FTW, 12.15.2020

I bootlegged the Stoogeaphilia gig list from Facebook after the "Notes" pages disappeared (which I'd thought would only apply to new material, not archives). Curiously, I was able to recover it by searching the page's history, but I'm not taking for granted that such will remain so in perpetuity. 

This got me thinking about the impermanence of the digital realm. I've been unenthused about digital music and movies ever since iTunes took a dump and sent 75% of my downloaded music to the widowmaker. Again curiously, when my wife was cleaning out the old computer, she found all the files, but I'd been unable to access them through the media player, so WTF? I guess cloud-based stuff is different, but I'm not moving all my writings there. 

I started this blog in 2004, when I'd decided to give up writing for the local alt-weekly; the e.e. cummings affectation of no initial caps makes most of what I wrote the first few years look kind of silly. After awhile I reverted to using them for stuff I wanted other people to read, then eventually, everything. 

Lots of music blogs are like real magazines. Thisun has always been more like a notebook that I use to try and learn about things. One could argue that the ease of accessing music via streaming platforms and things like YouTube negates the need for music writing; how many times can you write the same story? I've always tried to be descriptive, rather than resorting to "RIYL"-type comparisons, but what's the point when readers can hear for themselves?

Gradually over time, my scrawl has been disappearing from the internet. I started having stuff published on the I-94 Bar in, I think, 1998. I wrote for the Fort Worth Weekly from 2002-2004 and again in 2009-2010. I've written for other outlets (most notably, Phil Overeem's now-extinct First Church of Holy Rock and Roll) for shorter intervals. I have considered self-publishing a vanity press anthology, but really, what would be the point? Is there really anything I've done that I consider to have enduring worth? No, not really. All there is, is a collection of moments that probably don't mean much to anyone but me. Not worth the trouble and expense.

I have considered folding the tent here, but figure it's not time yet. I'll continue thinking and writing about music, because that's what I do. If nothing else, I like having this receptacle for permalinks to my stuff that remains out there in the ether, and other stuff I like to access on a recurring basis. But if Blogger starts acting like that other platform, I've always enjoyed writing in real physical notebooks, and I've got plenty of 'em.