Connor Ratliff
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Lester Burnham
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Connor Ratliff
So one of my favorite EC sites is Bright Blue Times. Earlier today, I went to check out the site, and it said that the page could not be found. Puzzled, I went to http://www.astheygo.com , and was a little concerned with what I saw. Does anyone know what's happened?
Last edited by Lester Burnham on Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Lester Burnham
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StrictTime
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Sorry if anyone was alarmed. The placeholder at astheygo.com has nothing to do with Bright Blue Times, it is related to an entirely different project. And I'm fine, personally -- I realize now that it might have looked more than a little cryptic, the placeholder, but I really didn't think anyone would actually look at it or draw any conclusions-- I hadn't thought of it as potentially looking morbid.
BUT: Bright Blue Times has, indeed, come to an end:
http://www.astheygo.com/elviscostello.htm
There are a number of reasons for this-- one of which is suggested by what I've now put up in its place. Some of my other reasons are personal, and there is, of course, always the chance that the site might return at some point. But for now, I'm choosing to shut it down. I'm sorry if that's disappointing to anyone, but BBT began as part of a school project, and was never something I intended to still be doing ten years later. The main thing that kept me updating it was when a new record would come out, and since Costello seems intent on declaring that he's done with all that, it felt like a good time to close up shop...
Thanks to anyone out there who enjoyed the site. Again, sorry if anyone was alarmed...
BUT: Bright Blue Times has, indeed, come to an end:
http://www.astheygo.com/elviscostello.htm
There are a number of reasons for this-- one of which is suggested by what I've now put up in its place. Some of my other reasons are personal, and there is, of course, always the chance that the site might return at some point. But for now, I'm choosing to shut it down. I'm sorry if that's disappointing to anyone, but BBT began as part of a school project, and was never something I intended to still be doing ten years later. The main thing that kept me updating it was when a new record would come out, and since Costello seems intent on declaring that he's done with all that, it felt like a good time to close up shop...
Thanks to anyone out there who enjoyed the site. Again, sorry if anyone was alarmed...
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Otis Westinghouse
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Has his Muse deserted him? Creative juices dried up?
The article Conor Ratcliff cites on his thread seems to indicate so:
"I haven't really written in a couple of years now," he confides. "I don't have much interest or burning need, if you will, to record."
This indicates a lack of desire to record due to a lack of things to record. Seems like a different man to the one who had to get his driver to take him round the block again a few years back as he arrived at that night's show's venue as he was reciting a melody or words into his dictophone.
The article Conor Ratcliff cites on his thread seems to indicate so:
"I haven't really written in a couple of years now," he confides. "I don't have much interest or burning need, if you will, to record."
This indicates a lack of desire to record due to a lack of things to record. Seems like a different man to the one who had to get his driver to take him round the block again a few years back as he arrived at that night's show's venue as he was reciting a melody or words into his dictophone.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
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so lacklustre
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StrictTime
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Lester Burnham
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Phew!
While I understand your decision, Connor, I have to agree with everyone else and say that the site has been an amazing thing to trawl through and read – it was one of the first EC sites that I ever stumbled upon. I just think it'd be a shame for your writings to be lost to the public forever; is there any way that you could be convinced to repost everything, even if you don't update it? It really is a terrific site...
Anyway, glad to hear you're not dead!
edit: I just re-read your post, and you mention that there are some personal reasons too... disregard my plea, I've done the same thing before too, so I completely understand!
While I understand your decision, Connor, I have to agree with everyone else and say that the site has been an amazing thing to trawl through and read – it was one of the first EC sites that I ever stumbled upon. I just think it'd be a shame for your writings to be lost to the public forever; is there any way that you could be convinced to repost everything, even if you don't update it? It really is a terrific site...
Anyway, glad to hear you're not dead!
edit: I just re-read your post, and you mention that there are some personal reasons too... disregard my plea, I've done the same thing before too, so I completely understand!
I may bring the site back at some point-- I've pulled it down for now, and that's partly as a reaction to Costello's current tendency to make dramatic and ridiculous pronouncements, especially over the past few years...
His CDs don't sell convincingly-- which has been the case for some time now, but we can assume that it's gotten MUCH worse as CD sales in general have plummeted-- and he has shown zero imagination in making the transition to the world of the Internet and downloading music. Which is all very sad, really, because there was a time when he would have been an innovator in this regard. There was a time when Costello would've been imaginative enough to be the first one to offer up his new album a la Radiohead-- Pay What You Want and Download It-- and instead, he has what has to be one of the lamest official websites out there. Really, check out any other singer/songwriter of note-- I'll bet that they have a better one than EC. Even geezers a full generation older than him have established better official sites than his... Frankly, it makes it that much less fun to be a Costello fan.
