Christopher Long: THE (UN)ENDLESS SUMMER

Although technically, summer doesn’t officially end for another couple of weeks, I think most would agree that the season really runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day -- right? Well then, this would likely be the perfect time to take a moment and reflect on what was the summer 2011. For me, it was an amazing season of new beginnings, discoveries and celebrations.

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WRITINGS ON THE WALL

As a music journalist, I recently attended and reviewed a couple of major concert events -- the Mötley Crüe/Poison/New York Dolls show at The St. Petersburg Times Forum in July and Hippiefest last week in Melbourne, Florida. My official review of the latter will post on the popular arts and culture web site, Ink19.com, in the next few days.

In other writing developments, I’ve now completed my second book. I expect it to drop very soon and I look forward to sharing all of the specifics in the next week or so.

STUDY HALL

A truly surreal experience this summer was when I returned to school -- as a student! I’m now enrolled at East Coast Christian University, located in Merritt Island, Florida. Although it will take several years to complete, ultimately, my goal is to earn a Doctorate in Theology. My first test is this week. YIKES! I’ll be sure to post the gory lowdown. C’mon, Spring Break!

In a related item, I’m proud to say that I’m done combing the New Testament, word for word, for my third time in the last year or so. If you’ve not checked out the Bible, I recommend the NLT (New Living Translation). Simply put, it’s an engaging page turner. In fact, I’ve found content in the Bible that’s so salacious, it makes an episode of Jersey Shore seem about as racy as a rerun of Full House!

My seventeen-year-old son, Jesse, also began his college experience last month. And to celebrate our “last” summer, we took a special father and son trip to New York City. We had a blast taking in all of the distinctive sights, sounds and smells of the Big Apple, and he nearly had a heart attack when his hero, Coheed and Cambria drummer Chris Pennie joined us for dinner at the world-famous Carnegie Deli. Our excursion was an incredible and memorable experience.

Coheed and Cambria drummer, Chris Pennie with my son

Jesse (L) and his buddy Sniffy (R) at Carnegie Deli in NYC.

Where did the years go?

Me and Jesse, poolside during our adventure in the Big Apple.

THE SILVER SCREEN

I’ve also recently spent a good bit of time at the movies -- enduring a slew of barely watchable, mind-numbing stinkers including The Hangover II, Horrible Bosses, Bad Teacher and The Green Lantern. However, I have extremely high hopes for The Help, which I eagerly look forward to seeing this weekend.

I WANNA ROCK!

And what would summer be without a new musical discovery? I want to thank my pal Bradley Morris for turning me onto The Almost. Fronted by Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie, The Almost is a snappy little rock combo hailing from Clearwater, Florida. I’m enjoying them immensely and I expect to be blogging about them extensively in the upcoming weeks.

My new fave flave -- The Almost.

HOST WITH THE MOST?

I was honored to return as host of the Brevard Live Music Awards ceremony, held on August 8th at the Gleason Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Florida. Also known as the BMAs, this 8th annual event is the hometown version of the Grammys and was a huge success. It also raised thousands of dollars for the Brevard Music Aide foundation.

I was somewhat enthusiastic about hosting this year's BMA ceremony!

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Among other rather dubious distinctions, I’m also known as something of a political junkie. In fact, I used to collect President cards when I was a kid. Sad, right? Consequently, I’m excited to see the U.S. Presidential campaign season beginning to heat up. Although I’d love for Hillary to jump in and completely thwart Obama’s re-election mission (and you know she’d bury him this time around), it’s not likely to happen. As for the Republicans, I confess to being a huge Romney fan. But although I would gleefully support him in the general election, I’m wholeheartedly supporting Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann 100%. And I’m confident that if the media will focus less on her stone cold foxiness, and more on the issues, it will become abundantly clear that she’s simply the best candidate. Stand by. I’m just getting warmed up.

The quite fetching and very qualified President-elect, Michele Bachmann.

PARTING SHOTS

Here’s a crazy one. I received an email last week notifying me that Osama Bin Laden was now “Following” me on Twitter. Hmm. Did I miss a major news story?

I leave you now with a final salutation -- a heartfelt quote, directly from my Starbucks barista last week...