Another year has come and gone. And what a fast year it was. It seems just like a few weeks ago that I was down in The Hole's basement (1st of 3 locations in one year) watching the New Years show, freezing my ass off in the bitter cold rocking out. But just like every other year, I survived, and I look forward for yet another beginning. 2010 was a pretty interesting year for me and Crucial Changes. I designed and published two zines (something that I have never done before), saw some pretty good shows, got to travel a bit with some friends, guest hosted a local radio show, and came across some pretty good punk and hardcore records along the way. If this year will have any lasting impression on me it would probably be the fact that I was always busy working on something that was Crucial Changes related all year long. After eclipsing 2 years of blogging I have further ambitions to continue a consistent rate of posts and try to think of new ways to present it so it is fresh and remain relevant. None of this would have been possible without the bands, labels, promoters, and especially the fans who come to shows and keep the scene alive. Thank you.
Going into 2011 I have plans for a new project consisting of a local cd-r comp. This project is still in it's embryonic stage but I should have more details in the upcoming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. I also have plans of doing a 3rd zine in the near future consisting of all the Local Spotlights from 2010 reprinted with a few photos of the featured band. I also have some other project ideas that should be a lot of fun once I get rolling in them.
In other blog news, I am currently putting together my "best of" list for 2010. I am slowly finding out that I bought much more new music this year than I have previously thought. If you have been following Crucial Changes from the beginning it may not come to much surprise in what I will be favoring this year. But I can assure you that there will be a few off the radar choices on the mind. Expect to see a more more expansive list this year with better written reviews. Also for 2011, I may do record reviews of all the shit I buy throughout the year. I really don't know about this, but if you think it would be a good idea, post a comment and let me know what you think. I am also thinking of my next poll question. As you can see, there is less than 2 weeks to vote for what you'd like to see more of content wise in Crucial Changes. I have less than 50 votes so far which I feel is kind of fucked up considering that I get more than that amount in page views a day on the blog. So don't be lazy and click one of the five options on the poll! The more people who vote the better. Let me know what you think.Finally, Crucial Changes will NOT be hosting anymore non-local downloads as of Jan. 1st, 2011. As mentioned briefly before, my main focus is the local scene. Since Crucial Changes has started there have been many punk and hardcore download blogs popping up and many of them do a good job at doing what they do. All previous record reviews contained on download posts will remain.
OK, that pretty much wraps up another year in hardcore for me. To everyone who celebrates the new year, may you do so safely. Have a happy new year and see everyone in 2011. Peace.
-Keith
