Thank You!

Backstage Press was started back in February of 2009 as a weekly assignment for my Interactive News class. For some time beforehand I had been wanting to start a blog where I could talk about my biggest passion in life - punk rock music. Of course I had no idea what I was doing or even how to properly "blog."

But this all changed when I met my professor, Mark Leccese, a new media guru with more knowledge about this emerging online world than anyone I've ever known. It wasn't long before he whipped me into shape for online writing and blogging.

Soon enough the class was over and I was left with a handful of decent posts

and this weird desire to keep working on my assignment long after grades had already been posted. Sixteen months later and what do you have? What you're reading now.

As many of you know, I just finished up my graduate studies last month at Emerson College in Boston. That meant I received an expensive piece of paper that said I was a Master in Journalism. Oh, Mr. Fancy Pants! A lot of my talented classmates started asking me if I would keep Backstage Press up and running post-grad. And that got me thinking...

In a little over a year I've made so much headway with writing. Plus, I've had more opportunities and more fun with this little web page than I could have ever imagined.

I've been to more shows than I can remember since February '09. I've been privileged enough to interview members of Rise Against, The Used, Envy On The Coast, Motion City Soundtrack and Anberlin. Some of these dudes have become my friends through the process, and we have some pretty awesome hang sessions when their bands roll through town.

I've been approached by various media companies and record labels through email, and receive weekly press releases on stuff happening in the scene. I was even offered to do some guest interviewing for Blast Magazine this spring which brought me backstage at the House of Blues in Boston.

As cheesy as it sounds, it's been a dream come true. And I owe much of it to you, my readers. Whether I know you or not, whether we were friends back in the day or even if you're just stalking me, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for giving me a reason to write. Thank you to anyone who has ever voted in a poll, left a comment, emailed me or caught me on some social networking site to tell me your thoughts about the blog. It means the world to me.

So, while my career at Emerson is over, rest assured that I'm here to stay at Backstage Press. I'm still going to do my best to interview our favorite bands, write reviews and keep you posted on all the news I can.

It's been a wild ride, but I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you so much...