Dear readers,

While I have enjoyed my three-year stint as Dr. Spin, it has become increasingly obvious to me that my column's time has come and gone.  My first indication came when my good colleague, Dear Jon, ended his column in November. I made no attempt to hide that I borrowed heavily from his style and format, inviting readers to submit questions of a music (mainly Rock) nature, while I got to throw a few opinions and reviews reflecting my own tastes in music.

From the beginning, Dr. Spin was a work-in-progress; I was trying to define the column as I wrote it. Recently our editor revived his excellent column on TV (do I know how to brown-nose or what?) by transforming it into a blog. He suggested turning my article into a blog as well, and while I was initially hesitant, after seeing what  "Program Notes" now looks like, I realize that's more what I envisioned my column to be all along (once again, technology catches up with my genius!)

No longer will I be subject to numerous inquiries about car commercial music or which songs contain satanic messages if I just listen to them the right way. The vast majority of questions I received, I enjoyed responding to, and I am still always willing to answer any music trivia questions I can.

But I feel it is time to move on from the old "Dr. Spin" format and try something new. As Bob Dylan once sang, "the times, they are a-changing," and three years is a good run. I once told a friend that most bands have a lifespan of about 10 years as far as popularity and being at their most creative and productive peak. He countered saying that it was actually three years and only really good bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones can extend that because they changed their style every three years. Well, it's been nearly four years since my column debuted, so I'm overdue to re-create myself.

And so, Dr. Spin is being put rest. Like Kiss, I will take off the "make-up" of Dr. Spin, and write a music blog under my own name. (Wait, that was popularity suicide for Kiss! Maybe this isn't such a good idea!) I'm still working on the details of the blog, even deciding what to call it. Stay tuned to this website…

Finally let me end Dr. Spin by imitating the Beatles once more and quote John Lennon, "I'd like to thank you all on the behalf of the group and myself, and I hope we passed the audition."