Where Are We Now?

This song has been on my for a while, largely because it seems to be the question I am asking myself as a blogger.  Where are we now?  Perhaps more to the point, where am I now?  Where is Ghost of Blind Lemon now, and where should it head?

Over the past year, many factors I feel have distracted me from my original purpose.  Some of them stem from my day job, while others have been connected to my work within the music business.  Often times it’s easy to get distracted by the business end of the music business, which means the music end all too often gets overlooked.  That’s not why I started the blog.

I have also struggled with the direction of where the world of blogging is headed.  In this day and age where Twitter is king, I often fear that the days of the blog are numbered.  Any story longer than 150 characters seems to be too much for many to handle.  Many national blogs simply post up videos and Soundcloud tracks, write a few sentences, and leave it at that.  I feel the Dallas music community needs more than that.  It needs discussion.  It needs examination.  It needs more than can be accomplished in a single tweet.  Yet I wonder if that’s all the average music fan is capable of.

Please forgive this unusually cynical tone I am taking.  It’s just that over these years, I find that the number of true local music fans is dwindling.  In fact, fellow musicians and industry people make up the vast majority of any local act’s fan base nowadays.  Sure, there are people that follow individual acts.  Those, however, are primarily the friends and families of musicians.  These people rarely bother to support others on the bill, arriving just in time to see the one act, then leaving immediately after the set.  How does one build a music scene on that?

Often, I am been tempted to shut down the blog.  The only reason I have not is my love for both the music in the city and those who create it.  I do feel, however, that I still must carefully examine where both I and the blog are going.

So with that in mind, I am temporarily suspending the blog.  This is not the end of the Ghost of Blind Lemon.  This is a time to reevaluate where the blog is going, and my place within the world of local music.  I will continue to go to shows.  Not only that, I have several things in the works in terms of showcases.  Do not view this as an end, but more like a caterpillar creating a cocoon.  I hope that after a period of time, GOBL reemerges as a beautiful butterfly.  Pardon the corny analogy; it’s the best I could come up with.

I will continue to post on Facebook in order to keep you updated with information regarding the blog, showcases, Deep Ellum Radio shows (soon, I promise!), and the local music scene.  And please, fans, feel free to keep in touch with me.  I need your interaction to help this mission of mine continue.  But for now, the full length posts are on hiatus until further notice.

My apologies for exceeding 150 characters.