From a Torrent to a Trickle

Well, I think I've reached the time I knew would eventually come...the number and breadth of new Blur live recordings coming in to me has now, for the most part, stopped. For the last 6-7 years, I've been able to hunt down and acquire (and share out, mostly) dozens of newly unearthed recordings. Even within the last 3 years or so I've been able to discover the existence, and in most cases, obtain copies of, rare and unheard tapes. But it seems like I may have finally hit the wall, so to speak, and the supply has simply dried up.

I actually still know people who have many recordings, and a couple of them, who I consider friends, are doing me huge favors by working to get me copies. I'm waiting on those, and to my two friends I'm very grateful. But I also know (or know of) many other people scattered around the globe with another 20-40 tapes who simply can't be reached or aren't interested in sharing. And of course, I know of the existence of many more tapes, but not necessarily who has them.

I'm still working busily on the next Blur book, which I think will be really great and a huge upgrade/improvement on the first one, in terms of size, content, information, and format. The reason for this second book is because, while finishing and publishing the first one, I was still getting loads of new tapes, and in total there are more than 50 new shows/sources/recordings added to the second book. It makes sense to offer fans even more information, not to mentions the numerous corrections/additions, etc that resulted from more careful listening and fact-finding. However, unless I can bring in another serious haul of that size, I don't think it would make sense to update and add on to the book for a long time after the second one, if ever.

I'm not upset or angry at this situation, I want to make that clear and I hope no one misconstrues what I've written as such. I'm so happy to have been able to work on this and it only deepens my love for Blur and their music. The only emotion, other than joy, that this hobby/project of mine brings me, is a slight sadness that there are so many more amazing recordings from Blur on stage that we may simply never be able to hear, whether the tapes don't exist, are lost, damaged, or hidden away in someone's closet who does not want to share them. Blur played over 600 concerts between 1989 and 2009, and my collection, which I believe to be the largest in the world, has slightly over 200 distinct shows in it. So 33% of Blur's concert history is available on tape, while a whopping 66% is still out there, waiting to be discovered, listened to, enjoyed, analyzed, studied, dissected...

Have no worries! I will not be giving up collecting Blur...I'll always be on the hunt for new tapes and recordings and, unless instructed by the donors of said tapes, I will share what I can with all of you, my fellow Blur fans, time permitting. I'm a busy guy with a wife, 4 kids, a full-time job, and a VERY busy and fulfilling life, so I do the best I can with this site, the Facebook page, and the Twitter page, and I apologize if it frustrates you that I can't update as frequently as I'd like...it frustrates me, too! But I will continue to update here with new and (hopefully) interesting articles, photos, recordings, etc, and I hope you'll stick around and continue to engage in discussions and comments, feedback and suggestions, anecdotes and memories...perhaps the best thing about this entire endeavor are all of the great people I've met, online and in real life.

And of course, I have to say it, but if you have any Blur live recordings, I'd love to hear about them and swap for a copy...I'd love to add them to my personal collection, as well as my digital archive and the book project. I'd, of course, give you credit in the book and would honor whatever wishes you had for the tape in regards to circulating it or not. Feel free to contact me via email (find the address in my profile to the right of this page) to discuss this.

Keep checking back here, there'll always be some new stuff posted as I find the time to do it...cheers!