Hello!

Welcome to the Premier Issue of OFF, the new entertainment and alternative publication serving this area. In this first issue we will be introducing our killer staff of writers and artists.

First, we introduce Eric Woods, our creative director, who will be doing all the design work with his artistic eye. We will be treated to a visual feast by his talent.

We have the dharma bum, with his personal take on the entertainment and nightlife (yes there is one here) scene. He also is a computer wizard and we will be getting some interesting if not invaluable insight into the workings of a computer mind.

We are proud to introduce David Coleman, who will be writing his own column, Straight White Male. He will be offering us his views on the world from inside the mind of the last silent minority.

Also joining our staff of gifted individuals is Bill Shivelbine, local music store owner and Chair of the City of Roses Festival. He will be giving us the skinny on the local talent (which is considerable in this area!) in his column, titled Musical Chairs.

Another shining addition is AJ Sales, a Mass Comm major at SEMO, who will be keeping us filled in on what's hot and what's not in his column, Trendy or Trashy.

For things that calm the savage beast, we have Phil Denson , our music critic. He will be covering all things audible in his column, Ear Candy.

Rounding out our twisted and gifted group is Lacey Endive and her boyfriend, Reuben Romaine. They will be doing our dining guide called Ever Eat Here? (we did). They will be letting us all know where we can go for gastric dreams or nightmares.

The rest of the sections will be written by YOU, our readers. We want to know what's on your mind and want to tell others.

We have Livin Out Loud, our public forum for anything and everything that excites or irritates you. Say what you want as long as you say it Loud.

Our Nothing But Net will be filled with true stories of your encounters with people in real life that you first met online. Whether it's happy or sad, we want to know.

Show Us Your Stuff is all about readers' submissions. For every piece of original artwork or story of yours we print, you will be paid $25.00.

Reel News will be movie reviews written by readers. We want your opinion on what a good film is, not some critic off a wire service, so we will be sending lucky readers to the movies, ON US.

And in each issue we will be asking What's the Buzz? where I will do on the spot one question inte rviews with people I see on the street.

Finally, there is little me, Melissa Riddell. I hesitate to call myself an editor, so why don't we just stick to Coordinator of Creative Genius. I may not have any of my own, but I sure can recognize it when I see it.

So, Welcome to OFF ... where our goal is to delight, entertain and inform. We expect you to enjoy reading us as much as we enjoy being read. Soon we hope there will be a day when you tell your friends, "I'd like to hang for a while; but I need to go get OFF."