A period of silence (2)
To my amazement, this blog is now 730 posts old. I’m grateful for the interest of those who’ve been reading it since the start in January 2013, or who’ve come in along the way. It’s nice to know that the pleasure I get from it is shared.
Four years ago I put it on hold for a few months in order to give myself the time I needed to finish a book. Now I’m doing it again, and once more the writing that’ll keep me occupied until mid-summer has nothing to do with music. It’s going to be hard to deny myself the opportunity to listen to as many albums and (circumstances permitting) go to as many gigs, but that’s how it has to be.
Meanwhile, a happy new year to one and all, and see you down the road apiece.
— Richard Williams
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thebluemoment.com 
Adam White has paused his for the same reason…though I’m pretty certain his will be about music!
Don’t leave us waiting too long Richard.
Until then.
Steve
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Thanks for all these impressive reviews over the years!
Your return will be welcome. In the interim, may all go well.
Your pearls of wisdom and good taste shall be missed. Good luck with the new book and enjoy your writing
See you down the road, dear Richard. Even if no one introduced us, we met 50 years ago, on August 26th, 1971. Porchester Hall. Eve & John McLaughlin. I was sitting in the front row of chairs, with Bob Fripp and Ian Wallace sitting on my right side. A magical experience for maybe 25 souls and there we were. The admission fare was 20 pence, if memory serves me right. All the Best. Maurizio Comandini, music writer in Italy
Dear Maurizio — That’s a happy memory. Was it really only 20p? All best, Richard
Happy new year Richard – will miss your regular postings a lot, but good luck with the book!
Shove and sting like an old steam drill on that book.
Happy New Year Richard. Thanks for you and your writing. C
Sent from my iPhone
we’ll catch up in the summer then! meanwhile, have a peaceful, healthy, productive and HAPPENING new year – thanks for the gift of music, wisdom and knowledge – ciao!
Happy New Year Richard, not sure what’s occurring, but , in the lacuna, you will be greatly missed. Stay safe. JR and my mate Chris.
Happy new year to you too, Richard, and many thanks for this wonderful blog
Your entertaining insights will be missed, but I’m sure they’ll be back. Hoping the words low…..Happy New Year.
Flow, of course!
Still the doyen of music critics your musings are always instructive and thought provoking, good luck with the latest project
Best wishes for a happy, peaceful and health New Year. Keep on keeping on !
Nice, your penultimate text was about doo-wop: seems like time traveling by sound is one of the the easiest ways to jump between decades. And to keep the memory of things long gone present (for a while). That‘s what you‘re doing with your books anyway, Richard, no matter what their topic is. See you returning.
Thanks Richard for this blog. I’ve enjoyed every post. Happy New Year from Bilbao.
Thanks, Santiago. Feliz año nuevo!
Your blog has been a hugely fascinating and treasured resource for my own musical journey. Thank you so much Richard, wishing you all the best with the next project. And it will be a pleasure to revisit past Blue Moments while you are away.
Happy New Year Richard! We’ll miss your insightful pieces. Good luck with the writing!
Thanks for all the thoughtful recommendations!
Hopefully this is the last bad news this year. Your writing and wisdom will be missed. Good to know you will back. Happy New year to you and happy trails!
Hi Richard
I think I have been following your blog pretty much from the start and I would like to say it has been a constant source of interest, insight and information.
I think it was Neville Cardus who wrote something on the lines of ‘the best music writing is not to be found in the notes’ but in the soul of the performer and the performance, and your writing – particularly two of my favourite books on music, ‘The Blue Moment’ and ‘Long Distance Call’ – exemplify this.
Good luck with the writing task and here’s to the return of The Blue Moment sometime in 2022!
Best wishes,
Jeremy Agnew
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts and words
We are looking forward to your return soon
Aj
fully understand your Sonny Rollins sabbatical Look forward to your return Danny
Hope the writing goes well, thank you for what you do. I’ll look forward to when you restart, it’ll come as a nice suprise
Dear Richard,
Given that I think you have a certain affection for the music of Laura Nyro, I thought you might be interested in some information/intelligence relating to her that I came across recently. I susbscribe to Bob Lefsetz’s letters. I also sometimes listen to his podcasts. The last two of these that I heard were with Gary Katz and Desmond Child respectively. Katz produced Laura’s final studio album Walk the Dog and Light the Light. He told Lefsetz that when the album came out, Tommy Mottola, head of Columbia at the time (and all round lovely human being…) did a deal with Lorne Michaels which would have involved Laura appearing as the musical guest on the season premiere of Sarurday Night Live. Sensitive about her weight and not wanting to appear on TV, Laura declined and was promptly dropped by Columbia. I don’t think she had a subsequent deal with anyone else. And then she died.
