By Chris Moore:

Hi everyone.  I wanted to write a brief note to reassure everyone that my decreased volume of posts the past couple weeks is no cause for alarm.  Far from it — I want nothing more than to chip into the mounting number of posts that I have researched, rehearsed, planned out, and in some cases, started.

The school year ends a week from today, which means that I am officially in the grip of the craziest time of year for a teacher.  Grading is mounting almost as high as tensions among students trying to get their grades up and/or keep them as high as they are in the face of beautiful weather and a desire for summer to begin.  Come on, you remember those days…

So, I’m doing my best, but I simply refuse to rush through posts, particularly the Weekend Review articles.  As soon as school’s out (for the sum-mer, as Alice Cooper might sing), I’ll catch up with some non-weekend installments of the Weekend Review.  I know, I know… it flies in the face of all that is good and right!

But, rest assured, much more new and interesting material is on its way this summer.  For some, it’s a time to step back.  For me, I can’t think of anything I would rather do than immerse myself in the writing of songs, reviews, and more.  So, before I go, let me offer up some things to look forward to.

First, I’ll let you in on the upcoming Weekend Reviews.  In no particular order, I’ll be tackling Bob Dylan’s legendary Bringing It All Back Home, the much lesser-known 2002 Phantom Planet disc The Guest, and Jack Johnson’s most recent release, To The Sea.  The jury’s still out on if that one deserves the full Weekend Review treatment, or a more compact serving of “Yes, No, or Maybe So.”

Speaking of which, I will also be posting a one-sentence review for tomorrow.  It’s not much, but it’s a little morsel to hold you over until I get back into full swing.

For now, though, I’m going back to watching the Jack Johnson En Concert DVD — which is excellent, by the way, and makes me like the songs from 2008’s Sleep Through the Static even more than I like them individually and much, much more than I like them as an album — while washing dishes.  After dishes, it’s grading of some projects and then off to bed for me before my 5am wakeup call to the Star Trek: Voyager theme song.  Yes, that’s right.  You didn’t misread that.  Seriously, though, I highly recommend it.  I wake up much more peacefully and happily ever since I sprung for the ringtone.

Such a dork…

Okay, that’s all for now, but tune in tomorrow, perhaps as you’re waiting for your copy of the new Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, Mojo, to rip to your iTunes, and please be patient with me until school’s out next Monday night.

Take care until then!