In these times in which most of us live, it’s hard not to be paranoid. Afghanistan, anthrax in the mail. Nirvana vs. Courtney Love. You just don’t know what’s going to happen next. Thank God for the new tours.

It didn’t used to be this way. We remember a time not too long ago when people were afraid of tour listings on the Internet. We’re not ones to point fingers, but we’re sure you’ve heard the rumors about those other Websites’ data processors not washing their hands before they entered dates for Diana Krall or Luther Vandross. Or worse yet, spitting on the dates for Chemical Brothers, Bruce Cockburn and Bob Dylan when a user that they didn’t particularly care for tried to access their database. Internet myths? Perhaps, but while most myths have no basis in reality, we prefer to think those rumors about our competitors were true. No wonder people cowered in fear whenever they saw a tour listing, whether it be for Daryl Hall & John Oates or Galactic, posted on the Internet.

Yes, if there’s one thing we understand at Pollstar.com, it’s paranoia. That inner feeling that someone is sneaking up behind our backs has been imbedded within this company’s corporate history ever since the 1950s. That’s when Chester Pollstar, the only known surviving male son of our founder, Festus Pollstar, testified before the McCarthy hearings and sold out every single promoter and booking agent that refused to give him the itineraries for The “Live” Lawrence Welk Show and Pat Boone. Chester understood paranoia, and he instructed us in the ways of using secret recordings, candid photographs and threats of brute force in order to obtain touring schedules like the ones for Linkin Park and Kelly Joe Phelps that you see today.

So if you hear footfalls dogging your steps as you head home tonight, if your days are consumed with fear and your nights are filled with the unimaginable dread that The Gap will someday permit Robbie Robertson to sing the entire lyrics to “Give A Little Bit,” relax. Not only do we feel your paranoia, we thrive on it. It’s that deep foreboding fear that you might miss a concert date, like the new ones for Michael Brecker or OKGo, that keep’s us plugging away day after day. That’s paranoia, and we embrace it daily because we know that’s what makes you return time and time again to our little island of safety and security on the Web.

By the way, you no longer have to worry about Anthrax in the mail. They’re too busy rehearsing for their upcoming tour which starts January 11 in Clifton Park, New York. Besides, nobody in that band knows how to properly address an envelope anyway.