An Announcement = A New Direction

Welcome! Yes, believe your eyes, trust your ears, you are indeed reading a new entry, and it’s more than that, I’ve got an announcement. Holy smokes.

I know that I have neglected my activities here at This Is Not Entertainment. I started off 2006 with such promise, timely and dutifully publishing my exhaustive Best Of 2005 lists way back in January and February. Since then, lazy and infrequent posts have peppered this site with little substance and less direction. I attribute much, but not all, of this blog malaise to the planning of my wedding (which happened on August 5, 2006). Now that the whole wedding thing has passed, and post-wedding activities are complete, I have a renewed motivation to get this blog moving and to provide a place for music fans around the world (!) to read about some records and songs that I love (or hate or what have you).

I recently read about the firing of rock-write legend, Robert Christgau from Village Voice, a move that annoyed me. While many (especially the hippest rock-write elite) lament Christgau's style and panache, I actually love it. Sure, I disagree with him a hell of a lot of the time, but that's cool. His Voice column, the “Consumer Guide”, was always on my weekly reading list, and I know that I will miss it (and I think it will be missed by many others, too). But it’s not like that geezer is dead. He’s not walking into the woods.

Don’t get ahead of me here! This re-launch is not about trying to be the next Christgau. My intentions are not that lofty. The reason I am doing this is two-fold: 1) I enjoy writing about music and doing so provides me respite from the daily grind of my corporate job. Further, all of my contributing writer gigs dried up (either due to the publication folding, or my lack of ambition), so this is really my only outlet. 2) I do feel an affinity to the spirit of Christgau’s column: a place where people can read about records and help the listener to make an informed decision on whether to purchase a record (and I say help, because any discerning music listener would seek a second opinion!). I have no problem with that and I think this is the greatest gift that rock-write gives to the listening public. My goal is to provide critical reviews on both new and old records to encourage you, discerning music listeners, to listen, to debate, and even to make that choice to purchase a record.

Having said this, it makes perfect sense to modify the title of this site as there will be none of my incoherent and simplistic political thoughts, amateur philosophizing, and musings on my personal life. I’m replacing the “A storehouse for thoughts, musings, and writings by Chris M. Short” (as this implies content that is personal) to “Another Consumer Guide”. Finally, I intend to follow a regular publication schedule which will focus on reviews of albums/EPs and specific songs, and my Top Ten list for the week. Here is the proposed publication schedule:

Tuesday – Record Review of the Week
Thursday – Single of the Week
Friday – Heavy Rotation

The new schedule will begin on Tuesday, October 3 with a review of The Black Angels - Passover. Please keep this site in your bookmarks and come back to see what I am digging or not digging. Comments are enabled, so please engage in discussion. We'll have a good time.

###