A Brief Personal Moment Wherein Steve Gets Totally Verklempt

Those who know me best -- by which I mean several ex-girlfriends and some people over at Eschaton who I've not actually met yet -- know that I'm something of a sentimental old fluff, the kind of guy who cries at supermarket openings. That being the case, I'm going to try to keep this little wallow as concise as I can.

Bottom line: On this date last year, I posted at PowerPop for the very first time. In retrospect, it wasn't a particularly memorable entry -- you can read it here, and who amongst us can't remember where we were when we first encountered it? -- but I like to think that I was a quick learner (okay, I still haven't figured out how to post jpegs and the like, but I promise I will soon, okay?) and in any case I soon found that a day without blogging was, well, sucky.

Since then, my life has changed, for the better, in ways I couldn't have predicted when I first accepted NYMary's incredibly generous offer to have a spare set of keys to the car, as it were. I've made wonderful friends, I've discovered all sorts of glorious or alarming music I wouldn't have been aware of otherwise, and most importantly, publicists at major record labels now routinely ply me with hookers and blow. Okay, I lied about that last.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my little efforts here this past year at least as much as I have (which is an awful lot, frankly) and I hope you'll continue to indulge me in the future, especially when I tell another incredibly boring story about some Z-list rock guitarist I once met in a mens room in the mid-70s. I'd also like to thank my colleague and pal Kid Charlemagne for sharing his expertise about all sorts of interesting stuff -- the masses are clamoring for more Saturday Glam Blogging, buster! -- and for saving my sorry ass on a number of tech issues in recent months.

But most of all, I want to say how deeply and profoundly grateful I am to NYMary, both for offering me this opportunity and for repeatedly nudging me to get off my geriatric tush and take advantage of it. Her friendship, her brilliance and her passion for the music have been an unfailing inspiration, and at the risk of coming off even cornier than I have so far let's just say that the Lou Reed/Velvets line about somebody's life being saved by rock and roll could easily apply to me and this blog. And I mean that literally, if you must know.

Thanks, kiddo. You're the best.

Now start posting here regularly again, okay? Ya knucklehead!!!!