Back when I covered the Central New York music scene for the big daily, I always had it in the back of my mind somewhere that these voices, these talents, these people I was hearing, seeing, watching, following, talking with, tracking, well, they were as good as the folks other people doing this job in other cities in the country — no, around the world — were hearing and seeing.

A bit parochial, of me, I know.

And, really, there was no way ever to quantify that hunch, no matter how many national and international acts I went to as they came to the bigger venues in Syracuse or cross sections of albums I listened to.

Taste is all relative, right? And I sure as hell wasn’t getting paid to travel to the little listening clubs and pubs to hear the emerging or longstanding bands in other cities.

The music…