I’m an idealistic guy. Each day, as I enter the Halls of Rock, I hope to find a roomful of Townspeople with their earbuds and smartphones pocketed and, rather, respectfully blasting their boomboxes, enthusiastically (or grumpily, as it may be) sharing their latest musical obsessions. Rarely, if ever, does a day go by when I don’t get a jolt from such rock nerd enthusiasm—and frequently I get this jolt from someone I’ve never met and know nothing about outside of this place. I’m probably a little weird, but I dig knowing that there are like-minded music enthusiasts beyond the relatively safe harbor of my all-important Facebook friends list.
However, not everyone’s weird in the same way I’m weird. For instance, our blog statistics tell me that many like to watch, which some also consider weird. That’s cool by me—let your freak flag fly in whatever way the wind blows—but my fun is multiplied when people join into the fray. It’s cool when some new person registers and first braves posting a comment. Cooler yet is when that person sticks around and develops a presence.
For the benefit of any lurkers peering over the hedge, wondering if they should take the RTH Plunge, do any former lurkers have words of wisdom to offer, tales to tell that may inspire and delight?
I look forward to hearing about what first pushed you over the edge.
Lurkers, if you find yourself ready to jump the hedge, we will be here for you.
It’s been about a year since I’ve been commenting on this site (exact date, Mr. Mod?). I have to admit that the highly developed level of verbiage was initially a bit disconcerting – the RTH wits were intimidating! And some of the in-jokes and vocabulary was opaque to my newbie eyes. But although I still don’t entirely understand the precise meanings of Pince Nez and a Germanic phrase, Mach somethingorother, it was the continued bashing of The Jesus and Mary Chain that finally prompted me to jump into this giant mudwrestling event that is called The Hall.
Mach schau! = “Make show!” HVB championed this term and added it to the handy-dandy RTH Glossary:
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/mach-schau/
The Pince Nez refers to one of us nerdily correcting the facts of another Townsperson, like when one of us – I forget who it is – feels compelled to remind us that the band is simply “Eagles,” not THE Eagles. This is one of the most piercing examples of being pince nez’d, if you ask me. It’s bad enough we even feel compelled to address that band, and then we have to be corrected on how we’ve written their name.
You mean you wished to join the bashing of The J & M C?
Funny because I just looked on the old list serve to see what my first post was and it was in response to some similar cajoling by the Mod in the “Dugout Chatter” format:
Q: What would it take for you, as a longtime lurker or newbie, do step forward and respond to this post?
A: More hours in a day. I barely have time to read all of the posts let alone respond to them. For instance, in the time it took me to respond to Jim’s post, there have been at least 75 other messages. Not that I’m complaining because it’s very interesting reading but the topic is usually cold by the time I get to it.
Stuff that I didn’t mention in that post which also played a factor:
– the quality of the writing was a bit intimidating
– it took me a while to overcome my concern that I was just going to be rehashing a topic that had so obviously been covered before.
– it was an adjustment going from being the guy in my circle who was the go-to resident rock snob to being surrounded by people who would now correct me because I spelled the Velvet Underground’s first drummer’s name wrong (I’m looking at you, Big Steve)
– it felt kind of “clubby” at the time. It was very Philadelphia and GWU-centric. Not intentionally exclusive; to the contrary, people were, for the most part, encouraging. But I spent about 15 years wandering around the country so I just didn’t have the same frame of reference.
All of these issues disappeared after my first post or two. I find this group to be interesting and often time HI-larious (thanks to the head cheerleader, Mr Mod, for keeping all of the plates spinning). I hope there’s another get-together sometime soon so I can put faces with the names (maybe a fundraiser for an injured friend, Mod?).
I encourage all lurkers to step out into the daylight and let your (rock nerd) voice be heard.
Oh no, was my grammar pince nez’d? No, I felt that I was the only one who wanted to defend TJ&MC.
No no–I was just yanking your chain, ladymiss–as a J & M C basher, that is.
Dude, you spelled “Tucker” wrong?!? I’m scared to ask…
Angus McLeise. See? I think I did it again.
No, I think he meant he spelled the Angus guy’s name wrong, McLish, or whatever his name was. BigSteve will surely correct me.
Angus MacLise. What would you guys do without me?
Jesus Fuck!
I really didn’t do any lurking. I never do, and I never do those “Introduce Yourself” posts. I read back a few weeks, clicked a few links, thought a ton of this was funny and that once in awhile I chucked to myself thinking about what I’d have said if I were participating. So I just jumped in.
In all the time I’ve been here I’ve never felt like this wasn’t anything more than a really welcoming website. No one seems to hate anyone, there’s no smiley faces or other silly emoticons and if there’s a band you don’t know about that’s being discussed, you’ll never have to worry about the “Cool Patrol” wondering how you could possibly have missed out on any “German True Stereo” issues that all true fans know by heart.
Plus, everyone that posts here seems to understand that just by obsessing over Rock Music this much makes you more nerdy than cool. And that’s okay. No one seems to mind.
Cdm’s post could have come from my keyboard. And here I thought Cdm was one of the old timers! Just goes to show you that the Hall is very hospitable to new contributors, who can quickly become regulars.
It did not take me very long to dive in after discovering this place full of fellow followers of rock. The onslaught of postings sometimes make it seem to me that I have little more worth adding, but I find a few occasions each week to chime in. And I’m glad I did, because it has led me to discover new music already.
I’m from the class of ’05.