This past year has been full of ups and downs in both the Boston community and this site, I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on the highs and lows of the year - both with Boston and thirdstage.ca.
When 2007 began, I saw what I thought was the beginning of a great year. After all, both Tom and Brad had become engaged to their girlfriends over the holidays of 2006, Boston was looking forward to a summer tour, during which Brad and fiancee Pam were planning on tying the knot.
In January, Tom and fiancee Kim Hart tied the knot in the Florida Keys.
While news regarding the upcoming summer tour was sparse, there was a report of Boston being scheduled for a July performance during Rock Fest 2007.
During the end of February, thirdstage.ca was looking forward to the prospect of having a new home as plans to move the hosting from where it resided since 2001 (when the thirdstage.ca domain was activated) to its new home. Before this could all be completed, sadness hit the Boston community.
On March 09, fans were shocked and saddened to learn that Brad Delp, the golden voice behind so many Boston songs, had died. Within a few days, another blow was dealt to fans when news surface as to how Brad died - Brad had taken his own life. Not only were fans dealing with the loss, but the questions about why Brad did it and what he was feeling. The band's official site said it best when they took the site down upon news of his death and replaced with one simple statement: "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."
While still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Brad is no longer with us, I managed to complete the move of this site to its new home on March 19.
April brought the announcement of the first Brad tribute show. In May, Brad's bandmates from Beatle Juice formed what was to be a two-day concert in Arlington, MA along with many other artists to form a tribute show "In My Life - A Concert for Brad". A third show was added to make the three-day even run from May 02-04.
April also brought first reports regarding another tribute show in the works for August, which was to include Boston. The coming weeks brought speculation that this show would be Boston's last, as during a May announcement on Boston's official site was titled "A FINAL BOSTON CONCERT". What promised to make this show even more special was the news that Boston would be joined by former band members on stage!
June 01 was a big day for both me and this site as during the couple months prior I had secretly been spending what was probably hundreds of hours working on some upgrades to the site, which was finally unveiled on this day. The changes were more than just a new look; the site changes meant a move away from the old-fashioned static pages and towards dynamically generated content (not to mention an easier way for me to manage the site).
In July, Tom was honored by FARM for his philanthropy work. Fran Cosmo suffered a ruptured blood vessel, which required surgery to correct. The Brad Delp Foundation was launched and news surfaced of disputes over Brad's estate.
August brought a shock to me when this site was defaced as a hacker was able to exploit a vulnerabilty in the comments system. August also brought the much anticipated Come Together tribute, which had many artists performing in tribute for Brad, including Boston. The event also featured former members of Boston, including original members Barry Goudreau and Fran Sheehan.
September was fairly quiet and October brought exciting news of Brad's final song, which he recorded with Barry, being released. The song, written by Brad, was an autobiographical reflection on his time with music - from getting his first guitar to 30 years after the release of the first Boston album. This song became available in November through iTunes and Discark online retailers. The end of October brought some joy to Jeff Neal and wife Ann Marie as they welcomed the birth of daughter Lauren on October 31.
November brought news that Tom would be performing at a benefit along with Stryper in February 2008 and Anthony Cosmo released his new music under band name The Casting.
The year ended with Tom reciting "T'was The Night Before Christmas", along with news that Tom took some time out of recording Boston material to lay down lead guitar tracks for Stryper's cover of Peace of Mind. The year ended with a big bang when this site went down on New Year's Eve and stayed down until Jan 02.
What a year it's been, can't wait to see what 2008 brings us!
In January, Tom and fiancee Kim Hart tied the knot in the Florida Keys.While news regarding the upcoming summer tour was sparse, there was a report of Boston being scheduled for a July performance during Rock Fest 2007.
During the end of February, thirdstage.ca was looking forward to the prospect of having a new home as plans to move the hosting from where it resided since 2001 (when the thirdstage.ca domain was activated) to its new home. Before this could all be completed, sadness hit the Boston community.
On March 09, fans were shocked and saddened to learn that Brad Delp, the golden voice behind so many Boston songs, had died. Within a few days, another blow was dealt to fans when news surface as to how Brad died - Brad had taken his own life. Not only were fans dealing with the loss, but the questions about why Brad did it and what he was feeling. The band's official site said it best when they took the site down upon news of his death and replaced with one simple statement: "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."While still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Brad is no longer with us, I managed to complete the move of this site to its new home on March 19.
April brought the announcement of the first Brad tribute show. In May, Brad's bandmates from Beatle Juice formed what was to be a two-day concert in Arlington, MA along with many other artists to form a tribute show "In My Life - A Concert for Brad". A third show was added to make the three-day even run from May 02-04.
April also brought first reports regarding another tribute show in the works for August, which was to include Boston. The coming weeks brought speculation that this show would be Boston's last, as during a May announcement on Boston's official site was titled "A FINAL BOSTON CONCERT". What promised to make this show even more special was the news that Boston would be joined by former band members on stage!
June 01 was a big day for both me and this site as during the couple months prior I had secretly been spending what was probably hundreds of hours working on some upgrades to the site, which was finally unveiled on this day. The changes were more than just a new look; the site changes meant a move away from the old-fashioned static pages and towards dynamically generated content (not to mention an easier way for me to manage the site).
In July, Tom was honored by FARM for his philanthropy work. Fran Cosmo suffered a ruptured blood vessel, which required surgery to correct. The Brad Delp Foundation was launched and news surfaced of disputes over Brad's estate.August brought a shock to me when this site was defaced as a hacker was able to exploit a vulnerabilty in the comments system. August also brought the much anticipated Come Together tribute, which had many artists performing in tribute for Brad, including Boston. The event also featured former members of Boston, including original members Barry Goudreau and Fran Sheehan.
September was fairly quiet and October brought exciting news of Brad's final song, which he recorded with Barry, being released. The song, written by Brad, was an autobiographical reflection on his time with music - from getting his first guitar to 30 years after the release of the first Boston album. This song became available in November through iTunes and Discark online retailers. The end of October brought some joy to Jeff Neal and wife Ann Marie as they welcomed the birth of daughter Lauren on October 31.
November brought news that Tom would be performing at a benefit along with Stryper in February 2008 and Anthony Cosmo released his new music under band name The Casting.
The year ended with Tom reciting "T'was The Night Before Christmas", along with news that Tom took some time out of recording Boston material to lay down lead guitar tracks for Stryper's cover of Peace of Mind. The year ended with a big bang when this site went down on New Year's Eve and stayed down until Jan 02.
What a year it's been, can't wait to see what 2008 brings us!