Thanks to all who read this short-lived blog. I really appreciate the kind words and support that I received from so many of you. I think this was a little too ambitious of a project. I used to do a music blog called "The Hidden Chord", which was maybe a bit to grandious in its scope, so it too fell by the wayside. Truthfully, I came up with this concept in order to help my buddy P.M. Scales by reviewing his new record. I thought maybe I could expand it, but the City of Chicago is quite a daunting subject to try to take on. A little focus may have helped. Say, Chicago restaurants, or Chicago music. But even that can be further broken down into categories a-plenty.
And I'll preface this next paragraph by saying the following: Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Chicago and am extremely proud to live here and raise my son here. However...I've been here a long time and may be feeling a little bit of Windy City Fatigue. Granted, after that interesting little winter we had, I'd say 90% of the population of the city is probably feeling the same way. Amnesia has yet to set in. Especially when it's still barely over 40 degrees outside, like it is today! The truth of the matter is I'd probably move away for awhile if I could. Austin, TX is always appealing. My new locale to yearn for, from many a mile away, is Napa, CA. If I did get a chance to move to either of those places, I'd probably miss Chicago, though. Maybe not at first, but I can see it happening. My point is that writing about a place that you're a little worn out from is probably not realistic. I do love it, but we need to give each other a little space, Chicago and I.
Despite the false start of this blogging project, I plan to try again. I'm a writer. It's what I do. My trip to Napa and my progression into the beverage industry has inspired me to go down the wine blogging road. I'm going to do some planning before I launch into it, but I'll give you some of my raw thoughts concerning this idea. There are a lot of people writing about wine and tasting wine and scoring wine on that god-awful 100 point system, but I really don't get the impression that a lot of people are actually having FUN with wine! American wine culture, as seen through the "big picture" lens at least, is very inaccessible, snobbish, and unappealing to the greater public at large. This is too bad. It doesn't have to be this way and it really SHOULDN'T be this way. Wine's a great drink and is even greater in the company of people who fully embrace the notion, controversial as it may be to some, that anyone can enjoy it, whether you've studied for 10 years or 10 minutes.
I plan on bothering some friends, fair warning here people, about helping me out with a podcast as well. Hopefully video, but we'll see. The whole premise will be a very simple one: Wine is fun. I plan on making it into something that's enjoyable for me to write and hopefully enjoyable for you to read as well. Maybe there'll be some tasting, maybe some exploration of wine stores and wine bars. I really want to do some real journalism as well and interview some people on how they are making wine more accesible and fun. I plan on delving into the world of Illinois wines as well. It's something I know very little about, but I know there is such a thing and would like to know more. I mean, obviously no one will confuse Southern Illinois with Northern California, but still, I know there's got to be some good grape juice from my home state as well!
So that's my thought process moving forward. Once again, thank you all so much for following me and reading my posts. I hope you'll join me in my next venture.
