Drum Buddy on BoingBoing

Yesterday, BoingBoing.net posted about the Quintronics Drum Buddy, a wonderful musical device invented by Quintron and played in the Golden Greats by our own Danny Norton. To our knowledge, we’re the only live band that features one, aside from Quintron himself. We hoped to get a mention in the piece, especially since the poster, David Pescovitz, had briefly played in a band with Eric Ridgway, back in our heady teenage years in Cincinnati. Alas, we acted too slowly (I had to fix the site fast), and no update from BoingBoing: they had moved on to more news items. Hopefully we will get a little spike in visits.

Blogs like BoingBoing are a fascinating phenomenon. We’ve become accustomed to their existence, but they have really taken the place of the variety news program, and been far more successful at drawing a steady audience because they exist to be consumed conveniently, in spare moments and in small doses, using machines we also utilize for work. Can you tell I am a proponent of the concept of magazines transforming into websites? Or, even better, magazines that are an extension of their website? Thus does a magazine become a body of knowledge, rather than an incidental monthly info-dump.

It intrigues me to watch internet users’ expectations alter over time, usually enlarging. When magazines first posted archives online, it was a big deal, and some hoped to charge for the privilege of access. I think Wired broke that mold, though I’m just guessing. Eight years into the twenty first century, and most magazines of note have online archives (except People magazine, alas). This is a greater means of immortality for writers than to be buried in a moldy back issue at a magazine shop (which we don’t really have anymore, except for one here in Portland).

It’s enough to make me want to start a magazine again. Jeff Wilson relaunched Evil Dog, our old literary magazine, largely as a print magazine — though I had told him I’d make a website and pdf version of it. But literary zines aren’t my thing anymore. I wonder what kind of magazine I would find compelling these days?

Speaking of websites, go visit the Golden Greats site and hear some of the new album.