The itinerant blogger
Yesterday WordPress deactivated my blog at halfhearteddude.wordpress.com. It”s their service I”m using for free, and they were fair enough not to delete all content (as Blogger have done), so I”m not really that outraged at them “” though it would be nice to know who my accusers are. The e-mail from WP refers only to a DMCA complaint. One!
The blog was zapped just four days after I posted a candid analysis of Old Blue Shades” twattery. The timing may be coincidental, or not. The notion that Bozo”s boys might have leapt into action against my musky corner of the blogosphere is at once flattering and disquieting. Bozo”s twattery remains undiminished, whether or not his goons had anything to do with the blog-zap. Just in case they were, I”ve taken my piece on Bozo off this blog. You know, don”t feed the monkeys.
Happily, nothing has been lost “” except my extensive list of links (which I”ll have to rebuild manually when time allows), my pretty good Google ratings, and probably a fair number of readers who will presume that my blog no longer exists. At last my Facebook friends know where I am (go HERE to be a FB friend), and I hope fellow bloggers will update their links. Of course, that slice of genius, totallyfuzzy, will direct readers old and new to this possibly temporary address.
Perhaps it is a good thing that I”ll have to rebuild a readership, if not from scratch, then certainly from a base of lower expectations. I had noticed that I was studying the blog stats a little too compulsively. In the second half of 2009, the daily average of hits was in excess of a thousand (the highest number to visit my bog in a day was something like 1800). So when the daily stats showed below-average hits, I would feel unnerved by that. I started entering into a competition with myself.
So I can see an upside. That is not to say that I am very annoyed, of course. The zapping came at a busy time, when all kinds of routines in my life have been unsettled and I am in desperate need of a holiday, which I cannot take.
As I said, the amdwhah.wordpress.com address will be temporary, so like the late folk-singer Cisco Houston, I’m just be passing through.
Cisco Houston ““ Passing Through.mp3
Postscript: I owe Bonzo a big snivelling apology, having just come across his poem “Elvis”, written in 1995, when he was 12, and performed in May last year on the BBC. What right do I, a mere mortal, have to sneer at Bimbo the Bard who conjures, from places I cannot and would not much like to fathom, artfully wrought verse such as: “elvis the plastic, elvis the elastic with a spastic dance that might explain the energy of america”. I am not worthy of even being made up of similar molecular matter as Bombo! Bingo, pray for me.
Glad that I can still have you in my life!!!
Nice to see you’re still about.
You have one of the most compelling music blogs on the web. I was glad to find you again.
Meant to tell you a story – The wife’s Aunt, her current husband is a Gentleman originally from Philly, PA. Every time we visit I get into long conversations with him about music. I burnt the Major Soul series onto CDRs and presented them to him for Chrimbo. Didn’t actually get to see him but he called us and was absolutely blown away, nearly in tears. The best thing he had ever received he said.
You do good sir and please keep on doing it.
Oh man, that is beautiful. Thanks for telling me. Did you use the covers and everything?
No I didn’t have a working printer at the time. Didn’t matter though, it’s all about the music.
Enjoyed the selections, some of which remind me of my time in high school. Thank you!
I fully expect to be vagabonding again sometime down the road. Good to know where you are; the link at my place is updated.
Hi half a dude.Been a lurker here for some time now and thoroughly enjoyed all I have so far seen and heard
Glad to find you still up and running – my heart sank and the world seemed a little greyer when I logged on to the old page and you were gone.Slightly disturbing that the piece on Bonio may have led to your wordpress demise (it was a great read, though frankly I cant understand how you can be bothered to take the time to pour such eloquent bile and vitriol upon yer man, he only wants the attention.If we all ignore him he might just go away)
Hi, found you again thanks to Echoes In The Wind. Being an early 70s crank(as you’d expect from a 52 yo wanker), I’ve downloaded shedloads of your stuff and it’s brought back loads of happy memories(which is about all I’ve got to hang on). Stick at it – you’re doing a fab job. Cheers Mike.