"Keep on bloggin'
`Til the power goes out
The batteries dead
Twist and shout"
Neil Young - Fork In The Road (2009)
`Til the power goes out
The batteries dead
Twist and shout"
Neil Young - Fork In The Road (2009)
Obviously, we found the below comment to be highly amusing indeed.
The background is that earlier this week, we posted Neil Young Archives | Letter to the Editor: Mailing-List?, where a Neil Young fan laments the lack of update notifications from NYA directly so he must rely on Thrasher's Wheat to re-direct him to NYA content updates. Beginning to detect our amusement yet???
So Vili, who wrote a Letter to the Editor on Neil Young Archives Times-Contrarian, comes here to TW to respond to this whole episode and hilarity ensues...
From Neil Young Archives | Letter to the Editor: Mailing-List? Vili responds with the TW Comment of the Moment:
Well, this is amusing indeed.Vili - as you say -- quoting TW and then re-quoting you -- this is amusing indeed. Thanks so much for your support and suggestions!
Illustrative of the situation, I would never have seen this NYA post had Thrasher & Thrasherette not posted it here.
As much as I want to support Neil and the archives project, there are just way too many websites in the world to check. And so, I go to none of them, but ask them to come to me. When it comes to Neil Young news, Thrasher's RSS feeds have served me for, what, close to twenty years now? Thank you, guys. Without this website, Neil wouldn't be such a daily part of my life.
Another amusing bit is the little branding exercise that the NYA post is engaged in. Their personal reply to me last month was very kind and friendly. This one is blunt and rock and roll. Which is understandable, but the contrast is quite hilarious.
You ask what role Thrasher's Wheat can play now that NYA is posting their own updates. Well, as I alluded above, as long as NYA's news posts are behind a walled garden and hard to access, they probably get seen by fewer people than Thrasher's "re-hashes" of them. Secondly, while I hope that the NYA website will be here to stay, the reality is that official Neil Young websites have come and gone, while Thrasher's Wheat stays. Your quarter of a century milestone is coming soon.
It is also important that the fan base has an independent outlet for news and discussion. While Thrasher's Wheat itself may not engage in much criticism of Neil's doings, the commenters here have shown to be more than capable of taking care of that aspect, both constructively and in terms of just letting off steam. I have been a lurker for two decades but enjoy reading the discussions.
Thank you, everyone.
Vili
So round and round we go.
It means so much to us to mean so much to our readers.
From time to time we get a little jolt like this that makes everything we do here @ TW so worthwhile. So nice to hear that even with NYA cranking it out, we're still able to provide the value add.
So we'll consider more closely communications options and coverage tweaks. Hopefully we'll get something going before the next concert runs and tour ticket announcements.
As always, drop us a line anytime. Thrasher's Wheat never sleeps.
via N Y Times - August 17, 2010
In the meantime, we still see the vista. We still hear the muse. We still continue.
Godspeed. Thank you. Mahalo.
thrasher & thrashette
ps - for more on this subject, see:
- Waging Heavy Wheat: Thank You for Supporting Thrasher's Wheat
- From "Winterlong" to "The Big Shift": The Illusion Shatters
- Keep on Bloggin' in the Free World
- The Secret is Now Out: We've Got A Job To Do
- Some Good News and Not So Good News for Thrasher's Wheat in 2014
Has it really been 9 years since that post on NY Times and all the negativity that was floating around here? Time really does fly.
ReplyDeleteGlad cooler heads prevailed and you stuck with it, through rough seas and all, Thrash. Love and Only Love will endure...that's for certain.
It's also heartbreaking to see Ben Keith's picture on the same post. What a sad time that was.
I guess it's just a reminder to be thankful for what you have. And look now, almost a decade later... the Archives is up and running, Neil is playing split bills with Bob Dylan overseas... and I can even live stream shows that I can't make it to. I am grateful. Thank you all.
Thanks so much for your support here rtg.
ReplyDeleteLike we often say, it means so much to us to mean so much to you -- our readers of the wheat of neil.
Going back to some of our posts from that time frame was definitely bittersweet for us. thrashette was unfortunately dragged into some of that nastiness which precipitated the blogging crisis. It was the best of times and the worst of times for TW.
With the launch of NYA#1 approaching, it was all time record traffic highs w/ server crushing loads requiring constant upgrades and costs.
But it was the comment volume which was the real source of pain w/ 200-300+ comments per day. Moderating the load was unbearable and we were on the ragged edge.
As much as we wanted to "Keep on bloggin' `Til the power goes out" -- as Neil exhorted -- it all became too much to bear, as you recall.
We were down on a frown when the messenger brought us a letter.
And it was that note from Neil published on his site (above) saying to us that he could still see the vista. He could still hear the muse. He would still continue.
It was then that we knew -- no hidden path, change your mind, be great or be gone.
so. to all of our friends and enemies...
Godspeed. Thank you. Mahalo.
thrasher & thrashette
Hey Now Thrasher - Any idea if the Archives is ever going to be made available for Android devices?
ReplyDelete@ Jeff - well, based on your question, maybe there is value in re-hashing NYA here on TW afterall?
ReplyDeleteWe just sort of assumed everyone coming here was coming here after hitting NYA. But now we find out -- at least for some -- we're 1st stop on the way to NYA?!
anyways, per NYA T-C on 3-9-19, "Soon".
They're doing beta testing now. Soon seems to be a matter of weeks. Bet the house on it. :) not
Keep up the good work, Thrasher.
ReplyDeleteScotsman.