5 lessons learned this year: Musos are more interesting than Jocks...

Do it for the love of it. You won't let anyone down, even if you get let down.

As last year, here's five lessons I learned in 2013. But before I get to those, a word about this blog. 

I am really, really happy, to report that Radio To Go’s readership has grown quite nicely: from ten thousand total page views at 2011 year-end, it chalked up forty thousand total views a year later. And now, it's over one hundred and twenty seven thousand. 

That's more than trebling total views two years in a row. Thank you! Bashing out 1500 words each week is a great discipline. Recently I’ve tried out tiny one-topic midweek posts too. They are easier to spark debate with, because they are one-topic issues. 

So that's the good news. After the jump, here's five things I learned - or maybe finally admitted  to myself - in writing this blog this year.

Beyond the band #1: UB40's Earl Falconer. EDM, Circus Records, global DJ superstars, management....

He may be, like the rest of UB40, getting on a bit, but Earl Falconer has quietly fashioned a whole new music direction away from the band. And it’s being lapped up by kids who would sneer at Red Red Wine. That's if they even knew the song.

It’s a long way from being the next hot thing to building a career and making a living from music. I’ve always been interested in how musicianship and career thinking develops as life goes on. Some people become fine craftsmen; some give it all up with happy - or less than happy - memories, some change direction, or revise their ambitions, some become businessmen. A few stay blazingly creative all their lives. 

UB40 guitarist Earl Falconer is sitting in front of a plate of pasta in the Cross in Moseley, Birmingham. Next to him is Lanval Storrod, onetime UB40 manager, who partners Earl in his new ventures. We’re going to talk about Circus Records; this post is not, like others in this series may turn out to be, about surviving the old band. In fact, UB40 isn't really on the agenda. There is a lot to say about UB40, of course. When the time is right and the legal and financial dust has settled, then I’ll dive right in, possibly after checking with m'learned friends.