Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

No, I'm not turning Out West Arts into a Prince and the Revolution tribute blog. (I've thought about it often, but today is not the day.) Instead it's just the birth of Out West Arts-version 6. That’s right, Southern California’s number one independent classical music, opera, and theater blog is five years old. (This actually happened towards the end of August, but makeovers take time my friends.) To mark the occasions I’ve got a new look. One of the things I’ve always prided myself on here is that I feel OWA doesn’t look like any other classical music blog, and certainly not look like a pre-fab one. I owe this primarily to my web designer and editor Jeffrey Langham who keeps this endeavor alive. Without him, I’m nothing.

And of course the same goes for all of you who continue to drop by and check out what I’ve got to say. This all started as a chance for me to share my thoughts and opinions on performing arts in Los Angeles and it's still my main mission, although OWA has grown into something much bigger given the vacuum left by the collapse of printed arts criticism in the U.S. It's still written entirely by me and is still ad free, though I'm not above talking about stuff I like and admire in the hopes you will too. I love hearing from everyone and still get excited over comments and emails, so feel free to drop me a line. I also continue to be indebted to the many bloggers and writers who have shown their support for this endeavor over the years. You know who you are and many of those names are in the Links section on the right.

As for what is new around here, you may notice a couple of changes. First, the Calendar section has been augmented with images in addition to the regular listing of upcoming performances in order to highlight those I particularly consider worth your time and notice. There is now also a new and improved Recommended section. This column contains recordings and performances that I am personally recommending based on having seen them myself and hoping that you'll enjoy them as well. So hopefully you’ll find OWA bigger and brighter than ever. And stay tuned because there is plenty more on its way.

Labels: Anniversary