Got nothin' (but work and housework and kitten follies)

2022 was a busy year of blogging, while I recovered from my cancer surgery, but just a heads up, there's not much that's going to be happening on this page anytime soon. I'm not going away, exactly, but I have to adjust to being back to work full time, which has been very positive, but also quite exhausting, after a year of R&R and gradual "deconditioning" as I recuperated. I also have a new kitten, who is very high energy, and (since I was home all the time here, unlike my hard-workin' spouse) have become the de facto housework-doer, even more than I was before I got sick; hopefully I can get Erika involved in a bit more of that again, because holy cripes am I exhausted. Time to write? For no money? Uhhh.... nope. I feel like I'm in a Habitrail maze of work duties, laundry, dishes, cooking, grocery shopping, and (for light relief) the odd pleasures of chasing an escaped kitten down the hallway of our building... I often just scoop him up and bring him to the laundry room with me, so he can explore there while I get a load in.

Mind you, I might do the odd thing for the Straight or Montecristo or some other local magazine or paper, but only because there's compensation involved and I have holes to fill (credit card debt is a bitch and a year of reduced income on disability pay didn't help). There are a few things elsewise that I'm committed to - I have a big Rob Nesbitt piece that keeps getting shelved because I either get sick or have a computer failure whenever it approaches, and a big John Wright piece I've committed to do for a German mag (he's announced his new project, 3-2=1, and is talking about a release date sooner rather than later)... but... I'm not sure where I'll get the mojo or the time... 

What can I say in the meantime? People who like soulful rock should check out the Vanrays at the Fox on February 11th. CLONE, Vancouver's current glam champs, I believe, are opening. I'm excited to see Jonathan Richman again at the Rio in March, and there are a ton of very cool local bands playing a benefit for Ukrainian refugees in Poland shortly after that. I've grabbed a ticket to FEAR in April because, well, shit, how can I not? (DOA and the Vicious Cycles are opening, too). Got tickets for Erika and I to Lucinda Williams and Big Thief and hope to get a promo copy of Lu's book - the Lu's Jukebox series is amazing (tho' I didn't get the Tom Petty one, since I'm just not a big Tom Petty fan). Was very sorry to hear she had a stroke, very glad to hear she's recovering, and hoping to read her upcoming memoir. 

Oh, and I hear from David M. that Iggy Pop is coming and that's a definite maybe, too. But short of "reimbursement situations," I barely am going to have time to GO to these gigs, let alone blog about them. Just the way things are right now. Maybe something on Atomic Werewolf, who continue to release NO FUN stuff (I now have 1894 and Snivel on CD - I mean, I had them before, too, but just versions that M. put out on CRr.)

There are a few other things that excite me locally, mind you, but everything else that's happening in the next while is stuff I've pitched to the Straight (so I don't want to jinx it) or is something I don't really want to mention here for some other reason. So that's all I've got for now. Have a good spring, I guess. Maybe seeya at a show.