Step out of the pool....I'm diving into the body of water known as....BLOG!

Welcome to my first ever Blog.

After not getting it for a while, I think I understand what this whole blogging phenomenon is about, and more importantly, why people have bought into it.

Mind you, it’s sort of like Spinal Tap or professional wresting – either you get it, or you don’t.

So, the way it worked for me, was that one day I had no clue what blogging was, who exactly was blogging, and what stupidly-named internet-based trend was going to pop up next. The next day, some fluroescent light in my brain turns on, and I’m thinking: “where can I go to do MY blog? Y’know – where I can openly express my opinions, exagerrate the levels of excitement in my life, vent my frustrations, and laud my…errr…….Let me rephrase that: where others may read it and enjoy it…”…and thus, I got it. Sounds pretty cool to me.

The question then shifted from my blogging affirmation, to: “what the hell am I going to write about?”. No one is really interested about my stories about life at a major global software company. I mean, the backstabbing, the politics, and the lack of hot chicks working there isn't everyone's thing. Tales of guilt and days of Passover past from my stereotypically semitic parents? Wait – actually, some of those stories are GREAT….but I can admit they’re not for everyone. I mean – I don’t care about YOUR job or YOUR parents. Wait – that’s not true. I’ve heard some very amusing career and parent stories. However, they all involve jobs and parents pretty similar to mine.

Come to think of it, more people would probably interested in reading my thoughts and opinions with respect to popular music, which is pretty absurd, considering not much of the music I enjoy is TOO popular. However, my goal is to not come off like some pretentious rock critic who's bitter that other people like stuff that's on the radio or who thinks he's some sort of higher life form because he was there when Death Cab For Cutie made their Toronto debut. I'm always reading stuff, checking stuff out that sounds like it may appeal to me, and then I just form opinions that interest the hell out of myself. If you're into my opinions too, then all the better.

Here’s the type of music fan I am: Wise enough to know that the best music being made today isn’t on the radio, yet unhip enough to read about it only once it makes it to SPIN or even HARP; watches a few documentaries on rock and roll history on PBS; the occasional Rolling Stone magazine; knows who Lester Bangs IS, but never actually knowingly read his stuff; reads most of the stuff that the local weekly “alternative” rag writes about. In other words, I have credibility among some, but a square to others; knowledgeable enough to avoid the condescending slurs from the guy who runs the used CD store, but not credible enough to work there according to that same guy.

Then again, I don’t really have to apologize for this. I have a demanding career which limits my time (thus preventing me from going to “indie night” at some urban downtown bar), no friends who are really into discovering new music on a regular basis, and parents who wanted me to conform to the norms during my formative years. I think my friends growing up were all raised by similar parents. Whatever – it’s the way things were. No sense in dwelling on it.
Apparantly, people in my peer group that I meet seem to think that I “know” more about music than they do. I don’t know if I actually “know” more about music than they do, but I guess I have a greater desire to hear good music and good music which is fresh. Well, fresh to my ears anyway. It’s all relative.

So, I’m at that point where if I continue to write, no one will ever check out my second blog.
So, in summary, I plan on using this blog to write down primarily some thoughts on music. I may want to write about a new CD I recently acquired, or a CD I already own. I may draft something on a live show I saw or perhaps a concert video/DVD I watched. Another possibility is the phenomenon behind various groups or artists. Lastly, if I ain’t got nothing to say about music, I’ll just revert to old faithful: stories about life at a major global software company and my Jewish parents.

Here’s hoping I haven’t scared you off….