone – each monthly installment will now be filmed by our friends at JVW, Inc., in Scranton. It’s a partnership that has already yielded some great content on our YouTube channel (youtube.com/weekendervideo), but what we have planned for this series will take that to a whole new level. Graces Downfall was kind enough to be our first guest, and they really knocked it out of the park. Learn more about the band and the session on pages 32 and 33.

This issue also contains the first installment of SixteenHundred, a column on page 24 by two of our long-term correspondents, Kait Burrier and Jason Riedmiller, and their quest to see good music wherever it may be. Their frequent travels took them to Philadelphia last month, where they wrote about and photographed Band of Horses.

It’s obvious that we love music, but for those looking to The Weekender for more, just you wait. We’ve got so many plans and I’ve got so little space here to tell you about them, you’ll just have to wait and see.

-Rich Howells, Weekender Editor