Christmas was wonderful 'round these parts! How was yours? I took the time to unplug from a lot of my online responsibilities and focussed on my family, and it was exactly the right thing to do. I didn't blog, I didn't tweet, I didn't make any of the much-needed updates to my website. From a social-media standpoint, I was a failure. (But I don't regret it.) And although I wrote a bit of new music and played piano at church for the Christmas mass, I ignored a lot of "career-building" activities, too. I didn't try to book any gigs, and it was looking like my 2012 gigging schedule was going to start out pretty empty. We're just a bit more than a week into the new year, though, and things are starting to hum again.  I found out that the band I played with at the Old Fire Hall in November will be part of the Frostbite Music Festival lineup, so I'm excited about that. I've also put together a brand-new group to play at a gala dinner later in February. The dinner will have a 1940s theme to it, and the band will be emulating the Stage Door Canteen clubs, which fed and entertained Allied troops for free while they were waiting to be deployed.  I'm totally fired up about the musical possibilities and the theatricality of the event.  (And yes, of course I've already Googled "1940s ball gowns" and am hunting for elbow-length gloves.) The gal who is organizing the dinner for the City of Whitehorse is totally into the spirit of things. She asked me yesterday if the band had a name. Well, of course it does. I just haven't come up with it yet. There'll be a drummer, upright bass, guitar, trumpet, sax, and possibly one more horn, playing big band-type tunes of the WWII era. If you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it! Better yet, drop by my Facebook music page and leave a comment there before Friday — you could win a $10 gift card of your choice. Yep, the holidays are definitely over, and I'm back in the game, baby.