Oh, hey [t]here. I’m Jim Di Gioia. I started music blogging when I launched the site Quick Before It Melts (2006-2016) and then co-founded its spiritual successor, DOMINIONATED (2016-2025, now an archival Substack site). I’ve never been much of a musician (I have been known to bang out a mean “Aura Lee”/”Mary Had a Little Lamb” medley on one-handed piano, though), but music has always played an integral part of my waking (and sleeping) life. You could say music is part of my being.

Music is why I’m still here, online, writing this Substack newsletter (named after a line in Stars’ song “What I’m Trying to Say”). I’ve spent the greater part of the last 20 years focussing almost exclusively on contemporary Canadian music, so the act of just being [t]here is my opportunity to focus on retrospective thoughts and responses to music that shaped my tastes and perspectives earlier in life; music that I would have loved to write about at the time if only there had been an easily accessible public forum like the internet to publish on.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be covering any current (or Canadian) music. Any contemporary music I write about will be featured in a section called here and now, and the retrospective work will be in a section called then and there. I’m not starting this project with any other preconceived notions or expectations beyond that framework. Like everything in my life, this project is perpetually in beta. It’s unlikely that I’ll post here daily, but I’ll aim for some regularity. And if not, that’s fine, too. It’s in my nature to have some structure and regularity, but ultimately, I want the act of just being [t]here to be a loose experiment in creativity, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me.

I hope others (i.e. you) will want to go with me wherever that will be, and will consider subscribing to get full access to the newsletter and archives.

Substack has paywall options to set up membership tiers and subscriptions. I’ve set up those options, but for now, I plan on keeping everything public and just going from there, but I am grateful to anyone who upgrades their membership and support and I am looking forward to bringing exclusive content just for you.