The impetus for starting my own blog came from my oldest internet buddy and cartoonist extraordinaire, TR1-guy, who became a blogger soon after I first encountered him via his ‘Fanny’ internet site (now FannyRocks) to which I contributed some content. Having just published my book, I needed an outlet for my writing without the commitment of another huge tome and so chose to start my own blog, ‘Music Obsessive’ and here we are 200 posts later.
The one thing that has surprised me about blogging is how much fun it has been to make ‘internet friends’ and how widespread geographically they are and how loyal they can be. One of the very first blogs I encountered and decided that I liked enough to go back to regularly was Jayne’s ‘A Novice Novelist’. We have been commenting back and forth ever since and she is a Top Commentator on this blog (see widget in right hand side bar). In fact, Jayne, you have two entries in the list so if you hadn’t changed your name, you’d be number one!
Others that I would like to thank for their support over the years include Charlie, Barbara (Layla), Jeff, Jennifer K, Perplexio and Alan, my one ‘freelance’ commentator.
I have also been lucky enough to connect with people who actually work in the music industry which has added a new insight into my chosen subject, people like Adrian du Plessis, manager of Canadian singer Allison Crowe, who is another regular commentator at this blog (check out Adrian’s own blog to hear tracks from Allison’s new CD, ‘Spiral’). Others in this category would be Doris Brendel, ex-singer with The Velvet Hour and now a solo artist, whose new album I intend to review as soon as it is available, and the two remaining members of Martha and the Muffins.
New friends continue to arrive. A new blog that I have found very entertaining is the Oz husband and wife team, YourZenMine who write great reviews of favourite albums in their collection and indulge in a bit of marital bickering on the side. Great fun! I’ve been a regular visitor to their blog and left one or two comments when the urge took me. In return and quite unprompted, I have been presented with a CD from their native land, ‘A Song Is A City’ by Eskimo Joe. And just to prove what impeccable taste they have, it is really very good. Whilst it has that slightly indefinable antipodean feel of a Crowded House/Savage Garden with added INXS, it is packed with great songs and rolls along with real gusto. So much so that my wife has purloined it to play in the car on the school run. Recommended.
So to everyone who has read this blog or commented or both, thank you very much for being around. I’ll try and make it worth your while for another 200 posts.
