Hey, all.

Welcome to LaRuminator. Yeah, I started a blog. Since I quit my full-time job at the New Haven Advocate and went freelance, a lot of people have asked me whether I have a blog. I can thank Tom Sommerville for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to finally start one. When he asked a few weeks ago if I had a blog and I said I didn't, he asked, "Why not?" And I didn't have an answer.

Got hung up on the title for a while. I'd been set on Hip Priest, after the song by The Fall about a dodgy rock journalist who imagines himself "no-o-ot... ap-pre-ci-ated," but it turns out about five people already had that idea. I don't recall exactly who it was who once addressed me as "LaRuminator" -- it was either Chris Greenland, onetime booking agent at The Space in Hamden, or Tim Parrish, head of Southern Ct. State U.'s creative writing program. So, thanks to both those guys.

I'm gonna toss up a whiz-bang assessment of a few shows I've been to this past week -- all "late," really, in terms of blog-time, but you gotta start somewhere. Now that I have this, I'll have to remember to bring my camera to shows.