Desmond Child has two adopted sons, one of whom he named Nyro. Safe to say, he is a fan. So much so that he hired Laura’s father to tune his studio’s piano in NYC purely to get info about her and possibly affect an introduction to the woman herself. The ruse paid off and Desmond went up to Laura’s house in Danbury CT. This was after she’d been dropped by Columbia. Laura had a big house but she couldn’t afford to live in it any more. The house was rented out and Laura was reduced to living in a trailer in the grounds with her young son.
I didn’t know any of this and I’d guess you didn’t either. Maybe it could be the subject of a future Blue Moment. Or even a newspaper/magazine feature. I’d imagine you have the access and contacts to make a better job of it than anyone. Not the way a musical legend should have had to spend her final days. Tommy Mottola must be so proud.
Very best wishes for 2022
Stephen Ferns PS I worked at GQ during the Michael VerMeulen years.
Many many thanks … and a Happy New Year !!!
Sent from my iPhone
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Good luck with your next writing project. I will miss your notes. They have provided some great insight and often send me off to explore music I would otherwise not hear. All the best for 2022!
Your insightful and informed pieces will be missed, Richard. All the best with your next book.
Happy New Year, Richard, and thanks for all the music and the words and the inspiration
Thank you Richard for all the Blue
Moments! See you soon. Finish
your book. We will be waiting!
Peter
Good luck Richard
Thank you so much for your words. You will be missed.
Happy New Year, Richard. All the very best to you, Sir, and I’ll wait patiently for the next email announcement to land in my inbox. Good luck with the writing!
Thank you for the always inspirational Information and all best wishes for a happy and productive 2022.
Best wishes — it’s been a pleasure to read you all these years (not just the Blue Moment years)
I’ve really enjoyed this series Richard, and have bought quite a few of the records you’ve covered – most recently the vocal groups release from your last post. Looking forward to your return later in 2022.
A happy and healthy new year to you, Richard. And a thousand thanks for all the words and links that have helped to fill our lives throughout the strange circumstances of the last two years
The last time you put your music blog on hold to complete a book, the result was your terrific account of the life of Richard Seaman; I’m sure that your current project will be equally rewarding. Your blue moment pieces and recommendations will be missed but while we await their return we will have plenty of wonderful music that we might otherwise have missed to keep us occupied; many thanks. I look forward to seeing you at a gig sometime, perhaps, but in the meantime best wishes – and Happy New Year.
Happy New Year to you Richard and to all your family. All the best with your next project. Your recent piece about Curtis Mayfield took me back to the 1993 ‘Tribute’ album, and particularly The Isley Brothers version of ‘I’m So Proud’, which I think was the best track (Phil Shaw and I have been having something of love-in about The Isleys this year). I look forward to the Blue Moment’s return. Stan.
Happy New Year Richard.
I echo all the previous comments and wish you luck with your new work and look forward to hearing more from you about music when you are able to devote the time to that again
Best David
Best wishes, and hope to have you back soon!
Love these posts. Happy New Year
I really enjoy your blog. I am wishing you a happy, safe and healthy new year.
Good luck with your writing project and look forward to return of your blog.
Many thanks Richard for the updates and the memories (I have been with you since whistle test, and I’ll always remember your kindness to Man Jumping). Good luck with the book and we all look forward to picking up where we left off some time next year. Meanwhile, a very happy New Year to you and all your readers
Thanks Richard, the posts are always a treat, in content and style. Best wishes for your 2022 project.
Thanks, Chris Bourke
Thanks Richard, I will miss the blue moment does anybody have another blog that they can recommend till you come back..?
Many thanks for all your insightful pieces – I’ll miss them, but look forward to reading more, later in 2022.
Good luck with the new book, and Happy New Year!
Chris Sugden
Good luck with the writing… it is always great to lock yourself away without distractions to produce a piece of work! Happy Days…