Fire of Unknown Origin

I have to apologize to all the faithful readers of this blog for having more or less dropped off the face of the earth in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, there are times in which our creative vein seems to have dried off, when coming up with something interesting (or even coherent) becomes an ordeal rather than a pleasure. For a number of reasons, in the past month or so I have hit such a patch, and that has inevitably affected my output as a reviewer, as well as my overall motivation.

My biggest apology goes to all those musicians who have sent me their material to review, and to whom I promised to produce something in short order. I hope that they, as creative artists, will understand my plight, and be  willing to wait a little longer for me to produce a decent write-up on their material. As things stand now, I would probably turn out  something definitely sub-par, and disappoint their expectations.

It is therefore a lucky coincidence that an almost three-week trip to Italy is coming up in a few days, which will allow me to unplug and recharge my batteries, so to speak – staying away from computers, spending time with family and friends, or just walking through the streets of Rome (which I have been missing so badly) and enjoying the festive atmosphere. I believe I burned myself out when churning out 12 reviews per month, and now need to regain afresh my enthusiasm for this very rewarding activity.

On the other hand, this is the perfect opportunity for me to wish the very best to all of you who have supported my blog in the past few months, and made sure it gets a fair number of visits every week, even when new posts are few and far between as they have been this month of December. I hope you will all spend a great holiday season with your family and friends, and then be ready to face a new year full of exciting musical challenges. Thank you for your friendship and support, and see you in 2011!