Costello should be writing and recording. And if he doesn't feel like writing, he should be recording songs by other artists. He's one hell of an interpreter of other people's songs, and the second volume of Kojak Variety is long overdue. Wouldn't it be great if, instead of a single disc of new covers, he began an open-ended series, where he would record and release covers (via iTunes or directly from ElvisCostello.com) as he felt like it? I know that the recent Hip-O re-re-reissues were intended to bring new fans into the mix, but I think he'd be more likely to be heard by newer or younger listeners if he recorded a song by Ben Gibbard or Arcade Fire or something like that.
If he had released "American Gangster Time"-- even if it was merely a soundboard recording of one of the concert performances-- tens of thousands of people would have paid money to download it. Instead, many of those fans have found free bootleg versions, that don't sound as good and it doesn't put a dime in Costello's pocket. I just don't understand his resistance to this simple idea.
Costello has a fan base. They come to his concerts, they buy his re-issues and deluxe re-re-reissues, and they would almost certainly pay a dollar a pop to buy anything new he released on the 'net. Or subscribe, if he offered a subscription service to get new recordings.
Instead, what does he offer? Ringtones. Free downloadable "clock widgets" where a photo of himself from 1977 has legs that wiggle back and forth like a grandfather clock. Hell, the site is ostensibly promoting the "Best Of" and deluxe reissue of MAIT, but they haven't even bothered to change the music player to reflect this-- it's still automatically playing songs from The River In Reverse.
I realize that Costello is no longer actively involved in maintaining the content of his own website. Presumably someone at Universal Music is in charge of it now. But it's 2007, and Costello still speaks about the Internet like it's some newfangled gizmo that he just can't seem to wrap his head around.
Costello in 2007 seems creatively adrift. That's how it seems to me, anyway. Last year's River In Reverse was superb. And his concerts are almost always great. But this year has brought us the VISA Signature corporate sponsorship-- where, for instance, New York City fans were denied the opportunity to buy a ticket to his concert if they didn't use a Visa credit card. Surely this is something he would have bristled at a few years ago, but now he's doing commercials for Lexus, too. And then there are the Hip-O reissues, which seem kind of unnecessary at best. And his continued talk of how he's abandoning recordings in favor of being a live artist. That's fine, I guess. It's his life, and his career, and ultimately it's up to him entirely. But it seems like a real shame. Making records was-- by far-- the thing he did best. I've seen him in concert well over a dozen times since 1994, and it's always great, but not ONE of those concerts is as great as his recorded output. There's not a single concert I've seen-- even the best ones I've been lucky enough to witness-- that can match the power of albums like Get Happy, Imperial Bedroom, King Of America, Mighty Like A Rose, Brutal Youth, etc. The recordings are what count, and while he has a reputation as a great live performer, it's the recordings that have mattered most. I'm sure he has made more money touring, but his albums are the heart of his career and his legacy.
(Honestly, I wish he'd just come right out and admit that MONEY is one of the big reasons he's choosing to tour instead of making records. He's acting like the death of the CD and the confusion of the Internet has forced him to make this decision somehow, but it's a false choice, and not a creative/artistic one like he pretends. If anything, I think Costello could make MORE money for himself in an age of paid downloads than he did putting out CDs on giant corporate record labels.)
Anyway, that's a pretty long rant, I suppose. But all of that stuff is part of why it wasn't much fun keeping BBT around at this point. It began as a site born out of my genuine enthusiasm for Costello's music, and I could easily see it turn into a site where I whinge at length about what Costello should or shouldn't be doing, and I really didn't want it to become that. It's just too frustrating. (At least that's one aspect of it. I have plenty of other reasons for not wanting to keep BBT online, but those are some of the main Costello-related reasons for taking down the site...)
Maybe at some point in the future, I'll feel like bringing it back in some form or another. Maybe Costello will wake up and realize he needs to make some more recordings. Or maybe 2008 will see the Deluxe two-disc reissue of This Year's Model retail at $32.99 and a host of new downloadable Elvis clock widgets and a tour that you can only attend if you have a Platinum Visa card. Only time will tell.
In any case, I'm happy to see that there were some people who enjoyed Bright Blue Times and it's nice to read such nice things written about it here. I really appreciate it.
His CDs don't sell convincingly-- which has been the case for some time now, but we can assume that it's gotten MUCH worse as CD sales in general have plummeted-- and he has shown zero imagination in making the transition to the world of the Internet and downloading music. Which is all very sad, really, because there was a time when he would have been an innovator in this regard. There was a time when Costello would've been imaginative enough to be the first one to offer up his new album a la Radiohead-- Pay What You Want and Download It-- and instead, he has what has to be one of the lamest official websites out there. Really, check out any other singer/songwriter of note-- I'll bet that they have a better one than EC. Even geezers a full generation older than him have established better official sites than his... Frankly, it makes it that much less fun to be a Costello fan.
