A new year's feint at posting...

A week since I posted, and now with SacramentoPress.com, Facebook - did everyone get Facebook for Xmas or something? - and Twitter, the role of the archaic old BLOG is ever more fuzzy in my 20th century mind.

A great Xmas week, heading into new years with a renewed sense of purpose and an increasing income. And new plans for 2009. Like what?

Well, continuing to make a living is a good. Continuing to be a good partner and dad-like fixture. And son to parents who are more and more like children.

Oh, and on the anniversary of my first album - 1999's Straight - a follow up? I've got the songs, and a potential bookend title: Bent. But that's a gimme. Surely, I can be more creative than that? We'll see. Finding the TIME is going to be the trick.

So, back to work. Life is good. Carry on! See you next year.

Christmas Eve thoughts

So, now that I'm managing editor of SacramentoPress.com, and have a number of writing outlets, and the much-desired "multiple income streams," I may go a bit more personal with the blog. That's what they are, right? (And for you tired of my Hamlet routine regarding content, well...you're not reading anymore anyway...)

This has been SUCH an intense year, macro and micro, and not just for me. Christmas Even has me thinking about how it's affected me, and everyone around me.

For me, navigating the currents of no regular job has been a remarkable series of lessons, and I'm glad I'm learning them, though I'm not such a fan of the process. And I'm one of the lucky ones. I've got time and money to be able to sit at my favorite coffee place and drink and surf and chat and yes, write. My confusion about what to write notwithstanding, I'm a writer, always have been, always will be. And that in itself is a blessing beyond measure. Really. I never, ever forget how lucky I am. (And that's not even counting a great family, friends who ARE family, and a soulmate who gets me even when I don't, and who is a model of calm and groundedness.)

But no steady income - or not ONE steady income - has been a frightening thing at times, and the temptation to find a port in the storm is exceptionally appealing. But at the same time, I find myself resisting what I once thought I couldn't live without: Security. I've gotten THIS far, who's to say I can't go further? I've already been through the fire - now it's just a matter of continuing to dance well on the coals.

Still, security beckons. But that's another story...

I'm thinking beyond myself right now. I just visited a local merchant, an old favorite, and she intoned, at some point, in words to the effect of, "You know, it's all going down next year. Total collapse." Coming just hours after I posted a comment on McClatchy's stock price dipping below a dollar (down from $70 four years ago) on SacramentoPress.com, a few days after I wrote a piece for Bloomberg News about the lawsuits flying between state workers unions and the Governor, The Bee on the table in front of me warning of funding cuts for this and that, my friends' comment was jarring.

Sure, it comes through her prism of the ongoing struggle of any small business, but this is a notion I'm familiar with from the past year, and probably longer: It could all just fall apart. And I've got no real protection, everything could be taken away just like that. And then I'm just...done.

Done? What does that mean? For a generation that grew up in the shadow of the nuclear bomb and the population bomb, with AIDS and global warming following on, the notion of everything just going to hell is overly familiar. We're the apocalypse generation.

And while we've been through previous financial crises, this time feels different. This feels like a disaster. The actual forecasts aren't THAT bad - even 10 percent unemployment is still only one in 10 - but you hear about enough things being the worst "in a generation" or "since World War II," and the mind...goes with it.

And then there are all the friends I have who are leaving jobs - The Bee, specifically, but that's hardly the only place - and they're looking for some security, some encouragement, some hope. They don't k now what's next. They're not sleeping well. Their 401k is way down (forget for a minute that a lot of people don't HAVE 401ks - losing is worse than never having, sometimes.) Things feel desperate.

But despite everything that is happening, I find that I can offer hope. Because despite the sleepless nights, the bill-juggling, and the ongoing glimpses-over-the-precipice, I'm still here, and thriving. I'm managing editor of a promising new venture, I'm a regular stringer for Bloomberg News, and I'm even writing for The Bee occasionally. I do my gig hosting Insight on KXJZ whenever I can - a pleasure that I never saw coming when I left The Bee - and I've got a number of freelance clients. I'm even playing a show with Jackson Griffith on Feb. 18 at Luna's.

And I have a hell of a lot of fun. And I'm being a good son. And a good partner. And I'm even paying down my credit card debt.

So, this meander is, at bottom, to say this: Merry Christmas, everything's going to be alright. Everything is NOT going to collapse, even though it may feel that way. Life will go on, there will be ups and downs and challenges and set backs and amazing, amazing victories. And they will pass, too. And through it all, one can moan and worry and fret, or one can still notice the colors of the trees, the glorious noise that is music, and enjoy, yes, the old cliche: the smile of a child.

