the end of the beginning

Greetings, friends. We are once again open for business.

When this space began (good lord) over four years ago the idea was simple -- allowing yours truly the limitless space and outlet to spill notions and half-baked ideas across the world. The whole news-magazine cover story 'Blog' trend in a nutshell, I suppose. And, even more egregiously, it evolved into something that meshed pretty well with the whole mp3/music blogging wave which, given where my head's been at for the better part of my life, was just fine.

Then things, as they often do, changed.

My little hobby of tossing my Very Important Thoughts out into the howling, self-hosted cocktail party of the Internet got larger and smaller in equal measure -- larger in the sense that throwing words around about music eventually became my dayjob on the Gutenberg and online at places like this and even more commonly this, but smaller in that the music eventually overtook the message, so to speak.

This hasn't necessarily been a bad thing. In fact, you could argue that this space essentially acted as an agent of sorts to further my efforts to write about music for a living. Behave as if you're doing a certain something and, if the universe is paying attention, you will be. So, great, the self-actualized goal had been reached and inevitably the blog drifted into a pleasant retirement, a museum space of sorts dedicated to where my head was at in the latter '00s.

Except it's not all that great, actually. What's happened as I've tried on the Professional Journalist Hat is I've become fairly good at fitting into a certain template, but suddenly less practiced with another. Meaning, I can write my ass off for this publication or that but I've been terribly incapable of writing for me. This is not nearly as self-absorbed as it sounds.

Because, frankly, just about anyone who's putting part of him or herself out into the world, be it through illustration or songwriting or, yes, wild-armed bloggin, is not doing it as a selfless gesture in the name of the Greater Good. Sure, that can be a nice byproduct, but inevitably we're all doing it because of how it makes us feel, because for whatever reason we were born with the foolish notion that we've got something to say.

So, with a little luck and (gasp) motivation, that's when/why i'll be popping back here from time to time. Those of you out there who stumbled upon this place because i was giving away a few songs here and there, please move along. Your needs will find no purchase here -- besides, if in 2009 you're still wandering around these kind of places for single songs, well, I'm grateful for it but I also wonder if you've turned on a computer in the last three years. Entire albums are out there, and if you want those you'll certainly find them without listening to me for a reason.

No, this is going back to the garden a bit, a return to the dark and shadowy true purpose of spaces such as these which is -- it's all about me, man. This is not a new concept. The innovations of the past four years -- Facebook, Twitter, etc -- have essentially been founded on the basis of the kid in the back of the class waving his arms frantically in the name of holding the floor.

Now, I'd like to think that wherever we go from here won't be quite as selfish as all that and, with a little luck, it'll be half-interesting to read anyway, but we'll see. Music I'm sure will come up, but in the true nature of using This Space as an unfulfilled outlet it certainly won't play the role it once had. You want to come along? I can't promise anything but, hopefully, four years from now the universe, sun god or a magic dragon in the sky will notice these little rumblings and before i know it I'll be making a job out of that sort of thing instead.

Thank you, drive through.