At the beginning of last year, I decided I had to make some choices. I wasn’t sure if writing was what I wanted to do anymore, and the main site that I was contributing to at the time wasn’t making me happy. After taking my leave from that site, I figured I’d take some time, try to rejuvenate a little, and then decide what I wanted to do as far as taking a “next step”.

Well, folks-taking the “next step” turned out to be a little simpler than I thought it was gonna be. On February 2nd, 2010, I launched Popblerd!, a blog that had more of a pop-culture theme than a general music theme (although the focus remained-and remains-heavily skewed towards music), and would be a little more reflective of my personal opinion and tastes. I was excited to get it started, and 366 days later, I’m still pumped about the feedback I get, about the connections I’ve made, and about the fact that we’ve gotten over 40,000 hits (I should’ve put the damn hit counter in from jump) in a year on the internet with virtually no promotion.

I’m not falsely modest-I have no problem patting myself on the back. However, this would not have been possible without the efforts of several people. So, thanks to Khendra, Jay, GG, Carlos and Jesse for being my support staff and preventing burn out. Thanks to the Popdose gang (especially Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, Dave Lifton, Robert Cass Michael Parr, Rob Smith and Matt Wardlaw) for their good-natured ribbing as well as their support. Thanks to Scott Poulson-Bryant, the guys from Halston, Cougar Ace and Marc Pinansky for being willing interview subjects, thanks to Carletta for invaluable assistance with the site design, and thanks to folks like Mindy, Gerry at Pause and Play, Mike at The Second Disc, JayVee and Forest at The Round Table, Louie at The Frontloader, Pete at Ickmusic, and Ivan at Grown Folks Music for the patronage and good vibes.

Most of all, thank you, dear reader, for the support. It’s certainly appreciated, and I promise to deliver more of my personal take on pop culture as soon as I can shake off this flu (which has been kicking my ass for three days and counting!)

I started this blog off with a new release column that featured Sade. So why not rewind to one of last year’s most anticipated releases and play the “Soldier of Love” video one more time!?