And that's what Christmas is to me, a certified ex-Christian: the season of hope. We just passed the darkest night of the year on Sunday, and we partied right through it - happy birthday Jon! Congratulations on getting tenure, Hugh! - and our celebration managed, just like the dances of primitive history, to satisfy the gods and start the days lengthening again.

Soon, the rain - which is gloomy, yes, but remember our drought worries? - will stop, trees will bud, the legislature and governor will get a clue, the market will bottom, and mortgage rates of 5.1% will lure buyers back to houses, and things won't seem so dire. Until next time.

And it is my holiday wish to you, that next time this happens, you remember how bad it was in December 2008, how scary it was, and note that it really wasn't all that bad after all.

It's just life. Live it

Rising to the Top Ten challenge (thanks Spooner)

My Top Ten albums of 2008. Yes, all (but one) white, all sorta classic rock, but all good. And that's what I needed.

Of Great and Mortal Men - Christian Kiefer, J. Matthew Gerkin and Jefferson Pitcher
Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs
Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings - Counting Crows
Warpaint - The Black Crowes
Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket
Stay Positive - The Hold Steady
Dear Science - TV on the Radio
Accelerate - R.E.M.
Viva la Vida - Coldplay
Detours - Sheryl Crow

Honorable mention Top 10:
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Gossip in the Grain - Ray LaMontaigne
Giving Up the Ghost - Jackie Greene
House of Bluhm - Tim Bluhm
The Slip - Nine Inch Nails
Sugar Mountain (Live 1968) - Neil Young
Little Honey - Lucinda Williams
Funplex - The B-52's
The Coachman - Kate Gaffney
Born Broken - Christopher Fairman

Didn't hear, but intend to:
Black Ice - AC/DC
Only By the Night - Kings of Leon
The new one by The Killers
Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie (LOVED "I Will Possess Your Heart," however)


(Seriously, I wasn't kidding about it being nearly all-white, all-guys....)

Journalism workshop tomorrow night!

Today is the last day to sign up for the journalism workshop being presented tomorrow (Thursday) night at the SacramentoPress.com's offices. It's going to be a great basic introduction to writing for the site, which you should definitely be doing. Wait, which I should definitely be doing!

Here's what Editor in Chief Geoff Samek posted about it:

Sign up for our site and come on down to our office for free food and a great interactive workshop taught by Holly Heyser, Sacramento State Professional Journalist in Residence. The workshop will be from 6:30pm - 8:00pm Thursday, December 18th at The Sacramento Press office. We will start with food and refreshments, move on to quick introductions and then the interactive workshop. Please R.S.V.P. by Wednesday, December 17th, and do so by emailing journalism@sacramentopress.com.

News (and olds)

OK, now that I'm on Facebook more, AND SacramentoPress.com, bloggingthegrid has less pull for me. If that was possible. I just don't find myself posting much. Then again, my life is moving much more online. Like everyone's.

Case in point: I was hired last week as managing editor of SacramentoPress.com, a terrific new reader-generated website dedicated to news of...The Grid! Yes, this is basically a much-expanded and much better version of the idea I had a year ago that kinda sorta (but not really) became bloggingthegrid.blogspot.com.

WAY better.

And it's already getting attention: The Sacramento Business Journal's new edition features a great story by Melanie Turner about the site. Read it here.

So what does it mean for Blogging the Grid? Frankly, I don't know. As managing editor of SacramentoPress.com, I will have my hands full, and I want to keep that beast growing. On the other hand, this is ME. Perhaps I'll focus more on me and less journalistic stuff. I don't know. It's not like (I am always aware of this) anyone really needs MORE to read, right?

Which reminds me. I've come perilously close to cancelling my Bee subscription, for the simple fact that I spend more time hauling the thing around - its supposed advantage - than actually reading it. Get the paper off the porch, pull out the ads and Sports and toss 'em in the recycling (which then needs to be taken out, twice), then half-reading what's left, mostly Our Region because I've already heard most of the news in the A section and can rarely find much to read in whatever they're calling Scene now (Outbound excepted) and...what's left, I can read online.

And it's money out of my pocket besides.

On the other hand...it's The Bee. Obviously, it has been in my life forever (though I actually delivered The Union), and there are stories worth reading in there. But again, there's online.

Online is it, basically. Right? Which brings me to SacramentoPress.com. It is NOT The Bee, it's a different beast. As I said in the Biz Journal story, we're not entirely sure what it is, or will be.

