As some of you may have noticed, CollectiveMusic took a long hiatus during 2006. We worked from around January into April but didn't write again until about October. I was thinking about how I missed so much of the year, many of the "Album of the Year" contestants I see floating around, I don't know. I feel I should share what was stopping me from writing between April and October.

Firstly, I began studying in school. Oops, that was a lie. I was taking about 47 classes, (sorry Laura) but that wasn't really what was stopping me. I was working on my photography, I began to take it seriously for the first time. As many of you might know, classes also end for summer around that time, as well. With the free time I began to work on my photography, studying a lot more with it, and also I was working to get some financial aid for the next (this) year. I was transferring to a private school (Guilford College!), but my "college fund" had only enough for about two years at this new and much more expensive school. Unless I wanted to only go for 2 years, I was going to have to devise a plan for getting some financial aid. Those forms, essays, etc. were killing me, I had little time left between that and my photography studies.

So there I was, in the heat of summer, with my camera shooting pictures of anything that didn't shoot back. I should also say I got lazy around this time as well, no way to suger coat it. Lying on the couch in the air conditioning, "working" on the computer, I should have been writing. But I wasn't. I had other things in mind, like how to pay for school this year, etc.

Along with such thoughts come business ventures, ideas on ways to capitalize from bored elderly women and from things like those little pieces of soap, too small to wash anything. I couldn't come up with anything to do besides "let" old people make miniature soap sculptures, so I decided I would give music publicity and promotion a go.

Bad move. I knew a lot about media, I did work at some pretty important places even before I became an infamous blogger; such as my high school, etc. I figured I knew enough. It worked alright, did a little work with some people, nobody you know, but some people. Sent a few mass e-mails until many bloggers began threatening to burn my house and never really earned any coverage for anyone. Maybe I should have let them burn the house, then the reporters would have had their story. Either way, that didn't work out so well. I made enough to pay for college this year from it and nothing more.

One would assume, that if you are working to do publicity for musicians, you would for sure be in the loop. One would think I'd know as well, if not better, than fellow bloggers what was hot, what was not, and what was real hot. Nope. Somehow, being on the other side of the fence blocked all signs of true talent (that damned fancy publicist/press fence), I found myself listening to stuff like Jack Johnson and Dave Matthews - not that there is anything fundamentally wrong with either of those artists, but who doesn't know these guys?

I was supposed to be the one who knew what was coming out in Paste Magazine before Paste Magazine knew. Instead, my friends were reading Paste and telling me about what I should be listening to. I then remembered why I started blogging in the first place - I love to share music with my friends. I love to tell someone about "this awesome new band, you have to listen to" and then weeks later hear them listening to it, having forgotten it was me who showed them the way.

I felt I owed some sort of an explanation to each of you reading this (and even a little more to the blog writer world) if I were to be trusted ever again. Be sure, I am not capitalistically motivated in any way by anyone, other than maybe Google AdSense, because I gotta earn my $.11 each day, how else is a brotha to eat?

Also...
Because of my six-month hiatus, I will not be putting together any sort of "Best of 06" type stories, because frankly, I've only heard what the first quarter and the second quarter of the year offered us all. I am sorry if you were looking forward to such a story. I will, however, be posting my Favorite album of the Year and Favorite Artist of the Year sometime this week.