Costello should be writing and recording. And if he doesn't feel like writing, he should be recording songs by other artists. He's one hell of an interpreter of other people's songs, and the second volume of Kojak Variety is long overdue. Wouldn't it be great if, instead of a single disc of new covers, he began an open-ended series, where he would record and release covers (via iTunes or directly from ElvisCostello.com) as he felt like it? I know that the recent Hip-O re-re-reissues were intended to bring new fans into the mix, but I think he'd be more likely to be heard by newer or younger listeners if he recorded a song by Ben Gibbard or Arcade Fire or something like that.
If he had released "American Gangster Time"-- even if it was merely a soundboard recording of one of the concert performances-- tens of thousands of people would have paid money to download it. Instead, many of those fans have found free bootleg versions, that don't sound as good and it doesn't put a dime in Costello's pocket. I just don't understand his resistance to this simple idea.
Costello has a fan base. They come to his concerts, they buy his re-issues and deluxe re-re-reissues, and they would almost certainly pay a dollar a pop to buy anything new he released on the 'net. Or subscribe, if he offered a subscription service to get new recordings.
Instead, what does he offer? Ringtones. Free downloadable "clock widgets" where a photo of himself from 1977 has legs that wiggle back and forth like a grandfather clock. Hell, the site is ostensibly promoting the "Best Of" and deluxe reissue of MAIT, but they haven't even bothered to change the music player to reflect this-- it's still automatically playing songs from The River In Reverse.
I realize that Costello is no longer actively involved in maintaining the content of his own website. Presumably someone at Universal Music is in charge of it now. But it's 2007, and Costello still speaks about the Internet like it's some newfangled gizmo that he just can't seem to wrap his head around.
Costello in 2007 seems creatively adrift. That's how it seems to me, anyway. Last year's River In Reverse was superb. And his concerts are almost always great. But this year has brought us the VISA Signature corporate sponsorship-- where, for instance, New York City fans were denied the opportunity to buy a ticket to his concert if they didn't use a Visa credit card. Surely this is something he would have bristled at a few years ago, but now he's doing commercials for Lexus, too. And then there are the Hip-O reissues, which seem kind of unnecessary at best. And his continued talk of how he's abandoning recordings in favor of being a live artist. That's fine, I guess. It's his life, and his career, and ultimately it's up to him entirely. But it seems like a real shame. Making records was-- by far-- the thing he did best. I've seen him in concert well over a dozen times since 1994, and it's always great, but not ONE of those concerts is as great as his recorded output. There's not a single concert I've seen-- even the best ones I've been lucky enough to witness-- that can match the power of albums like Get Happy, Imperial Bedroom, King Of America, Mighty Like A Rose, Brutal Youth, etc. The recordings are what count, and while he has a reputation as a great live performer, it's the recordings that have mattered most. I'm sure he has made more money touring, but his albums are the heart of his career and his legacy.
(Honestly, I wish he'd just come right out and admit that MONEY is one of the big reasons he's choosing to tour instead of making records. He's acting like the death of the CD and the confusion of the Internet has forced him to make this decision somehow, but it's a false choice, and not a creative/artistic one like he pretends. If anything, I think Costello could make MORE money for himself in an age of paid downloads than he did putting out CDs on giant corporate record labels.)
Anyway, that's a pretty long rant, I suppose. But all of that stuff is part of why it wasn't much fun keeping BBT around at this point. It began as a site born out of my genuine enthusiasm for Costello's music, and I could easily see it turn into a site where I whinge at length about what Costello should or shouldn't be doing, and I really didn't want it to become that. It's just too frustrating. (At least that's one aspect of it. I have plenty of other reasons for not wanting to keep BBT online, but those are some of the main Costello-related reasons for taking down the site...)
Maybe at some point in the future, I'll feel like bringing it back in some form or another. Maybe Costello will wake up and realize he needs to make some more recordings. Or maybe 2008 will see the Deluxe two-disc reissue of This Year's Model retail at $32.99 and a host of new downloadable Elvis clock widgets and a tour that you can only attend if you have a Platinum Visa card. Only time will tell.
In any case, I'm happy to see that there were some people who enjoyed Bright Blue Times and it's nice to read such nice things written about it here. I really appreciate it.
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invisible Pole
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Re: Connor Ratliff
Bright Blue Times updated its page with the news of Momofuku album.
Let's hope the site will return for good.
http://www.astheygo.com/elviscostello.htm
Let's hope the site will return for good.
http://www.astheygo.com/elviscostello.htm
If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
Then you don't know what you've missed