Ten Years of Flaming Pablum

Time flies, eh?

I started this blog as a complete lark in 2005. At the time, I was married with an infant daughter and a long-held job at TIME Magazine.

Since then, I’ve had a second child. At times, given its demands, Flaming Pablum has felt like my third child.

I've since changed jobs no less than three times (and am still currently on the hunt for the next opportunity). And while I started this blog partly as a means to help occupy the long, quiet hours of downtime during weekly overnight shifts at the TIME Magazine news desk, it’s turned into something that’s frequently garnered more attention than my professional résumé.

When I first launched Flaming Pablum, the following concerns were all still operational: CBGB, The Cedar Tavern, Rocks in Your Head, Shakespeare & Co., Bleecker Bob’s, the Roseland Ballroom, Milady’s, Gotham Book Mart, Tower Records, Mondo Kim’s, Chumley’s, the original Max Fish, The Hat, Motor City, the Hog Pit, NYCD, Rockit Scientist, Subterranean Records, the Knitting Factory, Footlight Records, the Virgin Megastore, the Lit Lounge, Etherea Records, the All-State Cafe, Pizza Box, Future Legend Records ... and those are just the ones off the top of my head. The disappearance of most of what I’ve held dear about New York City has accelerated to such a point that I find it almost too dispiriting to try to keep up.

In the ten years that I’ve been writing about this stuff, I’ve been remarkably fortunate enough to meet a disarming amount of similarly inclined individuals. I’ve made friends and have become part of a veritable community. I’ve had people from all corners of the globe reach out to me to share their thoughts on stuff I’ve hastily typed here.

As time has gone on, it seems the novelty of blogging has rather sharply dissipated (witness the amount of links to broken or dormant blogs at left), but I’ve somehow managed to keep mine going. Barring a couple of self-imposed hiatuses and the pervading fear that each and every post may be my final gasp, I’ve endeavored to find something to say here on a more or less regular schedule for a full decade.

I’d sincerely like to thank everyone who’s managed to find the blog (especially with my cryptic and not-at-all intuitive URL), read it and — good lord — come back for more. I hope it’s been as informative and engaging for you as it’s been therapeutic for me.

I can’t promise you ten more years, but as long as you keep coming back, I’ll keep trying to serve it up.

And, apologies for the stupid name.