But what's amazing about it - what absolutely suffused the Xmas party Ben and Geoff and Nicholas put on at Tuli on Wednesday night - is the energy. The enthusiasm. First of all, imagine The Bee treating its writers and editors to a night like that. Never happen. But far more importantly, people around the very long table were EXCITED, idealistic, full of ideas and enthusiasm for the project. Compare that to the Bee's newsroom, which a friend recently compared to a "death watch."

As I've said before, I'm not gloating, and if The Bee goes down, we lose what little center is left to our news and information culture in this town. But perhaps that's what is causing the angst: The inclination to hold onto a center. And perhaps Yeats isn't right, in his classic poem: perhaps "mere ancharcy" will NOT be "loosed upon the world." Perhaps we're just moving into a whole new phase - certainly, we are - and it could actually be BETTER than what we've had.

Just different. And trying to keep things the way they've been, or rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking ship, simply isn't going to work, and causes more angst than it creates positive energy.

And that's one reason I signed on with SacramentoPress.com. The energy is there, and more is flowing into it every day. And I've always liked to be where the energy is flowing FORWARD.

Yes, I still write for The Bee on occasion, and I hope that voicing this won't endanger that. There's still a lot in the paper, and the staff, at least what remains of it, is still the best news "team" (as the TV folk say) in our area. Ben and Geoff at the SacPress are BIG fans of the Bee, daily readers. But they do it online, and that's where I do it, too. Which poses big problems for The Bee, in terms of cash flow. But canceling The Bee is going to make my day quite a bit less cluttered.

And sometimes big changes boil down to simple things like that.

A gray Santacon

Damn, it's cold! And grey. This is my least favorite time of year here. Ugh.

Just stopped by my old place to repaint the steps, and it's like it rained or something! Later in the day, perhaps. While I was there, my former neighbor and fellow Burner DJ Erik said hello and reminded me - or his crew of five Grid-bound, twisted Santas reminded me - that today is SANTACON!

I wrote about it last year, and shot photos, but this year it's all about housekeeping, and tonight, my big party of the year at the Canby Vortex. But YOU can go check out the Santas Selebrating on the Grid. The party starts, fittingly, somewhere near the City Jail.

More later. If anyone has any photos, I'd love to post 'em, or link to 'em.

Stay warm!

After the storm...

Did you ever have so much to write about, you didn't write a THING?

Feel me.

So much changes for me in the course of a week, a four day holiday weekend just ups the ante. And again, never sure how personal to make this blog. Especially now that I'm going to be doing a community website professionally. Think "managing editor." The imaginings of last fall, in post-Bee free-fall, have largely come true. Wow.

More on that later.

There's also: I have left The Grid. Love and life have taken me back, once again, to Land Park. So, am I still blogging the Grid? Or is it time to kill it and start over? I write this from Nekkid Lounge, so I'm still here.

When I left my home at 17th and V, Richmond Grove, Mohan the convenience store owner said, "Good people leave, the bad people stay." The young gangsta (wannabe?) kid at the counter said to me, "He's talking about me."

Quite a moment.

My little neighborhood's have trouble - drugs can be fun, but drugs (and drug sellers) can kill, a person, a neighborhood - and I feel MORE responsible for it now that I've left it for the leafy, ultra-quiet Land Park (and people here resent the term "suburban" - please!).

OK, sentences like that last one might make me writing seem like less than a good thing. Still...

Also, at the end of the year, I think rock critic thoughts. Like, what was good? Or, now that I'm not a pro-crit, what did I like (no need to sheath it in objectivity or historical accuracy)?

Musically, I had a very conservative year, which is very much counter to how I live. But hey, we're somewhat subject to our conditioning, and my conditioning was Beatles/CSNY/Creedence/Stones/Who/Zeppelin: Thus, in some sort of less-enthused return to a long-ago adolescence, nearly every band I liked in 2008 was young (or not-so) white guys (mostly) playing retro classic rock: My Morning Jacket, The Raconteurs, Fleet Foxes, Counting Crows, Nine Inch Nails, The Black Crowes, Jackie Green, Tim Bluhm, The Hold Steady, R.E.M....and Sheryl Crow.

And perhaps above all, the three-CD set "Of Great and Mortal Men," the locally-produced celebration of our 43 presidents by Christian Kiefer, Jefferson Pitcher, and Matthew Gerkin, all of whom I interviewed on Insight and the last of whom I had the pleasure of sharing Thanksgiving dinner with. A remarkable set worthy of its epic subject, this album of 43 songs (and accompanying artwork booklet) should last many years. I'd love to do a documentary about it. This is world-class art, created right here in Sacramento. Hallelujah.

So, I will write about all of these things, but there's more living (and writing, and unpacking, and imagining) to do. Soon.

How was your Thanksgiving?