Music Blogging Hiatus

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This post is about a week later than it should be. My apologies to those who had to ask why I hadn’t blogged this week.

If this were any other Sunday over the past five years, I’d be blogging too. The difference is that this would be the first of three posts (we saw three sets at Rockwood Music Hall last night) and between them, I would probably spend six hours writing, editing, selecting photos, cropping, color-correcting, etc. (including researching the names of sidemen that are impossible to find on some band’s websites).

I started this blog in January 2007 to memorialize events in our lives. That included documenting which shows we saw (hint: a ton) and how I felt about them. I didn’t care if anyone else read any of the posts (people say that, some mean it, including me).

Over time (2009 to be specific), we accidentally discovered and fell madly in love with the local NYC indie music scene (all over, but primarily centered in Rockwood Music Hall). My musical posts took on more significance for me, as I wanted to share our love for the many talented people with a wider audience. That meant more photos and a generally more positive spin about each show (I never lie, even when I don’t like a show, I just find something positive to focus on).

Because of that subtle change, it starting feeling more like a job than documenting our lives. That was still OK, since we were leading quite an unusual existence. We were working 10-12 days a month in VA. That meant work was a break from blogging (except when we saw shows in VA, which was semi-regularly). When we were in NY, Lois worked full time (remotely), but I had the time to blog during the day.

If you’ve kept up, then you know we are no longer involved with the VA-based company. Our future lives are still undefined (and I am very happy about that at the moment). While that sounds like I have infinite time to blog, it also means that I could end up spending every day, all day, blogging. That’s more of a job (more correctly an obligation, since I derive zero income from blogging), which is the exact thing we just transitioned away from.

I didn’t want to avoid going out to see shows because I knew what lay ahead of me the next day. So, after very careful consideration, I decided that I would take an indefinite hiatus from music blogging. I may never do it again, or I may start up tomorrow, or have a random post here or there. For now, assume that no shows will be blogged about.

I feel badly that I didn’t announce it in advance, which probably caused people whose shows I attended this week to assume I didn’t like them. I particularly feel badly that there were two perfect CD Release shows this week (Martin Rivas on Thursday and Matt Simons last night) that richly deserved fully-detailed posts. Still, I had to stop sometime, and their shows simply came after my decision was made.

I’ll still blog occasionally, but mostly about technology. As we get closer to the election, and almost definitely afterward, there will be a political blog or two (I’ve been very good about keeping my promise not to be publicly negative during this entire 4-year Presidential term).

As for filling up my days, that’s been no problem. We’ve caught up with friends that we’ve had trouble scheduling in the past and I’ve finally attacked (and beaten!) a number of outstanding technical issues/projects. If you’re a friend that we haven’t spent enough time with, please reach out soon. We have the time, and more importantly the desire to catch up and build new memories.