Howdy folks!

31 July 09, 2:30 pm PDT -- TAD here. Well, I don't think the world has actually bn holding its breath 4 a new blog or music&book-review website. But here we go NEway. My old site (http://www.tadsweirdassmusicandbooks.co.cc/) has bn having some Issues since the very start, & as of Right Now has bn down 4 about 3 days, taken-over by Persons Unknown -- Internet Pirates! The whole site, including my data-Ntry location, has Bcome a giant ad 4 Internet-site templates!
I've bn blogging/posting since mid-Dec '08, & this kinda thing Cms 2 happen almost 1nce a month -- but it had bn awhile since the last bout of weirdness, & I guess I was overdue. I've e-mailed my Technical Adviser about this but have received no definitive response as yet (tho I thot he had solved the problem 4 me 4 a few hrs yesterday), so here I is. & actually it's so EZ getting started here at Blogger that I'm sorta suprised I didn't try it B4....
OK, so a little bit about me? I'm in Western Washington, USA, where it's bn over 103 degrees the past 2 days. (Global warming?) I'm pushing 50. I've bn posting odd reviews of off-the-wall music & books 4 7-1/2 mo's, thanks 2 my son ADD, who set-up my old site 4 me. I'd posted more than 225 reviews last time I checked. I was a newspaper reporter & editor 4 20 yrs B4 retiring 7 yrs ago due 2 burnout. This whole website thing is really just an Xcuse 2 get me writing again in my retirement....
WHY THIS BLOG IS A LITTLE DIFFRENT? Well, I write in my own version of English, a sorta shorthand I developed back in my newspaper daze & have bn using 4 Internet postings ever since. I try 2 review music & books thatta lotta people have apparently overlooked -- there'll B lotsa reviews of prog-rock, science fiction, fantasy, horror, music-related non-fiction, off-the-wall weirdness, & NEthing else I can't resist. I'm also a sucker 4 nostalgia -- I love 2 look back at old albums & singles & try 2 figure out what happened 2 those old magic days & where all the time went.
When it comes 2 music, my tastes R out there a ways but not 2 far-out, I still need a tune 2 hum along w/ mosta the time (got twisted further by working 3 yrs in a record store right after highschool). In reading, I liketa have my mind Xpanded, I Njoy Bing challenged, I liketa learn new things -- but as I get older my attn span gets shorter, so when it comes 2 fiction I need vivid, clear writing that GETS 2 THE POINT & DOESN'T WASTE MY TIME.
Writers I Njoy currently include Kathe Koja, Jack Ketchum, Thomas Harris, Ian McDonald, older George R.R. Martin (1972-1982), Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, early Samuel R. Delany (1965-70), Stephen King (up 2 about 1991), John McPhee, Tim Cahill, Lewis Shiner, Barry N. Malzberg's essays, Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, Lester Bangs, & many others. There R 2 MANY musical acts 4 me 2 even TRY 2 list, but I'm a sucker 4 '70s prog-rock, & in fact just about NEthing from the mid-'60s 2 early '80s.
I'm not sure what else 2 say Xcept Welcome Aboard & hold tight on the curves. I have a HUGE post lined-up on TAD's 200 Top 10 Favrite Overlooked & 4got10 Songs of All Time, previously previewed at my buddy RS Crabb's MySpace blog (http://blogs.myspace.com/townedger) -- but I've dropped a few things from the original Ndless list & added a BUNCH more. It might B as good a place 2 start as NE in terms of what my weird musical tastes R like & if U wanna invite me out 2 lunch. I'll probly B posting that HUGE list later 2nite -- or 2morrow morn, Dpending on where U're @.
& BTW, swing by & give Crabby a look -- he's as in2 good old music as I am & he's gotta lotta Cranky Attitude, which I admire. Other people/websites that have helped me along the way include Mark Prindle's Rock and Roll Record Review Site (http://markprindle.com/), & Don Ignacio's Music Reviews (http://donignacio.com/oldindex.html). A couple brilliant & funny Irish bloggers have bn very supportive of me, & U can read their great stuff at http://onavery.blogspot.com/, & at http://adamlacey.blogspot.com/.
If U're out there, welcome aboard, & thanx 4 reading....