Well, it's that time of
year again when The Hat traditionally hangs his big red balls on the
front door of Hat Mansions, gets out that bottle of strange
unfinished advocaat - (and puts it away again), tries to think of one
Blessing to Count and writes his heart-felt Thanks to those of you
who have stayed the Words course for yet another year.
We have rambled
together all over the place this year – from Bonamassa Ticket
Prices to the Blues Eating Itself and from the awful Charlie Hebdo to
the unspeakable Kanye West. Fittingly one of the most read blogs,
shared massively across the world this year was about losing big
Barry Middleton, who even for those who had never met him,
represented much of what is so good about those behind the scenes in
the blues world - selfless, hard-working, caring and supportive to
all and everyone in a tough and often wearying, thankless and unfair
blues music world.
We also lost BB, moaned
about austerity cuts in music education, had the usual 'chat' about
the British Blues Awards, got the sun to rise by playing the guitar
and worshipped (again!) at the feet of the ever-growing number of
brilliant female blues and soul singers currently ripping our musical
fermament asunder.
Despite some close
attention this year from the brilliant NHS, The Hat is constantly
amazed at his own Blogevity. By rights I should have packed up years
ago – I believe 6-9 months is good going for any blog, especially
an opinionated one peppered with Pointless Capital letters and lots
of...interruptive...dots... But, am I bovvered? Is this the face of
someone who is losing sleep? (Ok, don't answer that..my face is not
up for discussion...). Actually, I like my job. I am Author and
Editor. I laugh loudly at my own jokes. I admire my svelte and subtle
prose and I enjoy, every so often, Poking the Bear and being on a
mission. Sometimes I put Stoly in a small glass, look at myself in
The Mansions huge hall mirror and toast myself. Above all though, I
remind myself that I just put words, words, words together and if nobody reads them
then I am in trouble.
So this is my annual
Thank You – to those of you who occasionally respond, to those who
shout at the page and call me things that your Mother Would Not Like,
to those that quietly read and nod, to those that share and those
that join in. Above all, Thank You to those fine musicians, fans and
DJs who give me an excuse to beam and ramble in print.
So, let's all drink to
a terrific 2016 – when our music will flourish and fly and once
again, I will attempt, and fail, to hide my pellucid light under a behemothic
bushel....go on, look it up, you know you want to...
Take care out there
next year my friends...
Pip Pip!
The Blues Man in The
Hat
(No advocaat was drunk in the making of this blog.)