Jessica and I have been singing together pretty much since the first day we met, but it took us a long time to figure out how to do it properly. Something about our blend never sounded quite right. One day, we were in the car singing through Rites of Passage by Indigo Girls, and when we got to “Jonas and Ezekial” I think I was drinking some water or something and she got to the lead part — the Amy Ray part, the part I should be singing! — before I did. So I sang Emily Saliers’ part instead, which goes into the stratosphere near the end. I blew out my voice, but it actually sounded okay.

And that’s when we figured out the secret to us singing together: she needs to take the low part. It makes sense. Telemarketers call her “sir” and me “ma’am” when they get us on the phone. She’s got a deep voice, I sound kind of like the pimply-faced kid on The Simpsons. She fixes stuff in the house when it breaks, I suggest calling someone and paying them too much money to do it. She wears the pants, I look good in a dress. (Not that I do that sort of thing (regularly), but c’mon. These legs? Please.)

The other night we took a stab at singing one of our favorite songs, “The Universe is Laughing,” by one of our favorite bands, The Guggenheim Grotto. Not too shabby. I like singing the high part more anyway.

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It’s been just over three years since I’ve updated this website.

When I first started, I intended this site to be a catch-all for a million different things: personal posts, commentary on amusing and interesting links, and a space for me to write about music and pop culture. The site opened with a bang, thanks to some high-profile linkage from Jefito, Stereogum and AOL, and suddenly I had an audience, interested in reading what I had to write about Michael McDonald. I started two really fun series (I would much prefer to write “serieses” here but it’s not a real word), created a bunch of deadlines for myself to post new content for them, and found I never had time to post the other stuff I wanted to post.

Then the serieses (screw it, it’s my site, I’m writing it) moved over to Popdose, which is where they rightfully belonged, and then…I ran out of steam. My self-imposed deadlines kicked my ass and writing my posts became more obligations than outlets for enjoyment. I try very hard to stick to one rule above all others: if the thing you do for fun is consistently no longer fun, stop doing it. I already do things every day I don’t necessarily enjoy doing. There’s not enough time in the day to do other things I don’t love.

I still write for Popdose from time to time, and I’ll continue to do so — that’s where any new substantial music posts (or serieses) will show up. But I’m going to reclaim JasonHare.com as what it was meant to be all along: my personal musings on anything, be it music, theatre, pop culture, family, photos, links, whatever. I’m going to do it on my own schedule, which means it might be three times a day or once a month. Or never again after this post. I think I was scared to do this in the past because I didn’t want to annoy/mislead all the people that subscribed to the site for the reasons they visited in the first place. But at this point, I figure either you’ll subscribe, continue to subscribe, or unsubscribe, and all those options are okay with me. I welcome comments — everything worthwhile in my life is a dialogue — but understand if there aren’t any.

So hi and welcome, or goodbye and don’t forget to visit Popdose for all your daily pop culture needs.

Happy New Year! It’s time to officially announce the worst-kept secret in the world!

For all of you who have wondered for months on end about the eventual return of Jeff Giles, aka Jefito of Jefitoblog, gather ’round, for I have news. Effective today, Jefitoblog moves to a brand-new, even bigger-and-better location. And, as most of you could have predicted, I’m packing up my bags and moving in with him.

Simply put, Popdose is going to be everything you love about Jefitoblog and more. Jeff has assembled a crack team of staff writers to cover all aspects of pop culture: music, film, television, books, current events – you name it. And, as you’ve come to expect, each article will be full of thoughtful – and yes, sometimes snarky – commentary.

As for me, I’m signing on as Managing Editor, which means I’ll be doing a fair amount of work behind-the-scenes. I’ll also be bringing over my two series, Adventures Through The Mines Of Mellow Gold (which has become an occasional feature these days, but you try covering one shitty song a week for a year and see how far you get), and of course, CHART ATTACK!, which will now run every other Friday opposite Jeff’s collaborative feature CHARTBURN. I’ll be featuring over a dozen guest writers over the course of 2008, so if you’re sick of my writing style, don’t give up – a new perspective is just around the corner!

As for what happens with jasonhare.com, I’m still working that one out. (I can’t have all the answers, you know.) I will continue to use my site to promote my artistic endeavors (I have more music gigs coming up in the new year, and I’m doing a fantastic Off-Broadway production in February), and will post items – probably short, link-related posts that aren’t appropriate for Popdose – as I have time. If you’d like to keep me on your radar, I’d love to have you around, but if you’re here merely for the music-related posts, you know where to find me.

So…thanks for reading. And what the hell are you waiting for? We’re having a housewarming shindig over at the new place, and it’s not a party until you get there.

See you on Popdose!

Happy birthday, Jess! I love you!

They said it would never happen (as Amy said: "I didn’t think you two were allowed to be in the same place at the same time. Like some national security thing"), but indeed it did.  And it wasn’t gay at all, you jerks.

Okay, so it was a little gay.

I spent about 30 hours at Posh Jefito Manor in beautiful New Hampshire.  I found Jeff in a bunker by a swamp, covered in empty bottles of Jack Daniels, muttering something about website backups.  Once I got him cleaned up, though, I found that he was quite hospitable, and only snarled at me once when I put his CDs back in the wrong alphabetical, chronological order.

The Captain and Tennille on an autumnal frolic

In all reality, I had a fantastic trip and got to spend some quality time with Jeff along with his wife and daughter.  We did a lot during my brief trip, including a viewing of the documentary Into The Night:  The Benny Mardones Story (review forthcoming) and some other projects that will make it to the web at some point.  And for all of you concerned about the future of the best music blogger on the Internet, I can’t spill all the details yet, but I can assure you that it won’t be long before he’s back ruling the web.  In the meantime, you can still read Jeff on a daily basis by checking out some of his music reviews at Bullz-Eye or his news posts at Rotten Tomatoes.

Thanks again to the Jefito clan for being such gracious hosts.  Hope to do it again soon!