Today is the eighth anniversary of this
blog. During that time I have posted 1149 entries which have been
seen, depending on which analytics I look at, over a million times.
It means that on average, I have written 143 entries a year, or
nearly twelve a month. A couple of days ago, I Googled “the average
lifespan of a blog” to see if this were really any kind of
accomplishment. I learned a couple of things. First, it's estimated
that approximately 60% - 80% of all blogs remain active for less than
a month. Second, I had asked the wrong question. Truly, the question
I asked is unanswerable. That's because even if a blog is no longer
maintained it is virtually immortal, as long as the Internet lasts
and no-one takes it down. The correct question to ask is whether the
content within the blog represents something meaningful and important
to the person writing it. Throughout the past eight years, I've had
to best job I've ever had. I've been provided with a forum to write,
photograph, and consider two of the most important elements in my
life: music (especially bluegrass) and books. I've developed habits
of considering and writing about two areas of interest which are
important to me, and apparently thousands of others. With my wife,
Irene, I've traveled many miles and spent untold hours listening,
watching, sharing, reading and playing while meeting people I never
imagined existed who have, mostly, become our friends, people we look
forward to seeing or communicating with through the many ways that
today's communications permit. What a life!
First, let's look at some statistics,
although increasingly I've come to believe that they're considerably
less important than other habits, values, and experiences we've had
along the way. During 2014 we've spent 220 nights on the road
following the passion we've developed. We attended seventeen
bluegrass festivals from New Hampshire to Florida and across the
mountains to Tennessee and Ohio. Nevertheless, I'm
constantly reminded of how many events there are, how many really
good bands, how much fine music in bluegrass and other genres can
command attention, and how little time and money we have to
experience it all. But given time, age, and our resources, we're
doing the best we can. In addition to attending festivals we visited
29 other events and individuals, each of which added to our store of
experience, knowledge, and enjoyment. We visited (and wrote about)
music shops, concerts, museums, jam camps, luthiers, performers in
their homes (a special treat), jams, and small shows. We've come to
treasure and appreciate the differences as well as the similarities
found in these places and people who share this little world with us.
Increasingly, You Tube has become an
important way for us to communicate about the music and musicians in
our world. During its lifetime, our
You
Tube channel has accumulated 1190 individual videos, mostly
singles. They have accumulated slightly over four million song plays,
with the viral
Josh Williams
Bird Video accounting for roughly half of them. This year alone
this fortuitous event accounted for roughly half of the 1.4 million
hits the channel had as well as gaining significant interest from
companies wishing to represent it (or me) in syndication, making all
sorts of promises. I've allowed several to show the Josh Williams
video on television for a single play, but declined to sign any
agreements. While it's fun to have people come up to me to ask, “Are
you Ted?” and thank me for the videos, or to have them leave
comments, I still prefer to write. While we live in a society where
people are increasingly more willing to view both their entertainment
and learning material without making the effort to read at any
length, I'm old enough and comfortable enough in my own skin to
continue writing in larger chunks than most people prefer. Meanwhile,
the latest and hottest of video experiences is a teen/hipster site
called
Vine where members post looped
six second videos and most of the providers getting millions of hits
and making fortunes are kids or twenty-somethings. I still want my
readers to read what I have to say about where we've gone and what
we've done, think about it, and maybe even communicate with me. As a
part of that process, I've become increasingly active on
Twitter,
continue to keep up my
Facebook
page, maintain
Ted
& Irene's Most Excellent Bluegrass Adventure, and participate
in various online forums including, since I returned after many years
to playing the guitar, the
Unofficial
Martin Guitar Forum. Although I have a
Pinterest
account, I honestly can't figure out how it works or how to reach out
to people through it. Overall, Social Media both contribute to the
activity on my blog and You Tube channel and permit me outlets to
express other interests that don't belong on a relatively focused
blog. I understand that my online world isn't “real life” but
still feel it helps me stay in touch with a wide variety of people as
we, ourselves, become less mobile and begin to wind down.
During the year I posted thirty-five
book reviews. Several people have suggested I segment the blog to
keep the reviews from interfering with bluegrass content. I've
stubbornly refused to do this, as I think my blog represents my
story, or at least those parts of my story I wish to communicate.
Just enough people have come up to me to thank me for book reviews or
“friended” me on that marvelous book site
Goodreads
(the quintessential web site for readers) that I'm satisfied to keep
posting book reviews with regularity. Here's a look at my year in
books according to
Goodreads.
Four of the books are explicitly about music, but I also read avidly
in American History, biography, mystery/thrillers, sports, and
whatever else strikes my fancy. I've added a new twist to how I read
books about music, which ought to be reflected in the coming year.
I've found
Spotify (a music
streaming web site) to be an invaluable resource in helping me gain
greater appreciation for the music of people I'm reading about. In
reading biographies of Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, I've
listened to their music while reading and writing about it. I have at
least two history of American music books on my list for 2015, and
intend to create Spotify playlists to coordinate with these books,
something I wish had been available to me. We'll see what happens
with that.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't
thank the people who have made this whole project possible. First,
and foremost, my wife Irene, who more-or-less patiently, has humored
me and adjusted her schedule to make it possible for me to have time
and space to read and write. She also serves as an effective filter,
keeping me from burning too many bridges and as an incomparable line
editor. She's put up with me for over fifty years, and it looks like
we'll make though another one. Her own career as Queen of Merch
deserves attention, but she much prefers to do what she does quietly
and efficiently. But ask the artists for whom she sells. Meanwhile,
there are at least dozens, maybe hundreds, or people who have taken
time to correct my errors, supply information I ask for, and
generally be helpful to me. They always add to whatever quality is
found in these pages while not interfering with my trying to make
sense of the world we inhabit. Thanks to all of you. See you next
year.
Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays
from
Ted & Irene Lehmann
May We Find Some Peace in the New Year
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
