Gazoo's Thread of Self-Indulgence

[RGMike]

Hey gang,

I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus.  Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible?  Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure.  Would I have to go with more familiar songs?  Stop with the needlessly big words?  I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.

First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.

[Gazoo]

Hey gang,

I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus.  Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible?  Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure.  Would I have to go with more familiar songs?  Stop with the needlessly big words?  I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.

First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.

Mike, thank you, a thousand times.  But the observation remains: if my shtick is obscurantist music, then I might as well just post my musings here and on FB instead of maintaining a blog.

[ggould]

Hey gang,

I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus.  Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible?  Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure.  Would I have to go with more familiar songs?  Stop with the needlessly big words?  I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.

First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.

Mike, thank you, a thousand times.  But the observation remains: if my shtick is obscurantist music, then I might as well just post my musings here and on FB instead of maintaining a blog.

point taken, and yet, what's the goal here?  If you had hoped to sell Google ads in your blog, you could use that metric for success or failure. But, if you just need to write, and you have a few people that enjoy it, and it doesn't cost you any money, why not blog?  It's less restrictive than FB, easier to navigate than here, and we should just post a link on the main page to it from here anyway.

[Lightnin' Rod]

Hey gang,

I haven't ruled out bringing my blog out of hiatus.  Do any of you who read it have any suggestions as to how it might have been more accessible?  Feedback I got from non-music-geek friends suggested that it was impenetrable and obscure.  Would I have to go with more familiar songs?  Stop with the needlessly big words?  I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.

First of all -- it was a MUSIC blog. In many ways it was *about* music-geekery. Your non-music-geek friends should read something else rather then expect you to dumb things down just for them. Seriously. It really burns my onions when people do that. It was NOT "impenetrable and obscure", it was a breath of fresh air, smart and beautifully written.

Mike, thank you, a thousand times.  But the observation remains: if my shtick is obscurantist music, then I might as well just post my musings here and on FB instead of maintaining a blog.

point taken, and yet, what's the goal here?  If you had hoped to sell Google ads in your blog, you could use that metric for success or failure. But, if you just need to write, and you have a few people that enjoy it, and it doesn't cost you any money, why not blog?  It's less restrictive than FB, easier to navigate than here, and we should just post a link on the main page to it from here anyway.

I liked it as a blog too.  I may never take to facebook, which I pretty much just find irritating so far.  But I like having a place to find what Gaz is thinking about.

[mshray]

...I feel the blog didn't really succeed, and I don't know why.

Gaz, don't change what you're doing if it's really what you want to do.  If the blog wasn't successfully interesting and thought provoking, we'd have let you know.  Since I'm only assuming that what you meant by 'succeed' was to reach a somewhat wider audience, please ignore the following if that assumption is wrong.  I have experience dealing with people who consult to bloggers/podcasters to make them successful, and I can share the basics (in order of importance):

1.  Create your content based on something you have a real passion for, because only that passion will make you want to keep doing it on a regular basis indefinitely.  It is always fatal to be imitative.

2.  Do it on a regular basis, and be as regular as possible. This is critical for audience retention.

3.  To proactively expand your audience, spend at least as much time on other people's blogs making comments (2x -3x is recommended) and aggressively use features such as trackback.  Whenever the comments mechanism gives you the chance to include a URL with your comment, do so.  It is perfectly acceptable to mention your own blog in your comments, as long as you are polite about it.  If you make a good enough impression on other bloggers they will put a permanent link to you on their page (and you probably want to look for other bloggers who have already linked others on their page).  Note that there is an unwritten rule of quid pro quo on this, and you can take the first step if you are inclined.

4.  Repurpose your content in any and every way you can think of.  There are literally millions of websites that are desperate for any kind of remotely useful content.

[RGMike]

BTW Arianna Huffington just wrote a book on How to Blog, FWIW...

http://www.amazon.com/Huffington-Post-Complete-Guide-Blogging/dp/1439105006

[Tinka Cat]

Hey Gaz,

If you need to write, you should.  It's important to know your audience and create work that gets through to people, but don't let non-music geek friends affect what your music-geek blogging persona wants to write.

Writing is hard, and writing well is esp hard, and heaven knows creating just one single quality blog entry takes a lot out of any writer, but perhaps you could cleave your blog into one that follows the Pop Argot muse (wonderfully "impenetrable and obscure") and one that is more gossipy and "commercial?"  or whatever it is your non-music geek friends are hoping for?  I know one person who has diff blogs for diff online personae, but it's a helluva lot of work.  ... ok, a silly idea, forget I mentioned it, unless you choose not to. 

