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Vacation pictures. Doggie photos.
The two greatest clichés of the
web. Well, time to put the stereotype to bed. As the web slowly comes of age so advances its Great Untold Story: the personal homepage.
An introduction to rhumba.com.
One of the most fascinating aspects
about the web is its potential for an individual to publish...anything. The "worldwide" aspect is amazing, but it's not why I do this.
Here's the challenge: A personal website lets you play show-and-tell for virtually anybody, but can you use the medium to provide an experience interesting in its own right? Everybody has something interesting to say. But can you say it without wallowing in self-referential "hey, look at me"?
It's a damn fine line.
Indeed. And arguably, one that's
impossible to not cross on a personal website. But if you
browse the different sections, you'll see my attempt, as rhumba.com presents:
- "The Stories." I've been a musician
(a drummer) virtually all my life. After twenty years playing in bands
of all sorts, in places (mostly nightclubs) all over the United States,
I've experienced at the most basic levels the chaotic, bizarre,
always amusing existence of the professional musician.
I've had the good fortune to play with great musicians, even a few
that are regarded as truly great. A treasure chest
of stories have come and gone over the years, with so many eccentric characters
playing the parts.
I'm using the web to present these stories. I hope they are
interesting, and provide some sense of the realities faced by those
who live to play, and maybe a bit of the meaning embedded in the
musical life. If you think I've succeeded or failed, please don't hesitate
to tell me.
- A variety of recommended places.
Not just a list of links, each comes with observations to help you decide
if you're interested, and provide insight as to why I was. Some of these
are not independent world-wide-web sites, but rather docs formerly of the web now preserved only here.
- A variety of music-related sites. Not any kind of
comprehensive catalog, but sites that also are presenting tales of the road, sites about drums and drummers, and selected general music websites. Carefully chosen yes, but primarily personal favorites.
- The sounds section is small, but for what it's worth,
I'm attempting something a little different than the average sound-clips library. Check it out,
see if you agree.
Why "rhumba"?
The rhumba (or by another name, mambo) is my favorite rhythm. Interesting
and flexible, it can assume many shapes and say many things. Of course, rhumba is also a dance, and though
I don't know much about dance, it seems certain that like music, successful dancing requires collaboration and
the willingness to perform selflessly and attentively.
But even though much of life can be expressed in these terms, only a fraction of what we experience lives up to the
ideal. Given the ups and downs I have experienced on the road, "rhumba," the rhythm, the dance, seemed a good catch-all
for the possibilities, good and bad, when people try to dance, play, or live together.
By the way:
If you want to check out an excellent
example of a site that simply sets the standard for doggie websites
everywhere, you might try Gus Is A Good Dog. You'll see that clichés
aside, these things can be done with skill and aplomb.
One more thing:
A good group of nice people have done an awful lot in the way of sharing help and knowledge to make this site what it is today. Now, I'm not sure what it is today, but they've been very helpful! When you explore the links found on this acknowledgements page, know you are looking at the work of some real pros. Thanks guys.
P.S.
Of course, never one to disappoint, here's my contribution to the Cliché Grande, offered in the true spirit of grainy, 8-bit, slow-loading, embarrassing web-vacation-doggie-pictures:
The goofy gifs are a joke of course, from my original website. The vacation photo is in fact the second most embarassing photo taken on our honeymoon. Oh, c'mon. Lighten up!
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