Since yesterday, there has been a lot posted on FaceBook regarding what certainly appears to be an unscrupulous takeover on the part of the magazines publisher Volcano. Nothing has been posted here on RZ2 yet, so I'm sharing a bit of it - this is Andy Morten's statement which sums up what is going on:

A note from our co-editor, re-directed from his personal page:
Warning: I am angry and trying to remain level-headed.
It's been almost a week since Jon Mills and I discovered that Shindig! Magazine... the latest!, the printed publication that we've built up from nothing over the past 16 years, had been virtually stolen from under us by our former publisher, Slim Smith of Volcano Publishing. It's taken this long for me to begin dealing with the fallout, contact our friends and allies, alert and inform our faithful readership and – most painfully for me – try and absorb the insanity and inhumanity of what's happened (this was while both Jon and I were on holiday with our families. Nice timing, eh?).
That a simple, honest little mag created by one ultra-driven music fan (Mills), embellished and embroidered by another (me) and enabled by dozens of fans, readers, writers and advertisers, could become victim to the Machiavellian moves and megalomaniacal hunger of an unscrupulous publisher (and I use the word publisher cautiously. While it's true that Volcano got us into the High Street and beyond, many of his decisions have been morally dubious and financially disastrous. It's a miracle we're still here, considering) is still hard to swallow.
To then publish *our* work with a new name (Kaleidoscope – just so you know in order to boycott and/or vandalise it), a new cover and God knows what kind of content changes – without our knowledge or consent – is not only unacceptable but probably illegal. To then approach *our* database of writers, advertisers and subscribers and ask them if they'd like to contribute to this new venture is rubbing salt into the wound. Of course, none of them have agreed to do so that I'm aware of – why would they?
The enormous outpouring of support we've received across the board and the kind offers of help and advice from our readers and a whole bunch of lawyers, designers, publishers, backers, writers, artists, sponsors and angry men with claw hammers (a nice thought but possibly a little too radical to pursue) has been astonishing and has proved to us a thousand times over that Shindig! will return bigger and better than ever. I'd like to thank everyone who's offered their support in any way and to assure them that we couldn't do it without them.
Sorry if this all sounds like a raging witch-hunt/smear campaign but that's pretty much how it is for Jon and I at the moment. Emotional isn't the word. Images of babies being kidnapped from prams spring to mind.
This is the beginning of a new dawn, not the end of an era.
Love,
Andy
x

Keep the faith, Shindig! will rise again. I assume exising Shindig! subscribers will receive 'Kaleidoscope'as a continuation of their subscription. If you want to see what the real #47 of Shindig! would have been, then you can download it as a pdf from here:

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=91E139134A6FF4FF&resid=91e139134a6ff4ff!1639&qt=sharedby&app=WordPdf&authkey=!ACL2DLAlYeEIsKs

If it's not there, let me know and I'll forward the pdf.

PM

Just out of interest, how many people on this board actually buy Shindig? I must admit that I stopped getting it a year or two ago when I realised that the amount I was spending on buying music magazines meant I was spending less on the music itself.

Shindig, Flashback, Ugly Things, they're my mainstays. Yes, they can add up to a pretty penny for sure, especially when they all come out within a week of each other sometimes! I've only just finished reading Flashback 6 and I haven't started on the last two issues of Ugly Things yet. I see them as research / educational sources as much as entertainement and help enhance and re-contextualise the music I listen to, so well worth their outlay in my opinion.

PM

Shindig- yes, Flashback-depending on what's in it, Ugly Things-similar but not so much now.

Having signed up to up to Shindig from the start,I find the whole episode sickening,and my support and good wishes go with messrs. Mills and Morten in their endeavour to get Shindig back on the shelves!!
As subscribers we have been effectively shanghaied into purchasing this counterfeit!!
Heres one subscriber sticking with the original.....accept nothing else....boycott the philistines !!
Niall

According to Shindig's Facebook entries, Kaleidoscope are now refusing to tell them who their subscribers are, so if you do have a subscription they are asking you to get in touch.
jon@shindig-mag.com or andy@shindig-mag.com

Yes, that is a key issue as you can imagine. I can't say though, I have seen any ads for 'Kaleidoscope' on any of the usual Shindig eTailers,or the net at all when I googled it yesterday. It seems only available directly from Volcano via 'their' re-directed website. Any road up, download the free PDF I gave the link for above and read the 'real' Shindig #47 as it was intended to appear in print.

PM

Hi Paul- Could you upload the PDF link again please? Much appreciated, many thanks. Nick

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=91E139134A6FF4FF&resid=91e139134a6ff4ff!1639&qt=sharedby&app=WordPdf&authkey=!ACL2DLAlYeEIsKs


PM

The Shindig Broadcast #15 which is online at the moment makes for interesting listening.

Just received today from Volcano...............patience ??.....pass the sick bag,and pay back the remaining subscription fee !!



Volcano Publishing

Hi,

Your automatic subscription to Shindig has been cancelled. You will receive a message automatically from Paypal soon if you have not done so already.

This does not affect your current subscription, it just means that payment will not be taken automatically on renewal.

The change in name to Kaleidoscope means that we are busy sorting out a new subscriptions system.

Thank-you for your patience.

Me too!