Behind the scenes, it’s one of the best things I’ve been involved in. The external face – the Blawg Channel blog – is a disappointment to us, although there has been some great stuff on there.
We’re working on plans for Blawg Channel 2.0. Can’t say more than that right now.
I can’t stop thinking of the Blawg Channel group as a potential band.
My friend Emmett McAuliffe was always coming up with names for a band that he, Jim McKelly and I would have while we were in college. The irony was that Jim was the only one of us who could actually play an instrument. Those days, however, were the heyday of punk rock and minor details like that were of little concern.
As a result, I still have a tendency to think of groups of people I know as bands and arrange them in ways that fit their personalities. Now that I’ve met everyone but Denise, I’ve got the Blawg Channel Group visualized.
The model for me with this group has, from the beginning, been the Patti Smith Group. The parts of this band fall in place pretty easily. I have Denise on vocals, playing acoustic and rhythm guitar, but with at least one Stratocaster solo. Ernie is the lead guitarist, because he is the perfect lead guitarist, and does some vocals. The solid and rock-steady Tom Mighell is on drums, but also takes the lead vocals on a few songs. I wasn’t sure about Marty until I met him. He’s the great keyboard wizard. I’m on bass, because I’m always playing bass in these band ideas. However, like the Patti Smith Group, Ernie and I exchange roles on a few songs because sometimes I just have to play the lead guitar.
I’ve also got Matt Homann in mind for our manager. He’s trying to get us booked for our first joint appearance at LexThink! Chicago. We might be getting close to being able to announce something.
Seriously, though, the band thing is something I have fun with, not a likely prospect. Blawg Channel 2.0 is a strong likelihood. We’ve learned a lot about group blogs in this process and it’ll be interesting to see where it goes next.