Hey Sadsong,
Congratulations on getting out and having a good time!!! 
I know how hard it is to make plans to do something fun and actually make it happen. I joined a local club of Jimmy Buffett fans (Parrot Heads), and have made it to a couple of socials, but I've missed both regular monthly meetings because I wasn't feeling well. There's another get together Saturday night, and I really hope I feel well enough to go.
As far as your disappearing date, guys can be either chicken and are too wimpy to follow up and say that they just aren't interested in going out again, or they can be juggling a bunch of dates at the same time, and have a hard time tracking who they need to call or email back.
My ex-husband was a "chubby chaser", and when I decided to have a gastric bypass to improve my health, he started picking up a whole pile of friends on the internet and was getting things going with several people at a time. The crazy thing was, he told every one of the women he was romancing a different story about his life situation. How he kept the stories straight boggles my mind. I quit working shortly before my surgery, and spent a lot of time on the home computer. My ex has Aspberger's Syndrome, a form of Autism, and he was a computer network genius but had no clue about hiding or deleting files on a home computer. I had set up all his accounts, so I was able to document all his activities, thus having all the proof I needed to kick him to the curb.
I hope your friend has just been busy and gets back to you. Even if it isn't a love connection, it's always nice to have a friend to communicate with or do things together.
Let us know how thing turn out.
Leigh Ann 