Flipping This Quarter

Yeah, and then life happens. Sorry about that.

I still have every intention to get the new site going. My plan is for it to be bigger and much, much better with multiple writers that write better than me. I also plan on promoting it instead of, like this one, just throwing it up. However, I do not know when this is going to be.

So, my immediate plan is to build up a backlog of posts so that the transition will not be as susceptible to outside interference–that damned life we talk about. What this means is that it is unlikely I will post further on this blog. I will make an announcement here when the new site is up, so keep your rss going, both of you.

If you would like to know when the new site is online but don’t want to keep checking here (with a feed or otherwise), leave a note in the comments and I’ll let you know.

This is starting back up a bit later than I intended. The move I talked about in the last post will still take place, details to come later.

In looking at the upcoming albums, I’m a little excited. Some great albums, some stuff I don’t know, and some stuff I wrote off after one listen. It’s fun coming back to these.

The bad news is that my mp3 player is currently half working and that half is the right ear. It surprises me how much my listening habits have adapted to portable mass music. This makes part of me quite sad. If I was born twenty years earlier, I think I’d feel the same about vinyl.

With any luck, a new album will be posted tomorrow.

My apologies for being lax the last week or so: it’s that time of the semester, and I’m sure you all understand.

One of the benefits of being a student again is the happy breaks of happy length. Instead of spending Christmas and New Years in my cold bare apartment, drinking the good beer and watching sword-and-sandal epics, I’m spending it at my parents’ place where I’ll be watching every bowl game in Hi-Def and drinking the good beer on someone else’s dime.

Point is, I may have a sporadic post here or there, but probably not. Limited access to computers and all that fun stuff. But after the new year, when I come back, there will be excitement. A little peek: FTQ will be moving to its own domain, changing its name, and adding a few relatively like-minded authors. I must say, I’m am pretty excited about our future, at least in this regard. Stay tuned, and I will of course let both of you know when the new site is up and running.

And Merry Christmas to you and yours; may you pass it without the need of too many stiff drinks. Listen to some good Christmas music if you can find some — I have two Christmas albums on my mp3 player for the trip home this year, which is two more than any previous year.

It’s only reasonable that you might want to know.

Many of the music blogs are concerned with new music. That game’s too vicious for me. I don’t have the time, energy, or desire to wade through everything to find the gems. Maybe later, but not now.

Me? I’m just a student with too many CDs. I have some I’ve never listened to. I have more that I gave just one spin. So, instead of buying a bunch of new music, I’m giving my old ones another chance. And I’m writing about it because, well, someone else might find it interesting. I think I’ll find it calming and enlightening because, yes, it’s all about me.

Perhaps I should point out: I am, more or less, an album kind of guy. I don’t have an ITunes account, I don’t generally get individual songs. When one strikes my fancy I might put something up but, by and large, this blog is dedicated to the album.

Another note: As of the beginning, I will probably not be offering mp3s. I’m not exactly sure how to do it so it would be easy. This could change in the future. I will, when I can, link to videos on youtube and whatnot.

Lastly (and I cannot emphasize this enough), the supreme benefit of a blog is the ability to comment and create a discussion that will, hopefully, lead to a greater understanding of the human condition. So, please, leave a comment or eight.

What to Expect

If you’re reading this in the far future, hopefully there is adequate verbiage allowing you to make a judgment about this blog and its value or not-value. If, however, you read this while the blog is still nascent, you might wonder what the plan is, whether I’ll talk about your favorite albums, and if the site is worth checking back on or adding to your RSS feed. These are good questions, and ones I’d ask myself.

First: My plan is simple–write about every album in my collection. Most will probably get a post, a few might get more than one, and others (particularly multi-artist compilations) might be combined. In each post I’ll provide some sort of review-type writing, but probably more about how the album fits into my own personal narrative. I’ll also include what I consider the "best" track, so if you’re in the mood to obtain a sample, you could has some direction to follow.

Instead of proceeding alphabetically or chronologically or any random-sequence ordering, this is the ordering: take the first artist alphabetically that beings with "A", do all their albums. Then take the first artist alphabetically that begins with "B", do all their albums, etc. Throw in the multi-artist compilations, classical music, and the artists that start with non-letters, and that’s the plan. So, the last artist could possibly be My Bloody Valentine.

For artists in which I have a significant portion of their oeuvre, I’ll write a sort of "summary" page about how I view their entire discography, the highlights, and that sort of thing. 

Second: will I talk about your favorite album? Hard to say. My collection is relatively big and quite diverse (if I do say so myself), but may lack the depth expected of more seasoned music geeks. Every major genre is represented by at least six albums, so that’s something. I will say: if Jazz is your thing and your only thing, this probably isn’t the place for you.

Doing some rough calculations based on erroneous assumptions, I’ll finish this project sometime around the beginning of 2013. There is no guarantee I’ll last that long or that other events won’t take precedent (I can barely plan a week in advance, you know) but the starting belief is that I’ll complete it. Who knows?

Third: only you can decide if this is worthwhile for you. I gotta say, though: if you’ve read this post this far, I think it might be. I mean, who really writes a lengthy statement of purpose and methodology for a blog concerning music? And who would read that? You, it seems. Which says something about you and it’s a good thing. I think. And I think we’d get along.