The work I did at The Flying Inkpot in the years 1997-2002 has always haunted me. It has literally connected me to musicians and fellow enthusiasts all over the world, landed me interviews and jobs, and got me quoted on various essays, write-ups and yes, even wikipedia.

But since leaving the role of editor at the Inkpot, my articles – while they continue to be googled and read, are showing signs of wear-and-tear. A little outdated, CDs going out of print or reissued in a new guise, typographical ???s and layout dents caused by incompatibility with modern browsers, and worst, spambots and their trash.

One of the most interesting points I have come to realize, is that since the years I stopped writing, the entire webscape of online publishing has been transformed by the blog platform and technology. Online publishing today is a much more sophisticated – but actually easier – activity than it was in the the late 1990s. Having said that, the Inkpot, back in the late 1990s, was still a site which experimented early with a quintessentially Web 2.0 concept, the comments – the site enabled, even if imperfectly, readers to write comments to articles. This concept fully matured with blog technology, and is commonplace today.

This meant that: I need to update my articles + show off what wordpress can do = it’s time for me to jump on the blog bandwagon.

The intention of this blog is to:

1. Republish, revive and update my old publications from the Inkpot.
2. Chiefly, to continue championing the man, the life and the music of Jean Sibelius. (And in the process claim the name of the  Inkpot Sibelius Nutcase, my pseudonym in this mission back then).
3. To publish new writings since 2002.
4. To offer my services in copywriting for music.
5. To use this blog to, perhaps, help me achieve another lifelong goal – to visit Finland, home of Sibelius, hopefully in the year 2015.

As you might expect, it will take me some time to republish all my articles. Many have already been republished with my blessings at www.flyinginkpot.com, which is run by my then Inkpot comrade, Derek Lim.

Welcome to The Dust of Hue:  dustofhue.com is home to Leon Chia (a.k.a. CHIA Han-Leon), who was also the World-Premiere Recording of The Inkpot Sibelius Nutcase.

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