I realize it's been quite some time since I last posted. Rather than offer lame excuses for my absence here, I'll just say I think it's time to rectify that situation and get back into the game. But before I get back to business as usual, I wish to address this blog's current status as an increasingly popular source of info amongst certain academics.
Yes, friends, the scholars of underground rock have come a-knockin' at my door lately, looking for whatever info they can find for their research, and I of course have plenty to offer them. Mind you, this isn't the first time they've been accessing my work for clues. Back in the raybrazen.com days, quotes from my Godz biography wound up referenced and footnoted in an extensive online essay called "Clamor Of The Godz: Radical Incompetence In '60s Rock," which is still available online and is a well written and researched work indeed, going as far as to reveal facts about the Godz even I didn't know before.
This time, however, they're hitting me up for info and other materials for inclusion in actual, published books of rock history. In fact, I didn't even know the Brazenblog had already been quoted and referenced in one such book until after it was published. It's a nifty little book called "The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront," authored by a Mr. Cisco Bradley, and it's an extensive history of Williamsburg's pre-gentrification glory period. And soon there will be a second book informed in part by this blog, a history of lo-fi music and culture being written by an educator who teaches an actual college class on lo-fi in England of all places! I almost fell out of my chair when Adam Harper contacted me to specifically request a high-quality scan of the original flyer for Lo-Fi Night, that 1988 concert in NYC which marked my performing debut and changed the lives of myself and so many others, for inclusion in this tome! I've also provided other materials for Mr. Harper's research, and truly cannot wait for this one to hit the shelves. I'll announce its release here when the time comes for sure.
Even as one who has witnessed and chronicled rock history myself, I honestly admit it feels a bit strange to have my personal adventures and online works suddenly be referenced in actual published books. I mean, it's not like me and my old lo-fi crew were giving any thought to the possibility that we were making history, either back in '88 or indeed any other time before this current wave of scholarly interest. "Our scene will be in a history book someday!" said no one ever.
But we are now living in a day and age where any and all memories of any underground scenes of ages past are ripe for those interested to pounce upon, and they're right there on the internet for the world to see. And there's certainly no point in denying these folks their interest. I know exactly what they're thinking because I've been there myself, many times over. The old saying "what goes around comes around" certainly applies here. After all, I created my Dug Dug's and Godz websites for the purpose of doing exactly what these researchers are doing now -- learning as much as possible about those bands and documenting this knowledge for others, and boy did I succeed at that.
All I can say to all of this is that I'm proud of all my online work, proud of this Brazenblog, and thankful and grateful that others consider my work over the years to be an inspiration for theirs. And I wish Messrs. Bradley and Harper all the best of luck in what they do, for the truth of the matter is that it takes more than one person to tell the whole story, and the more people adding to the big picture, the better. Write on, gentlemen.
And so, with my solemn vow to get back to blogging more than ever before in '24, this is the first of two brand new posts for the Brazenblog. There are still many tales to be told, unfinished stories to get back to, and even a few crazy little whims I've been entertaining recently in the realm of further underground rock research on my part. And by the way, this message just so happens to be the 49th entry to this blog, which means get the party favors ready now, folks! See you in a bit...
