It’s always difficult to persuade an elite that the great unwashed might have something useful to contribute. Looks like bloggers are no different. How many weblogs are there in the UK? 100,000? 200,000? While adoption hovers at less than 1% of the online audience, the promise of the form cannot be realised, even if the other 29,800,000 are all reading them. Weblogging (like the web itself, only more so) is important – it empowers people, makes voices heard, creates dialogue, produces new ideas. It should be popular. Lots of articulate people from the blogging community argue that it’s already important (see comments to posts below) and that ‘going mainstream’ will be harmful. Elites always say this. They are almost always wrong. Weblogging is a social and creative laboratory of extraordinary power and scope. It would be a dreadful pity if it remained the hermetic domain of its founders and innovators. It’s time to let go.
Author: Steve Bowbrick
Sleepless in the blogosphere
Thanks to The Guardian for two consecutive sleepless nights scoring dozens of Great British Weblogs. I’m in awe. Not a turkey among them. I’ve over-dosed on clever, useful, ironic, sometimes geeky and very often inspirational writing, lots of big-hearted link sharing (natch) and some fascinating new thinking on the web, user interfaces and computers. I was worried, to begin with, that the anti-competition might siphon off all the cool entries but there was no danger of that. I think the competition will prove to be a real validation for the new form and, I hope, a springboard for the weblog’s leap into the mainstream. Now, to bed…
Brother, sister, mother and father
A Mother’s Love, The Meters
All Your Sisters, Mazzy Star
Big Bayou, The Flying Burrito Brothers
Broken Little Sister, Death In Vegas
Brother Can You Spare A Dime, George Michael
Brother John, Cannonball Adderley
Christine’s Tune, The Flying Burrito Brothers
Come To Daddy, Mummy Mix, Aphex Twin
Divine Mother, Jah Wobble
Endless Grey Ribbon, The Corn Sisters
Every Day Is Christmas, The Webb Brothers
Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand, Williamson Brothers and Curry
Good Mornin’, Brother, Gershwin
Graveside Song, Stevens Sisters
Happy Together – Fillmore East, June 1971, Frank Zappa and The Mothers
He Ain’t Heavy… He’s My Brother, Keith Barrow
He Meets His Mother, Richard Robbins
He’s The Greatest Dancer, Sister Sledge
I Believe In Father Christmas, Six By Seven
I Need Someone, Wallace Brothers
Jackie Brown Soundtrack, Brothers Johnson
Jungle Brothers – Because I Got It Like That (Ultimate Mix), Jungle Brothers
Just a Little Talk With Jesus, Statler Brothers
King Of The Road, Statler Brothers
Lacassine Special, Balfa Brothers
Last Song for Mother, Nanci Griffith
Legacy (Show Me Love) (Mash Up Matt Mix), Space Brothers
Little Sister/Get Back, Elvis Presley
Little Sister/Get Back (Jul, Elvis Presley
Look At That Old Grizzly Bear, Mark Mothersbaugh
Make It Easy On Yourself, Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers
Mother (very rare), Blind Melon
Mother And Child Reunion, Paul Simon
Mother Nature’s Son, The Beatles
My Baby’s Gone, Wallace Brothers
My Dad’s Gone Crazy, Eminem
My Sister, Tindersticks
Nebraska, The Cash Brothers
New Genious (Brother), Gorillaz
Oh Lori, Alessi brothers
Oh, Sister, Bob Dylan
One For Daddy-O, Cannonball Adderley
One Too Many Mornings, Chemical Brothers
Our Mother The Mountain, Townes Van Zandt
Piece of my Heart, Big Brother and the Holding Company
Ras Dub, Sister Carol
Sal Got A Meatskin, Carlisle Brothers
Sister Ray, Joy Division
Sisters & Brothers, The Fire This Time
Slapshot, Brothers In Raw
Star Catching Girl [Soulside Mix], Brother Brown Feat. Frank’ee
Sting & The Chieftains / Sisters of Mercy, Leonard Cohen
Transition Theme For Minor Blues (Or Little Malcolm Loves His Dad), Sonny Rollins
Tunji’s Song – Tunji Oyelana, Brotherhood of Breath
Voice Of The Father, Gene
Will the Circle Be Unbroken, The Neville Brothers
Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Statler Brothers
Will the Circle be Unbroken, Mother Maybelle Carter
Will the Circle be Unbroken (live), The Allman Brothers Band
You Can’t Hold On To A Love That’s Gone, The Holmes Brothers
Your Heart And Mine – Nicholas Brothers
Your Winter, Sister Hazel
Miss, Mr and Mrs
I Don’t Want Your Millions Mister, Pete Seeger
Miss Chatelaine, kd lang
Miss Lucifer, Primal Scream
Miss Punta Blanca, Jane Siberry
Miss Sadie Mae, John Lee Hooker
Miss Sarajevo, George Michael
Mr E’s Beautiful Remix (Butch ‘n’ Joey Remix), Eels
Mr Gold and Mr Mud, Townes Van Zandt
Mr Jones, Counting Crows
Mr Soul (very rare live), Neil Young with Booker T and the MGs
Mr Big, Free
Mr Clean, Frank Zappa
Mr Follow Follow, Fela Anikulapo Kuti
That Green Jesus, Mr Natural
Mr President, The Heptones & Jah Lion
Mr Ray, Suicide
Mr Spaceman, The Flying Burrito Brothers
Mr Wheeler, Pere Ubu
Mr Writer, Stereophonics
Mrs Robinson, Simon & Garfunkel
The Memphis Blues (Or Mister Crump), Louis Armstrong
Weblogs go mainstream. Some bloggers don’t like it
I’m busy judging entries to The Guardian’s Best British Blog competition. It’s not easy, not least (of course) because these things are weblogs so they’re full of interesting links. As a result, each weblog viewed produces half a dozen unrelated clicks. Early estimates suggest it’ll take me the rest of my life to form an opinion about all of them – I have until the weekend.
