Goin' Through Changes
Making a few necessary improvements to this Substack
Greetings, Jagged Time Lapsers!
A friend informed me the other day that we’re currently transitioning from the Year of the Snake to the Year of the Fire Horse (and not, much to Paul Stanley’s presumed chagrin, the Year of the Firehouse), so I took that as my cue to do a little reorganization of the JTL homepage.
When I launched Jagged Time Lapse back in August 2022, I wrote the following:
In the course of nearly 30 years of writing professionally about music (and over 35 years of intermittently playing it), I’ve accumulated a wealth of stories, interviews and experiences, and I want to be able to put the good ones (and some of the really bad ones) all down in one place — and share them with those that would dig them — while I still have the ability to do so. This platform will enable me to do that, as well as assemble them in an easily searchable archive.
Well, I kind of screwed up on the “easily searchable” part. The 30-plus interviews with various musical greats that I’ve posted here just piled up alongside my other posts in the JTL Archive — over 350 posts in all, which makes trawling through them a daunting task for all but the most intrepid fan of my writing.
Happily, I finally figured out yesterday how to add some new categories to the homepage navigation bar… so now, if you click “Interviews” on the navigation bar (see below), it’ll take you to a page containing all the interviews I’ve posted thus far at JTL.
The eagle-eyed amongst ye will also notice that I’ve also added a “Memoir Chapters” category to the navigation bar. Because, as I wrote in that aforementioned JTL launch post:
For about five or six years now, I’ve also been toying with the idea of a musical memoir of my adolescence — a turbulent and confusing period in which my life and sanity were truly, to paraphrase Lou Reed, saved by rock and roll (and AM radio pop, and disco, and new wave, and heavy metal, etc.). I’ve already penned a few chapters for the book, but I need a kick in the ass to get going again, and I think launching this Substack will definitely give me one.
And indeed it has, as I now have over 20 chapters completed — along with several posts containing material that will most likely be shaped into future chapters — for the book, all of which can now be easily found by clicking “Memoir Chapters” on the JTL navigation bar, This will take you directly to where they’re all currently lurking, and where more will be filed as I finish them.
This belated reorganization has been enormously helpful for me, making it much easier to see what interviews and chapters I’ve already posted here, which in turn makes it much easier to figure out what to do here next.
I’m also hoping that this reorganization will be helpful for my readers. If you’re a relatively new (or even longterm) paid subscriber, you’re probably unaware that much of this material exists. And if you’re a free subscriber, I’m hoping that you’ll find enough of interest in these sections — while most of it is only available to paid subscribers, some of the entries in both sections can be read by all — to inspire you to fork over the price of a coffee or a pint of beer to support this Substack with a monthly subscription. My undying gratitude and appreciation goes out to those who have already done so…
BTW, a paid JTL subscription will also get you the added bonus of full access to all 25 episodes of CROSSED CHANNELS, the monthly music podcast I co-host with my friend and colleague Tony Fletcher. You can find our latest episode here:
While it was a fairly time-consuming task to reorganize things like this, I was at least able to do it while listening to an advance of the forthcoming Lamb of God album (yet another killer from that long-running Richmond, VA metal institution) and the newly remixed edition of Robyn Hitchcock’s wonderful 1988 album Globe of Frogs — which, while I found it unexpectedly underwhelming, has nonetheless motivated me to finally recount in print the mortifying story of attending the original album’s NYC record release party at the original Knitting Factory. So look for that here in a few days…
I also spent some highly enjoyable time this weekend checking out the new Rhino High Fidelity reissue of The Velvet Underground’s Loaded, which is by far the best-sounding version of this 1970 LP that I’ve ever heard — and I’ve heard quite a few. So if you’re a lover of the Velvets and vinyl, I highly recommend this one.
It does, however, bear mentioning that this edition features the originally-released shortened version of “Sweet Jane,” which will surely disappoint those who love the forty-second-longer “Heavenly wine and roses” restored version that has popped up on numerous reissues over the past 30 years.
Me, I far prefer the punchiness of the shorter version (and think the added bridge works much better on the band’s more reflective Live 1969 rendition) which would put me at odds with the late, great Lou Reed, who was mortally offended when the song was truncated for Loaded’s release by producer Geoff Haslam.
But this is all grist for a future discussion of the relationships that listeners form with their favorite recordings, and how that relationship may be at least somewhat at odds with the intentions of the artist — a discussion which may (or may not!) be part of my forthcoming Robyn Hitchcock piece…
Anyway, stay tuned… and while we’re at it, all you protest kids, fuck ICE and all who support and enable them.
First, oh my god I want to read that musical memoir right this instant. Second: THANK YOU for pointing me to the existence of a Substack menu. I'm in need of organizing my archive at this point at Marshall Arts as well, among other changes.
Well done reorganizing, Dan. I need to do the same, so you've inspired me.