If I knew more about WordPress, I’d delete the dates from previous posts so you wouldn’t see the enormous gap(-s).  But it’s been a helluva year.  Most notably, I spent seven months helping my good friend and fairy godmother, Colleen Cleary, as she went through treatment for metastasized brain cancer and then made her big transition to The Promised Land in March.  Those of you who listened to Episode 1 heard her voice in the bit about lunching at the Turkuaz.  The day we made that recording she complained of a headache and joked about a brain tumor:  if I’d known then that she was even partly serious, I would have dropped everything and dragged her to the doctor.

Scratch that:  I would have *attempted* to do so.  Knowing my headstrong friend, I wouldn’t have gotten out the door with her.

Anyway, I’m back, and once my kids are settled back in their school-year routine, I intend to pick up the pieces here and start again. If you’re reading this and I interviewed you last year but didn’t actually produce a podcast, I think I’ll probably ask for another bit of your time to re-record as I have different production plans now.

And if you’re reading this and I did *not* record you last year but you’d like to join in, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to host@thisismybloomington.com and we’ll talk!

I’ve written and rewritten the opening to this blog post, composed apologies and offered excuses, and now I’m deleting all of that to start again.

If anyone is interested in helping me get this podcast up and running in a more timely manner, particularly if you’ve got experience with Garage Band software (or Audacity), I would love to hear from you.

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Today I had lunch with a dear old friend, Pam MacLaughlin, a wonderful local musician and writer (and now, nursing student). She said something that I expect others of you have already said, but somehow I heard it more clearly: this little “audio magazine” that I’ve had in my mind and been struggling to bring to fruition? I need to remember that an actual PHYSICAL magazine has dozens if not hundreds of workers to get it done — writers and photographers and designers and ad salespeople, not to mention printers and distributors! — and I am trying to do this relatively complex podcast on my own in an unreasonable timeframe, while continuing to parent my children and have a life! She suggested (as many of you have already) that I post individual pieces, which is more managable in terms of time, and that I can still wrap together a series into a larger whole, if I want to, after the fact.

I think I finally get the point. Thank you to all who’ve already offered me this advice.

So today, taking this advice and with permission, today I offer you a song written by Pam’s husband, Joe Donnelly, and performed by Joe, Pam, and their group, Orquesta Son. The song is entitled Sugar Mama and comes from their Sí Quíero disc, copyright 2000. (Click on the link to download the song to your computer.)

“Son” in the name of their group, rhymes with “phone” and refers to the Cuban-style salsa music the group performs, along with mambo, rhumba, son-montuno, and songo styles. The group specializes in the merengue of the Dominican Republic and the cumbia of Columbia. Although most of the music on their Sí Quíero disc is new, dancers can do the traditional steps to the carefully arranged rhythms.

Enjoy! (And thanks again to Pam, Joe, and the rest of Orquesta Son!)

More interviews and more music to come, in smaller chunks and (I hope) a more timely basis. Thank you for listening … and for your patience!

Right after my last interview, the respiratory virus that I’d been warding off caught me. I’ve been sick for nearly three weeks now, with the virus triggering a bout of pneumonia. I’m feeling *almost* healthy again, so the episodes should be coming along soon.

I’m not normally a crazy flaky person, I promise.

If I have your e-mail address, as soon as I get an episode posted, I will e-mail to let you know that it’s up. (And after that point, if you want me to stop e-mailing you, I’ll take you off that list, I promise.)

And if you *have* been coming back, anxious for something new to listen to and read, thanks. I’ll do my best to fulfill those desires, as soon as I can.