Getting close to Christmas, and some of our journals have a festive flavour about them. Well, okay, one does. Yes, okay. It's mine. Hey, you gotta get in the spirit, don'tcha?
I'm not sure whether to put him under T or B, but since "the" is generally disregarded when alphabetic order is used, I'm gonna go with B, which means it's a welcome return for
TheBig3, and indeed he's first in our roundup this week. In his journal
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ming-moon.html he's taken a comment made by Urban Hatemonger (to which I responded rather sharply) and run with it, asking what people consider their musical limits, and how they seek out new music? Interesting question. Find the answers (well, some of them) by clicking on the link.
A big apology and shout-out to Blarobbarg, whose journal entry in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...l-opinion.html I stupidly missed out on last week, as it was just on the deadline for that week, and should therefore have been included with this week's update. So here it is: he references two bands, The Ramones and Contemporary Noise Quintet, while explaining how he hates stereotypes and fights against them (not literally, you understand!) 
Great entry Blaro, and apologies for the omission.
Mankycaant, having started slowly, is updating more frequently and my advice is to check his entries in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...er-abroad.html, but prepare to have your mind blown! This time out, he's talking about gambling, and it's a totally fascinating read.
Waxing lyrical on all things psychedelic, our very own guru
PoorOldPo is making some more entries in his journal, simply and aptly entitled
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ychedelia.html, very much worth a read.
And so we're back to me. Continuing my attempts to review the last of the current batch of 2012 albums before the year closes, you'll find in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html reviews of Neal Schon's latest solo album, one from Finnish prog rock band Status Minor and one of my albums of the year, the superlative new one from Ten. Also going full tilt now is "25 of the worst Christmas albums --- ever!" with contributions from, among others, Destiny's Child, Lionel Ritchie and ,er, the Disney Channel! There are only so many acceptable excuses for Christmas albums, and none of these qualify. More to come in the coming weeks. There's also a return for "Everybody gets the blues" and a new section about cheerful tunes. Hey, 'tis the season, y'know?
Not too much to write about in my other journal,
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-reviews.html, with the delayed review of Wolfsbane's "comeback album" and the new one from Colin Blunstone.
That leaves us with the two U's. Yes, I say two, because Urban is back this week, but first, alphabetically, is
Unknown Soldier. It's 1972 in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html, and this week our resident expert on hard rock and metal is looking at albums by The Flower Travellin' Band (yeah, them again!), Dust and Blue Oyster Cult. Always learn something in his journal.
So finally, hail to the Hatemonger!
Urban is with us again, and in
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-stuff.html he has a question for you. What is it? I'm not going to do your work for you: head there and find out!
And that, once again, dear members, is it for this week. Only fifteen shopping days left to go till Christmas, and only twenty-one to 2013. Here's hoping for some more journals to be updated before we close for the year, but whatever they are, wherever they are, we'll keep you advised about them.
Toodles!