It's Somebody's 1st Anniversary!

Wow, it's been one year already since our inaugural post on January 1, 2008! Here is the picture I tried to install back then but couldn't figure out how to do it. Okay, so we're not gonna waste time with any "Best Of" or "Worst Of" The Year lists. We just wanted to say thanks for reading and commenting at our blog. It's been fun communicating with you, and in 2008 this blog greatly facilitated me in reaching out to other artists and getting The Allentown Chen Arts Group (CHARGE) rolling forward. It all started with a conversation between "Lehigh Valley Lexicon" Sarina and me in our local blogosphere. That was the spark that ignited a successful independent arts movement in Allentown that now has some serious momentum-in-progress. It's rewarding being part of two blogs, this one, and the new Allentown Chen Arts Group (CHARGE) blog, that actually achieve positive, quality of life progress for our community-- instead of whining about all that's "wrong" with Allentown politically, as so many of our local blogs do daily (yawn).

2008 also saw the return of The Villas, our power pop band, to the recording studio. On September 17th (see our post, Sound Matters), more than half a hundred of you welcomed us back and nearly 700 people downloaded two new Villas songs (for FREE!) that were made available here (and only here) at the "Lehigh Valley Somebody" blog. All that comment and download love was definitely a highlight of 2008 for us Villas ... so thanks.

In 2008, this proud minority local "lefty" blog also gave my bandmate/husband Bill Villa (Mr. Dottie) and me the opportunity to set the record straight on a few things; to defend ourselves against calculated lies, cruel taunts, and criminal harassment; to express our liberal political views; and to call attention to issues we believe are important-- such as how shabbily grieving families are treated by Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and The Morning Call "newspaper." It's our blog and we'll continue to write about whatever we want, however we want-- while thumbing our noses at--and litigating against--all self-annointed Blog Nazi Enforcers stupid enough to take us on.

Over this past year, Bill and I have been disappointed to learn that seemingly thoughtful human beings can be incredibly gullible, pliable, and cold-hearted. But we've also learned that good people can come together to accomplish great things in a spirit of community and volunteerism. So it balanced out.

Go Obama! Go Liberals! Go Allentown! Go CHARGE! Go Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania!

Here's to another great year of opinionated Somebodies who aren't afraid to be outspoken in Allentown.