I am not an academic but I use the term “sabbatical” to denote the two and a half month break I’ve taken from writing this blog. My reasons for the break don’t really matter but I decided I owe it to myself to make an accounting of what I have done during this time.

Well, in addition to catching up on reading, I managed to attend many films at the 40th anniversary of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February. Several of the 20+ films I saw will get at least brief reviews to share the amazing artistic wealth from these films.

The old cineplex known as “Fiesta Five” is going to undergo major renovation including new air conditioning, projection systems, and sound systems. These five little theaters hosted many of this year’s films along with the (already fabulous) indie film center at the Riviera Theater as well as the 2000 seat Arlington and smaller venues like the Marjorie Luke Theater and others.

Temporally nestled between the just completed Sundance Festival and preceding the Oscars, the festival is conveniently set to attract stars and visitors to this historically low tourism portion of the year. And the newly acquired theater complex is set in a less traveled segment of State Street.

Meanwhile I have been adjusting to a new work assignment (still within the county system). The adjustment has more to do with the learning curve for a new department and related protocols. Not a horrible stress actually, but a time eater for sure.

As I move into my thirteenth year of this blog (I am also approaching my 40th year as a Registered Nurse) I have made some decisions regarding this blog and have some interesting plans (at least to me). Please do stay tuned.

One of the things I did not expect, but pleases me, is the fact that I’m still averaging about a thousand hits per month even though I haven’t published anything new lately. WordPress tracks visitors and view counts along with the countries from which the views are coming. So it’s impossible to tell if my viewers are new or long time readers just checking to see when something new is published. At any rate I am pleased to have a following of people interested in a rather lesser known musical genre, that of new, mostly recent, and sometimes decided difficult listening. Thanks to you all.

In addition to the film festival I did attend some events more in line with the general theme of this blog which will appear in forthcoming reviews. One of the most important to me was the 80th birthday of composer, producer, musician, broadcaster, and promoter of new music and executive producer of Other Minds (an annual new music festival held in San Francisco). My brief volunteer tenure at Other Minds prompted me to start this blog. There are mountains of new music articles, interviews, concert recordings, interviews, etc. on their website.

So, my apologies to those who came here for new material and had to go nearly three months without. This is the first of many concert and CD reviews to come.

Peace, health and music, my friends.