Early on in the competition some members of the blogging elite objected. Tom Coates has gone on to set up a kind of anti-competition for the folks who don’t want to enter and want the world to know it. Although I’m pretty sure that all the cool guys are over there with the refuseniks (has it ever been cool to enter competitions?), I think they’re just being snobs.
It’s always difficult to see your clever, groovy, pioneering passion popularised but I’m certain that even the elite would prefer the visibility and influence that competitions like this will provide to obscurity and irrelevance. Meanwhile, if I can figure out how to work this thing, here is Tom’s continually-updated list of refuseniks. Since I can’t enter the official competion, I feel inclined to add bowblog.
I’m and you’re
I’m Still In Love With You, Al Green
I’m the One (live), Average White Band
I’m Waiting For The Day, Beach Boys
I’m Only Sleeping, The Beatles
I’m Serious, Beenie Man
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Bob Dylan
I’m Taking My Audition To Sing Up In The Sky, Cap, Andy, And Flip
You’re So Vain, Carly Simon
You’re My Thrill, Chet Baker
I’m On My Way, Clifton Chenier
You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma, David Frizzell & Dottie West
I’m Coming Out, Diana Ross
I’m Walking Backwards For Christmas, Goons
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hank Williams
I’m In The Mood, John Lee Hooker
I’m Beginning to see the Light, Johnny Hodges
You’re The One That I Want, Less Than Jake
I’m Fricking Awesome, MC Paul Barman
You’re A Friend Of Mine, The Meters
I’m Not Worried At Al, Moby
I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man, Muddy Waters
I’m Like a Bird, Nelly Furtado
I’m Depending On You, Otis Redding
I’m Leaving You, Otis Spann
I’m Amazed, The Pixies
I’m A Man, Pulp
I’m Housin’, Rage Against The Machine
You’re in the Air, REM
You’re In My Heart, Rhonda Vincent
I’m Someone Who Loves You, The Roches
I’m So Glad, Skip James
I’m An Old Cowhand, Sonny Rollins
I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, Supremes/Temptations
I’m Still Here, Tom Waits
I’m Waiting For The Man, Velvet Underground
You’re Pretty Good Looking, White Stripes
You’re My Everything, Zoot Sims
Down by the River
Fall in a River, Badly Drawn Boy
River Theme, Bob Dylan
The River Hymn, The Band
African River, Abdullah Ibrahim
Dam That River, Alice In Chains
Down By The River, Neil Young
Find The River, REM
Harlem River Drive Theme, NuYorica
Jet Black River, Frank Black and the Catholics
Big River, Johnny Cash
Let the River Run, Carly Simon
Medley: The Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Misery Is The River Of The World, Tom Waits
Peace Like a River, Paul Simon
Picnic On A Frozen River, Deuxieme…, Faust
Red River Valley, Woody Guthrie
River, Joni Mitchell
River Euphrates, The Pixies
River Man, Nick Drake
River, Sea, Ocean, Badly Drawn Boy
Rivers of Babylon, Martin Carthy
Riverside Opportunities, Iain Sinclair
Sweet Rivers, Allison’s Sacred Harp Singers
The Riverboat Song, Ocean Colour Scene
Waltz
Bagatelles, Op. 6 – Waltz, Béla Bartók
Last Tango In Paris: Jazz Waltz, Gato Barbieri
Pueblo Waltz, Townes van Zandt
Sad Song Waltzes, Cake
Shadow Waltz, Zoot Sims
Tennessee Waltz, Hank Williams
Tennessee Waltz, Ella Fitzgerald
The Waltz Of The Angels, Lefty Frizzell
The Waltz Variation, Uri Caine
Waltz, Toru Takemitsu
Waltz For Koop, Koop
Zulema Waltz, Santiago Jimenez, Jr.
Valse Hot, Sonny Rollins
Medication Valse (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Jack Nitzsche
La Valse à Mille Temps, Jacques Brel
Musica Ricercata per pianoforte: Tempo di valse (poco animato), György Ligeti
You want me to provide my own firewall?
I guess my main problem with Danny O’Brien’s thinking about running web-based services from home is a kind of category uneasiness. The kind of services Danny wants us to run belong, for me, to the same category as electricity, a working phone line, gas supply. They’re utilities and they need to work all the time. I don’t trust myself to provide a stable power supply, a properly installed mail server, enough redundant hard disk for all my files. Some services just need to be nearer the centre. The extreme fringes (my kitchen, for instance) are not the best place to provide guaranteed or high-availability services. I want someone else to worry about all that. And besides, who would I complain to?
Running web-based services from home
Danny O’Brien’s been talking about making good use of an always-on home connection to replace all those web-based services we’ve become dependent on and that are about to start charging. I’m looking forward to seeing his conclusions. So far I’ve got that ‘Apache installed here’ screen up on the Cube in our kitchen but I’d love to be able to fix it so I can see my MP3s from the office (or wherever). Only total UNIX-fear prevents me from sorting it out.