I think we're slightly straying away from the point. Bruce is looking for opinion not particularly on the state of AOR but more on the fact that the comments expressed by aorbasement.com are directly questioning his and Now And Then's involvement in 'Fireworks' magazine.
Ian has some fair points, but let's also remember that Now And Then was launched as a natural progression from the always informative 'Boulevard' fanzine.
Whilst I would also question whether there is a conflict of interests between running a record label and a magazine, Bruce and Co know exactly who they are aiming this magazine at and aren't exactly going into this project blind.
I've actually been looking forward to the launch of this publication because if anyone can deliver a quality melodic rock mag with the opportunity to cover those bands in much greater depth that a publication like 'Classic Rock' is not yet able to due to the direction and market it is aimed at, then it's someone with the passion that Bruce has. And he has never been slow to speak his mind, as some of his previous posts to this board testify.
There is,of course, the danger of favouritism in terms of which bands are covered, but, let's face it, EVERY magazine suffers this problem. Do you not think major record labels have never had any influence over the content of much, much bigger magazines over the years?!
The only problem I can really forsee is when certain individuals start throwing their toys out of the pram when something doesn't exactly find favour. It could blow up into the war of all wars if that happens.
Still, all power to you Bruce. Good luck.