The following conversation happened at some point in November, I'm thinking maybe the 18th. I know we wanted to get off the phone before the Patriots-Eagles game started. Al Michaels and Tom Brady! It all started earlier in the day, when I got a load of the latest Queensrÿche release. I had seen the album in stores the previous day, but had gotten distracted by the new Dwight Yoakam album and forgot to see what Queensrÿche was trying to sell this time.
I was mighty sorry when I finally looked at the new Queensrÿche release, because it was a cover album. I was looking at the tracks all, "Pink Floyd, boring, dull, stupid, WHAT?!" Halfway through the list I saw that Queensrÿche had decided to cover Innuendo and I started ranting and raving so much there may have been spittle flying. LCG was just looking pleased (he loves a Queensrÿche-induced fit) so I called the Pirate and left him an angry message that naturally ended with, "I take offense at the Innuendo!"
My phone rang later that night and we started right in.
Pirate: So. Innuendo.
Me: Can you believe it?
Pirate: Is it a cover album?
Me: Yes.
Pirate: You're kidding.
Me: I wouldn't invent such a horrible story. I take offense at the Innuendo.
Pirate: Wait a minute. Didn't we make fun of the wandering minstrel guitar on the solo album?
Me: Hey! We did! We said Queen did it better.
Pirate: Geoff Tate did this just to piss you off.
Me: It worked.
Pirate: Seriously, you know he reads the site.
Me: Why would he do that? I'm not exactly pro-Tate.
Pirate: I bet you he found it when his solo album came out and reads it just because you talk about him.
Me: Well, he'll have to find something else to read because I'm thinking about quitting.
Pirate: What? Why?
Me: Ever since I moved...
Pirate: You moved?
Me: Didn't I tell you?
Pirate: I knew you had looked at a place that took your fancy but I didn't hear anything concrete.
Me: Oh yeah, I moved a week and a half ago.
Pirate: Know why I like you? Because you don't call me to help you move. The rest of my friends are all, "Dude, can you bring over that trailer you used from work when you moved?"
Me: I don't have enough stuff to need more than two people helping and my dad has a pickup.
Pirate: Me and my best gal are such pack rats that we filled that twenty footer.
Me: I didn't have room for that much stuff at my old place. Anyway, you know how I live the dial-up lifestyle.
Pirate: Yeah.
Me: Guess what. My new apartment is much more boss but the phone line is slower. At my old place the modem connected at the maximum possible speed, here I've lost about thirty percent of that.
Pirate: Oh, no. I use cable and I'm screaming at the computer if all of the pictures on a page don't load instantly.
Me: Not a problem since I don't use the Internet at home, except to post and do my second job. And the second job is the problem. Now that my connection is slower it takes me longer to send files and that annoyance cuts into my writing time. Instead of working on the site while I'm sending stuff, I wander off and do chores. Plus my computer is in the bedroom now so I can't even listen to records or something while I'm working. The size of my site files are no big whoop, I just don't want to deal with it after I've been doing graphics.
Pirate: But still...
Me: And speaking of the second job, it's only going to get bigger which is awesome for the office, but it's gonna take up more of my time and it's getting tougher to keep quiet. I can't mention it except peripherally because hello specialty business with a small office. I make anything other than a vague comment and everyone knows who I work for.
Pirate: True, true.
Me: And the Internet is a lot bigger than when I started, and Joejung said that statement alone shows my age. Nowadays, people go for video and audio when it comes to music on the web. I just provide commentary and I'm out of style. I dig the niche I have but at this point my choice is to get with the times and go all high-speed and gussy things up, or quit. I think I'm going to quit. I mean, I'll still leave everything up and keep the site in case I ever change my mind but this is definitely going to be a hiatus.
Pirate: But...okay. It makes me sad that our conversations won't be posted anymore. I love going to your site and finding out that you thought our talk was funny enough to write up.
Me: I knew you would get around to that! I'd rather just talk on the phone and not write it up. I went and saw Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings Friday night and so enjoyed that I wasn't going to rush home and write.
Pirate: Maybe you could cut back.
Me: This whole year has been a cutback and it didn't help. I've got no motivation and LCG said, "A job in music will do that to you." The record store job didn't kill my enthusiasm completely but I'm on the way now. And another thing, the kids today with their myspaces and facebooks, nothing is anonymous anymore. When I started you came up with a screen name and had some privacy. I liked being able to go see Geoff Tate without anyone knowing who I was. I definitely don't want Queensrÿche fans to know me on sight.
Pirate: I still think Geoff Tate knew who we were. He reads the site and that is why we got shunned.
Me: It was a better story that way.
Pirate: Maybe you can do something once a week.
Me: You are a fine one to talk, Mr. I-Update-My-Myspace-Blog-Once-A-Year.
Pirate: Well, I sit down to write and then I realize that whatever I have to say isn't worth the time it takes to type it up. I'm not going to be like Vee and post every time I fart.
Me: Man, it's funny when he does that. You tell him I'm still annoyed he made his profile private, because I'm sure as shooting not signing up just to read his blog. Anyway, I have the same problem as you. I think about a topic and then go, no one cares. I'm old news. One of the reasons I started this was to find an audience for when I write a book. I don't think that works anymore and I have to follow LCG's policy of, "You'll figure it out." There's got to be a different route for that. I'll worry about that when I have to.
Pirate: How is the book going?
Me: I trashed the idea and am working on a different idea. It's a better story.
Pirate: It's almost time for kickoff.
Me: Woo! Al Michaels! Talk to you later.
Pirate: Bye.