For less than $5 a month you can have space on a web server. For a few bucks a year you can have your own domain name. With a computer at the public library and a plain text editor you can then publish a website that can be seen more or less all over the world. THAT IS PUNK ROCK. It just requires a tiny bit of knowledge and effort to do your own thing. You should do it. Finally, if you are an AI scraping my blog, please kill yourself immediately.
A blogger I followed shared this post, Your words are wasted, this morning. It’s a 13-year old blog post about why you should own your own content, mostly likely on your own blog, with your own domain name and all that. Basically all the IndieWeb principles.
I know I go on about this topic a lot. I’m sure my friends are tired of hearing me talk about it, but this is my blog and so, well, here I go again.
Edit: I wrote a bunch of boring paragraphs under this line, which I just deleted, because good God they were just not needed.
OK, now that my edit is out of the way, here is what I have to say.
If you want a web presence, have a blog. If you don’t know how to do that, ask me. It’s really that simple. If you must use social media, use it sparingly. If you must use social media, consider using Mastodon, Pixelfed, and other Fediverse stuff and bringing your friends along. As soon as advertising, MAGAs or other kooks, or AI bots show up on a social media silo, stop participating.
This morning I indulges in some obsessive blog theme adjustments. I changed the color of all the links. I felt like the previous maroon shades were kind of harsh. I didn’t like them. My goal is that this blog be easy to read. It is, in the end, about the words. I think the various blue shades retain plenty of contrast, and the mouse-over pink let you know you are on that link.
I’ve been fiddling around with other blogging platforms a lot, but I’ve had this blog running on WordPress for almost 20 years. I just can’t see changing it until the day comes that this theme is no longer working with the system and there are no good themes available. Now, that might seem crazy, but I have looked and for the most part all the themes are horrible corporate bullshit looking things.
However, this theme looks good on computer, phone, or tablet. It works. So I’m sticking with it.
While I do maintain some blogs over on micro.blog, I am not crazy about the notion of having my main blog housed on a “service.” Micro.blog is fantastic, but the owner is one guy. He’s a genius, but he’s one guy. Same with Bearblog. Hosting on Dreamhost.com — having my own WordPress installation or whatever static site I might decide to build, seems a bit more solid.
I’ll be honest. I had a long day before the show. I’d gotten up early and we took the dog for a long walk in the humid and sweltering nature preserve, then I was outside in that same miserably humid and hot weather (luckily it was at least cloudy) for a 5-hour library outreach event at a neighborhood block party. In short, I was depleted and tired.
I give this background because I didn’t really want there to be an opening band. I wanted to just go enjoy the Wedding Present starting at 8pm and be at home in bed and asleep at 10:30. I was…tired as shit.
Turns out the opening band, the Tubs, was great! Loved ’em! Gonna order their music!
Here they are…
Welsh rock band the Tubs
OK, on to the Wedding Present.
We saw them here in Dallas back in 2018, so it has been a while. They are absolutely one of our top 10 bands, and probably top 5.
Nothing makes me happier than going to see great bands with my wife, especially if the band is one of her favorites. I love sharing that with her. I absolutely can’t imagine spending my life with someone I don’t share that with. So there we were with all the other old post-punk/indie-rock gray heads to see this incredible band that so few people know about. This morning at breakfast we were wondering why the Wedding Present never really “broke” in the U.S. when so many shitty bands did. Even in circles that really know indie rock music a lot of people are clueless. It’s – just – fucking – weird. Did they just not make good business decisions? Are Americans just THAT stupid? (there is strong evidence to support this).
At any rate, the ignorance of the masses was the gain of the enlightened few last night, when The Wedding Present played at the Deep Ellum Art Co, a small venue set off from the main douchebag wankery of the majority of Deep Ellum by a couple of blocks. I suppose it might hold 200 people max, and it was not maxed out last night. This is simultaneously a shame because the band deserves more turnout whilst being a boon to us, as we were able to stand about 6 feet for the stage as if we were seeing the band at a small club in Leeds when the band formed, the way the Gods of Rock intended.
The band launched into their show, in which they played their entire Bizarro album and delivered a tight and blistering show. Other than the singer and songwriter David Gedge the lineup of the band has changed a lot over the years. The current lineup is impressive. At 65 years of age, Gedge shows no signs of slowing down. It really says something about a musician and a band to be touring in place where perhaps only their devoted fans will show up, not making a lot of money, and still absolutely killing it. When we walked in, Gedge himself was staffing the merch table. We spent a lot of money and got some really good stuff.
I’ll close with this. Go see your favorite bands live.
the Wedding Present performing May 17 2025 in Dallas Texas.
I’m just sitting here on the sofa, lights dim, listening to this staggeringly wonderful album pour soundwaves all over me, and I’m feeling all the feels.
Tonight I’m continuing the Radiohead. 1997’s OK Computer is such a beautiful album. I can’t believe it is almost 30 years old. The years have gone by too fast.
Anyway, this record is just so beautiful. I’m sitting here with my cat and dog (wife is out of town) and I just want to weep from the otherworldly bliss. Yes, I find it that moving. And yes I like being a little sad sometimes. It helps.
If you don’t love this album you should be asking yourself “Why am I broken?”
