No Distance That Could Hold Us Back: On the Brink of 2008

Slowly but surely, the excitement and insanity of another Christmas is beginning to calm back down to a point of some regularity. Our Christmas tree is still up, but the multi-colored lights are unplugged. The inflatable characters of the Grinch and Snoopy lay flat in our front yeard, waiting to be boxed up until next December. Last night, I bagged up the last of our Christmas trash and left it at the street. Just an hour or so ago, we tore away the last remnants of meat from a pile of shrapnel that was our Christmas turkey. It is only a few days away from the new year, and in spite of myself, I have something new to look forward to.

I am now contributing album reviews to INsite, a local Atlanta entertainment publication. I just submitted my first review which will hopefully make deadline for the January issue. As much as I write about music on this blog, it should come to no shock that this is a dream come true for me. I grew up reading David Fricke's reviews in Rolling Stone, and in recent years, I have been keen on the writings of other pop culture critics and pundits, the likes of which include Lester Bangs, Anthony DeCurtis, Rob Sheffield, Leggs Mcneil, and Chuck Klosterman. The transition from being a reader to a writer has been quite embarrassingly nerdy. Within the span of three weeks, I was given the link to stream the new Drive-By Truckers album, and I recieved my first free CD in the mail from Barsuk records. "Giddy" doesn't even begin to cover my ridiculous giggling reaction. I look forward to the future opportunities to come from this; hell, people may just happen to care about my music snobbery afterall.

It was a terrific 2007, regardless of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and the rest of our paparazzi faithful that continue to make American celebrity status less and less synonymous with talent or contribution to society. It was a terrific 2007, regardless of the troubling hole we have dug ourselves into with this continuing war in the Middle East. There were dreams to remember, and nightmares to forget. We loved and lost; we lived and died. There is still hope for us all.

"To everything, turn, turn, turn...."

Coming In 2008: Finding God in Orlando...then finding Bad Religion in Zach Baldwin's room