There are several reasons I've been silent lately.

I've been busy. The amount of Net related work I've been doing the past few months has skyrocketed. Although I may be a Pariah in the music industry, thankfully, in the corridors of cyberspace, my services are in demand.

Accordingly, I remain upbeat on the Internet revolution. Yet as fast as we're moving, it's all just beginning. Until the advent of broadband and inexpensive access, the Internet is a long way from being a medium of entertainment. In its present form, it's great for email, getting info on some subjects, and shopping. However, there are number of people who look forward to the time when it will be possible to easily access entertainment over the Net. Like music that can be easily and quickly downloaded, films, live performances from around the planet, etc.

But that's still a few years away even though DSL connections and Cable Modems are already making inroads. Some countries are really wired, like Finland, birthplace of Nokia, which most think is a Japanese company. In Finland, Net access is cheap and fast. The current issue of Wired details the rise of Nokia, now the cellular phone of choice, worldwide.

Nokia has just introduced a portable device that called the MediaScreen that "enables access to the Internet and the selection of Web pages, moreover, MediaScreen makes it possible to send and receive electronic mail, watch television and listen to the radio with digital quality.''

Face it friends, there's no escape. Unless you pull a Ted Kaczynski and move out to the middle of nowhere, with no phone, cell or stationary, fax, tv, or Net access, technology is no longer an option, it's a necessity. Once you've tasted its fruits, it's almost impossible to live without it.

Another reason for my silence lately, I've moved. Not exactly to the middle of nowhere, but outside of New York to a much more tranquil environment. After nearly three decades of doing the fun city fandango, I've decided New York is a much better place to visit, than to live, at this point in my life.

When I look out the window of my new home, that's all I see is trees. No buildings or people. What a relief. Yet there's a satellite dish on my roof and its speedy connection keeps me tuned in, 24 and 7. I live in one of those remote outposts where cable modems and DSL lines are unlikely to appear for a number of years.

The third and final reason for my two month sabbatical is the simple fact that I've had a belly full of the Jazz business. My love for the music remains undiminished. It's still my greatest kick, an unceasing source of inspiration and joy but after nearly two decades of functioning in and around the cesspool that is the Jazz business, I find that I'm trying to distance myself from the epicenter of this revolting spectacle.

Like any business, the main objective is to make money. The problem here though is that art and money make for strange bedfellows.

I have a lot of friends in the Jazz industry. Mostly musicians, but plenty of people who work in the business. Most of these people are honest, hard working individuals truly devoted to the music.

But, in the past decade, things have taken an ugly turn. In one corner of the Jazz biz, there have always been the hangers-on, hustlers, and other assorted leaches and egotistical executives. Now, instead of being a minority, they've taken over the business. Especially with the advent of the multi-national corporation having such power.

We hope the Internet will level the playing field, in terms of Jazz, but I'm a pragmatist and like every other activity since the dawn of man, there's going to be the big guys, and the little guys. That's the way of the world.

There's people like Bill Gates and Michael Eisner and Matt Pierson (just kidding, Matt), and then there's the rest of us.

Also, recently, it's become increasingly difficult to get excited about the music being recorded and performed today.

I know there's good music around. I can go to Birdland or Sweet Basil almost any night of the week and hear something nice but after the first couple of tunes, invariably, I ask, haven't I heard this before?

Although I don't do much Jazz writing these days, I'm still the recipient of many CDs. It never ceases to amaze me, this glut of CDs on the market. Everybody's got a CD, everybody wants to be a Jazz musician. And why not? It's one of the most exciting forms of creativity on the planet. In a way, it reminds me of LA, where everybody in town is trying to get into the movie business. Everybody, I mean everybody, has a screen play. From the attendant at the gas station who just moved to town from Oklahoma to the Iranian owner of the 7/11 franchise.

All these new artists, all these CDs are created with the best of intentions. But it's just too much. I'm overloaded with information. Too many choices. And so I've had Bird Lives on hold lately. To do a site like this, you must have a certain the fire in the belly.

But I've taken some time off, made some adjustments and now I'm back. Given the number of issues facing the Jazz community that have no other outlet for discussion, there is a need for this site.

I'd really like some other writers to step up to bat like Marty Khan has done in this issue, and voice some of their opinions in public that they're only too eager to whisper to me in private. But I've had a problem getting these people to write something for Bird Lives during it's first year on the Web.

Many people won't write without compensation. I can understand that. Or, they won't write for fear of repercussions, even under the cloak of anonymity. One well placed executive told me, "I can spill the beans but everyone will know its me."

If there is anyone out there with something to say, I'll be glad to help you mask your identity if that's what it takes to engender some forthright dialogue.

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