And So It Begins...
I know, a terribly overused Babylon 5 quote, but terribly appropriate in my case, because there’s a certain sense of portent in my coming back out of my deep dark hole. Anything could happen, but hopefully it will mostly be good.Where have I been? Dealing. Just… dealing. With the combined pressures of work and family.
Work: my promotion last year was the midpoint of a years-long process that reached a milestone of sorts earlier this month, a gradual increase in autonomy and power with an attendant increase in responsibilities. I still love my job more than any I have ever had or likely ever WILL have, but now, for the first time in two decades, it sometimes feels like work rather than the laid-back paid vacation it’s been for me since 1996. Whoever said that if you make it to 50 without growing up, you never will, never got his final promotion to the top of the heap at age 51.
Family: one child moving out and severing the ties that bind in a very intelligent and mature fashion, albeit with perhaps a bit more shouting than was strictly necessary, and the other child coming into her own in a manner that has been equal parts delight and anguish. And that’s all I have to say about that, in the quotable words of F. Gump.
But this summer represents a chance to breathe, at least a little bit, and with it a chance to re-establish myself in the music world. I was interviewed by Darwin Grosse for his Art + Music + Technology podcast and realized I missed being a part of it all. Talking about this stuff, playing it, watching and helping others play it… it was time to come back and start doing my thing again in more than a fitful fashion.
So: a new blog, a reupdate (in a BIG way) to the Atomic City website after ten years offline, a renewed radio presence on StillStream, a steady schedule of solo and group dates, and a return to Second Life for a virtual audience that puts real money in the tip jar. Maybe not on the level of Joss Whedon’s Star Trek, but still not a bad reboot, huh?
I have a lot of people to thank, and most of them will probably get blog entries of their own: my wife and daughters, Darwin Grosse, Mark Mosher, the Boulder Synthesizer Meetup, Tony Gerber, Ellen Olhsson, and everyone who made me welcome in Asheville in 2012 and Kansas City in 2013. But the top of the thank-you list, here at the (re)start and probably for the foreseeable future, is Diana Smethurst a.k.a. Gypsy Witch, who’s been equal parts webmaven, promoter, studiously diligent nag, and friend, with seemingly infinite patience and willingness to light a fire under me. Diana and her husband Gordon have been the best of the new faces in my life in recent years, great friends despite the ocean’s distance between us. There’s no way I can thank her enough, for taking care of so many of the small annoying details that come between my self-expression and my audience.
And so it begins. Let’s get started, shall we?
mrSpiral
