I'm A Loser!

And I'm exactly what I appear to be!



Though, to be honest with you, I'm okay with losing this time. It's cliche, but it's true: it really is an honor to be nominated. Thanks again to all of you who voted for Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) in the Best Blog category in The Syracuse New Times' Best Of Syracuse '16 poll. Going into this, I knew my odds were somewhere south of realistic, and I appreciate your support as I tried to take down that damned windmill. Stupid windmill!

I haven't quite figured out who did win; the top vote-getter was "Syracuse History," and I've been presuming that's local music historian Ron Wray's History Of Syracuse Music blog. If so, I feel no shame whatsoever in losing to Ron, whose exhaustive efforts to chronicle the history of our local music scene make me look like a poseur. Hell, in retrospect, I probably should have voted for Ron. If it ain't Ron, then...uh, then I don't know who won. Hope it was Ron; I'd feel pretty silly losing to a fictional blog.

But let's get back to that honor-to-be-nominated thing. This penny-ante little blog is less than nine months old, and is hawked via word-of-mouth to a small (but presumably discerning) group of personal contacts, Facebook friends, and Monkees fans. Mostly to Monkees fans. I was never a big name in pop journalism, even when I was freelancing regularly, so there isn't some pent-up market of desperate folks awaiting words of wisdom from the guy who used to write for Goldmine. I'm delighted this gimmick has attracted as much attention as it has, and I aim to continue jumping up and down, waving, and bellowing Look at me! Look at me! for as long as I have ideas to write about. Longer than that, even.

"Ideas?" Not for what this blog pays!

We've got some Comic Book Retroviews coming at you in the next few days, possibly the start of my new series The Greatest Record Ever Made, another entry in The Everlasting First, and eventually the beginning of the '70s chapters in my de facto autobiography, Singers, Superheroes, And Songs On The Radio. And I may have something to say about what's on top of my must-read pile:

I bought the same comic book FOUR TIMES?! Man--losing a reader's poll takes a toll on a guy!