My friend Michael reminded me in the comments section, as well as in an e-mail, that Burning Wood became a teenager on September 2nd. The date slipped my mind and I chose to celebrate the 45th anniversary of "801 Live."
(The music always comes first.)
Thirteen years of this crap, almost daily!
Looking at some of those early posts, you can see I had not yet found my sea legs. The first week saw a review of "The Smithereens-11," an outside contribution from my friend Allen, a brief mention of an awful Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro film, a shout out to New Orleans, a press release for guitarist Charlie Hunter, and some weirdo story about meeting Patti Lupone on the subway, which never actually happened.
My original goal was to write about anything.
When I was a kid, I was relentlessly teased by friends and relatives because I would apparently begin every sentence with, "I've been thinking...," and my cousin would quickly reply, "I thought I smelled wood burning." There it is. Burning Wood, a place to write about what I was thinking.
It got better as time went on. Then, it got worse. And then better.
It's easiest when I am not writing with anyone in mind. But then, there would be weeks and weeks of Todd Rundgren and Be-Bop Deluxe posts. Once I think about who might be reading and what I might need to cover, it becomes an assignment and I don't want to do it. Like everything in life, if I have to, then you can be sure, I won't want to.
Many of you have been here since day one and mere words cannot express the gratitude I feel for your constant support. I'll work on an interpretive dance. A few low life anonymous trolls have been here since day one, as well. Thank you, too. Shit makes grass grow.
Moving forward, not much will change, though I admit, worthy daily essays are becoming more difficult to bang out as I am becoming increasingly less interested in new music with each new Brooklyn Vegan e-mail blast. But I can always do 500 words on Judas Priest or James Booker!
Thanks again for reading, for commenting, for donating and for offering your insights on the music I love and the music you love. I have learned a lot from you.
Happy anniversary, Sal, and bless 801 Live.
ReplyDeleteHey Sal - thanks so much for creating this community of music lovers (and a few trolls). I know it hasn't always been easy and discovering new artists to enjoy is becoming more difficult. What you've done for 10+ years is bring insight, humor and joy to many. Here's t many more years of BW!
ReplyDeleteKeep on keepin' on, Sal. This is one of the few blogs I've stuck with for a long time as there's always something to come back to that either makes me laugh, wryly smile, think or just plain get irritated. Just like family! :-)
ReplyDeleteVery nice!
ReplyDeleteBurning Wood enriches my musical life. (Or better -- my life!)
I can't thank you enough.
So cool. It's hard for anything to last for 13 years, especially in these wispy digital days. Your blog almost feels like a physical space in a way, like a hangout we've all been enjoying for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteiTunes (am I America's last user of iTunes, and also America's last daily iPod user? I digress) tells me I joined the fray on September 1st, 2010, 2 years into the fun, with a mix you made called "Summer Mix... Burning Wood."
Your blog is just the right amount - at least one weekly mix, plus a few other occasional ones, not with a kabillion songs, but songs that are important to you at least at that moment. (And sometimes just random too)
And of course the dialogue is what most of us enjoy the most.
p.s. I'm fine with 6 months straight of Todd Rundgren posts if needed at some point. My therapist says, you gotta just let it all out.
Happy Birthday! It's always a good read, even if I disagree, and that doesn't happen very often. Thank you for being here.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, amigo! I'll read your 500 word essy on Booker anytime!
ReplyDeleteFYI - the individual who has amassed the largest library in the world of Booker recordings is, of all things, a new age pianist, George Winston.
Happy anniversary. It's been a great ride. I've been turned onto so much great music here. Thanks for all of it--thoughts, words, notes!
ReplyDeleteBruce H
Sal, I don't care what you write about, just keep on writing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for making every day a little better.
Randy
also let me just say...Baby's on Fire
ReplyDeleteThank you for all you do for all of us.
ReplyDelete@A Walk in the Woods - I'm a dinosaur like you still using iTunes and my trusty 120gb iPod which is nearing capacity! I love that I can track how many times I've listened to a song and when.
ReplyDelete@kevin m - very cool! Vinyl, CD's, iPod - it's all good with me! Even a tiny bit of streaming, although almost zip of that for me.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary, Sal! I enjoyed stopping into NYCD on a nearly daily basis, and am glad to still know you, at least digitally, today. BTW I have a new Weekend Mix coming soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the music over the past 13 years. And thanks for being kind enough to letting me pitch in a couple of times along the way. Looking forward to celebrating 26 years, where we'll be wondering how come they don't make good Miley Cyrus jams anymore.
ReplyDeleteBill
Happy Birthday! I had a million amusing comments to make, but let me just say, Happy Birthday! Thanks for helping me be LESS focused on new music! Among many other things....
ReplyDeleteLove it. Well done. and I love "shit makes the grass grow" . I have been under a rock for may years and not heard that before.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the stuff that is a)new to my ears, b)weeding out the chaff.
Once again, a dollar short and a day late... but Happy Anniversary, Mr. N!
ReplyDeletebtw, I still use iTunes, still use an iPod nano (really!, for podcasts at the gym) and still read BW (have since day one.)
If it ain't broke and makes your life that much better, why not?
Mazel tov!
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping this going for so long. I read a lot of music blogs but yours is the only one I try to read daily. Just know that even if we don't always comment, we are always here.
ReplyDeleteLoving, cranky, enthusiastic, pissed off, discovering new things even when they're old....sounds like a teenager to me! Happy Birthday Burning Wood!
ReplyDeleteBryan
Happy Birthday, Mein Music Guru! I have thoroughly enjoyed your writing and have loved discovering new music through your blog! Keep going--a little break now and then is okay, but don't ever stop. You would be missed terribly.
ReplyDeleteA job well done to be cranking out the amount of quality stuff. Ten years is a lifetime in this climate. My mornings wouldn't be the same without it.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary
ReplyDeleteThought it was a Macbeth reference: "Till Birnam wood remove/come to Dunsinane"
or the Marshall MacLuhan pun on it: "Till Burning Would come to Dance Inane"
T
Correction:
ReplyDeleteIt's a James Joyce Finnegan's Wake quote... “A burning would has come to dance inane.”
Punning on MacBeth.
But used as a title for a documentary by MacLuhan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDzkjL7r5zg
and mentioned in one of his books...
Congrats and thanks for doing what you do. It is certainly appreciated by me.
ReplyDeleteJust back from a staycation up in Edinburgh (the one in Scotland, not a US one) and catching up with your posts, so a belated thanks for keeping it up (the blog, that is). I know you say it's been "13 years of this crap" but it's been jolly good crap, hasn't it. I've learned a lot, laughed a little, sworn at the screen a few times, but always enjoyed your honest opinions and, most of all, the music. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI've been visiting my mother-in-law in Annapolis for the past ten days and had put myself on an internet vacation. Congratulations and a sincere thank you for your creation and all that you do. Burning Wood is a tonic for our times. Here's to more timber on the fire.
ReplyDelete