By George Petersen
THIS WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. Former Mix and Electronic Musician associate publisher Carrie Anderson passed away this week, following injuries from an automobile accident near her home in San Jose.

Carrie was one smart cookie. A Magna Cum Laude grad of Boston University, Carrie first worked at Yankee, a magazine about New England lifestyles, before joining the marketing/public relations staff of Kurzweil Music Systems. I used to get phone calls from her while she was there–evidently she had a card in her Rolodex, filed under the heading “Answer Man,” with my name and number under it. She (and a lot of us at that time, around 1986) were pretty new to MIDI and electronic music technologies and she would occasionally call me, asking me to explain terms and concepts used in their advertisements and promo materials.

A couple years later, in 1988, she made a “few months” trip to the San Francisco Bay Area to help a friend relocate, yet ended up remaining in Northern California, met Electronic Musician publisher Peter Hirschfeld, who saw her potential and offered Carrie a job as EM’s advertising manager. Carrie thoroughly enjoyed the work. Her creative and organizational skills, combined with her bubbling personality, easygoing nature and love of music all contributed to her success. A few years later, she was promoted to EM’s associate publisher, a position she held until 1997. She loved living in San Francisco, and delved into Italian cooking, going so far as taking Italian language lessons for total immersion, which returned me to “answer man” status, asking me to clarify grammar, phrases, punctuation and vocabulary—all in Italian, my other native language.

About this time, Carrie met David “DK” Sweet—an industry consultant who worked with clients such as Mackie, E-mu Systems, Line 6, AKG, Neumann and Capitol Records. Soon, the two were inseparable, with Carrie having finally found the perfect guy. They married in 1999—surrounded by friends in a wonderful ceremony in a winery during a snowstorm—a rare event here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Seeking new challenges, Carrie moved to Acoustic Guitar magazine, then later to Mix followed by the CMP group (Guitar Player, Keyboard, etc.), but the long commutes from her new home in San Jose led her to try something new. In 2005, Carrie began working as a personal assistant to Silicon Valley entrepreneur/philanthropist Steve Kirsch, who used his fortunes from founding Infoseek and Propel into creating a charitable foundation.

Carrie Anderson had many friends within and outside the industry and was loved by all. She will long be remembered for her intelligence, generosity, sense of humor and infectious smile.

When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Click here www.jenpet.com/ariel.html and check ‘em out.
________________________

What do YOU think?
CLICK ON THE “COMMENTS” LINK BELOW AND SPEAK OUT!