Facebook is ok, sorta takes the place b/w email and texting, but I hope you keep writing your blog. 

[Alicat]

Keep your creative juices flowing. You're an intelligent writer with valid musings. You have to be able to have that release somewhere. If monetizing the blog was a goal, you'll decide how to modify the content for mass appeal. It's all marketing and networking and what Mark said.

[Gazoo]

Guys, I can't thank you enough for the advice and encouragement.  In answer to one question y'all had - no, I have no interest in monetizing the blog.  It's a way for me to hold up my end of the bargain in life being a shared experience.  And if I can entertain a few people and get some music and tales in return, so much the better.

As I said a while back, my urge to write did leave me.  I'm still working on getting it back.  I'm so glad to know, though, that you guys have enjoyed the output so far.  Means a lot to me.

Gaz

PS: John, the "persona" notion is an interesting one to consider.  But yeah, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

PPS: Mark, you bring up a great point: I don't do nearly enough reading of and commenting on others' blogs.  It's very hard to keep up with the information deluge that the Net provides, but we get what we give when we give what we get.

Thank you all again.  Seriously.

[ggould]

Guys, I can't thank you enough for the advice and encouragement.  In answer to one question y'all had - no, I have no interest in monetizing the blog.  It's a way for me to hold up my end of the bargain in life being a shared experience.  And if I can entertain a few people and get some music and tales in return, so much the better.

As I said a while back, my urge to write did leave me.  I'm still working on getting it back.  I'm so glad to know, though, that you guys have enjoyed the output so far.  Means a lot to me.

Gaz

PS: John, the "persona" notion is an interesting one to consider.  But yeah, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

PPS: Mark, you bring up a great point: I don't do nearly enough reading of and commenting on others' blogs.  It's very hard to keep up with the information deluge that the Net provides, but we get what we give when we give what we get.

Thank you all again.  Seriously.

yeah, some of my friends like my blog, and suggest I do it more regularly, but I just don't have the time.  I often wonder how people find time to do the good blogs on a regular basis.

[mshray]

I heard that advice given to a room full of people who paid a bunch of money to hear it.  I was helping with audio & video in the back of the room.

[Gazoo]

So gang,

I've been idly thinking about attending a meditation conference, "Integrating the Infinite," in mid-October at this retreat site near Santa Cruz:

http://www.mountmadonna.org/

Anyone know anything about it?  If I come, I'll make a proper Bay Area vacation out of it - any suggestions on whether a visit before Oct. 16 or after Oct. 18 schedules better, both in terms of seeing you guys and catching some events in the city?

[RGMike]

So gang,

I've been idly thinking about attending a meditation conference, "Integrating the Infinite," in mid-October at this retreat site near Santa Cruz:

http://www.mountmadonna.org/

Anyone know anything about it?  If I come, I'll make a proper Bay Area vacation out of it - any suggestions on whether a visit before Oct. 16 or after Oct. 18 schedules better, both in terms of seeing you guys and catching some events in the city?

Didn't the princess say she was coming here in October? might wanta get in synch with her.

I have NY friends who used to do Mount Madonna every year ("Mount Madonna? Didn't Jose Canseco and A-Rod both do that?" Har Har). There's an ashram there, I drove them down to it one summer when they were here. It was a week of eating brown rice (No outside food allowed!) and, well, not exactly sleeping on a bed of nails but it was pretty spartan. They swore by it; we already know how I feel about New Age spirituality 

[ggould]

So gang,

I've been idly thinking about attending a meditation conference, "Integrating the Infinite," in mid-October at this retreat site near Santa Cruz:

http://www.mountmadonna.org/

Anyone know anything about it?  If I come, I'll make a proper Bay Area vacation out of it - any suggestions on whether a visit before Oct. 16 or after Oct. 18 schedules better, both in terms of seeing you guys and catching some events in the city?

it's impossible to predict, but that's just about the breaking point for the end of Indian Summer here.

[Gazoo]

"Baby I've Been Thinking" is once again live.  Hopefully to be updated daily.

It's also the one-year anniversary of the blog.

And I'm about 60% sure that I will be in SF sometime in October.  If I have my way, my friend Andy will be in tow.  I need to shoot PoC a note to find out her visit dates!