It was a brave new blogging venture to switch from pure music to a wider world of the live experience of extended culture and sport. Alas this project has finally joined the worldwide bonfire ignited by the pandemic of Covid-19 and now all that remains are the embers of what was salvaged from the first few months.
There has been minor movement in very recent times with live music briefly springing back into action via the Beardy Folk Festival and the hope of perhaps one or two more socially distanced gigs taking place before the year end. On the sporting front, any hopes of attending a professional football game has probably been extinguished with the latest developments. Although all has not been lost with fans allowed to attend games in the 7th tier of the football pyramid leading to a re-acquaintance with the non-league game, specifically watching Stourbridge in the Southern League Premier Division Central.
While any developments in the final quarter of 2020 are very welcome, the flame to document the year in 2020CMS has finally burnt out and this will be the final post. Sad, but inevitable, and we rarely got our teeth into theatre with one sole production being covered.
However, all is not lost and a significant move in July re-ignited the blogging bug. My original and longstanding music blog Three Chords and the Truth UK had been mothballed at the end of 2019. A little fatigue had set in and this was a major factor in searching for a renewed writing assignment. With the new project grinding to a halt in mid-summer, a flash of inspiration led to the old blog being dusted down to see if there was any life in the old dog.
Since that day in July, twenty two album reviews have been published alongside a reflection piece on attending the Beardy Folk Festival. The blog has also been the home of sharing information on many other albums that were outside the review remit and has truly arisen from its slumber.
So I'm going blogging home, and from now on my writing is going to focus on music, with the tried and tested gig and album review. Anyway farewell 2020CMS and long live Three Chords and the Truth UK. Of more concern is what the landscape is going to be like for the live events industry post-pandemic. My view is that it will rise like a phoenix, but who knows what format.
Keep it live and keep blogging. It's good for the soul.
