Hi Darling Ones,

Back in the early times of blogging I would spend entire weekends headphones on, nose inches from the computer monitor, sucking down cigarettes and Diet Coke while “redesigning” my blog. This was in the time before themes and WordPress and even blogspot. If you wanted to have a fresh new look you had to hand code that shit.

When I say “hand code” I mean you had to right-click & view source on some blog that was sexier than yours, find the bit of code you wanted, copy & paste it into your code, edit the shizz to do exactly what you want, save, and then refresh.

It was exhausting.

I only read four chapters in HTML for Dummies despite being an entire dummy about code. I had to figure out what CSS element corresponded to what thing on my site, design the header, and update the blogroll. All this only happened after agonizing over what my new idea was gonna be. I have no idea how long it took me to come up with the sexy number from August 2002 pictured here.

It was kind of exhilarating too. Once I had everything looking and performing how I wanted I’d be so proud. Probably shouted “I AM A SUPERGENIUS” more than once or twice.

I recaptured the feeling yesterday in a fit of nostalgia fueled by the recent Stereo/Mono purchase and a blip in an RSS Feed that served up new posts despite there being no new posts.

Darling Ones, I spent alllllllllllll day redesigning & updating Paul Westerberg.net, and I can say without a doubt it was the best time I’ve had so far this year.*

I strapped on those headphones and listened to Tegan & Sara’s “Still Jealous,” that new riff they’ve done on “So Jealous.” It felt just like the early-aughts here except I traded the smokes & Diet Coke for a handful of M&Ms (maybe two handfuls) and the cinnamon tea I’m in love with. I also listened to Anaïs Mitchel’s new eponymous record, the Bittersweetheart Valentine’s Mix I’m making, and also a metric crapton of Westerberg & The Replacements.

This was exactly the kind of semi-mindless, tedious, not really but feels like productive work I needed. I was not bored for one single second. I was frequently annoyed, mostly with myself and some of the decisions I made when I started the site back in 2005? 2006? I was filled with glowy nostalgia for all my ol’ Westernerd pals back when we were so excited that Westerberg was farting out a bunch of noise we could download for 50¢. And I was a little bummed to see a few of the ol’ Replacements/Westerberg fansites were no more (and then annoyed again because now I got a bunch of links that got to 404 pages).

Much like I Will Dare dot com, PaulWesterberg.net exists mostly for my own amusement. A lot of it cracks me up because I think I’m hilarious.

There’s not so much activity there for obvious reasons, but when I was fixing each item in the discography on the home page I kept thinking how much I would have loved stumbling on the site when I was a newbie fangirl back in 1996.

Cramming my dreams with computer chips, but I want tambourines & shaking hips,
Jodi

 
*Do recall that I spent the first three weeks of the year down with the COVID and then my BFK’s restaurant caught on fire. So the bar for good times is as low as it gets right now.

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While I am touched that Paste has said about my made up song titles, With track titles like “Six Seconds of Stuff” and “Squeaky Obscene,” Westerberg seems to be letting the creative juices flow on this one. I feel a little guilty that those are my juices they are talking about and not Paul’s. And then on the other hand it cracks me right up because if they had read the original post, they’d have known that I made it all up.

This is so not going to help with my Paul Westerberg problem.

UPDATE: They have corrected their mistake and are now calling it the unofficial tracklisting.

The post Dear Paste, I am still not Paul Westerberg appeared first on I Will Dare.

Anyway, even in the midst of a hormonal storms there are moments of sheer fun. Over at the Paul Westerberg blog, the Westernerds are determining which is the best ‘Mats album. It’s down to “Let it Be” and “Tim” which should come as a surprise to nobody. Of course trying to choose which album is better is like choosing between The Beatles and The Stones — in other words a decision that cannot be made and that just thinking about causes your brain to melt and run out your nose.

I am firmly in the “Let it Be” camp for reasons that include “I Will Dare,” “Answering Machine,” and the delightful absence of any bullshit like “Dose of Thunder.” So far, my record is winning.

The post Cranky goes to the polls appeared first on I Will Dare.

So then Some Guy came up with the brilliant idea to pit all the ‘Mats albums and all the solo albums in a sort of March-Madnessesque bracket thing complete with polls.

It’s really about 1000% cooler than I made it sound. But you can vote. It’s fun. You should vote and talk some trash, because that’s what I’m gonna do.

The post Now this is a bracket I can get behind, determining the best ‘Mats album appeared first on I Will Dare.

At The Craft performance back in September, Westerberg referred to his fans as a fistful of weirdos. He was right. At least he was kind of right.

So far, I’ve had people ask me to sign their First Act Guitar, get them a concert ticket, and come tour in Japan. I’ve had people e-mail to thank me for my music and to tell me I make them happy.

At first I responded kindly telling these people that I was not, in fact, Paul Westerberg but a nerdy girl who had never met the guy. None of them ever responded. Now, I just ignore them and let them think that Paul’s an evil non-responder. It adds to his mystique.

I don’t know why, but it surprises me how very little attention people pay to what they’re reading on any random web site. I think it’s pretty clear that Paul Westerberg.net is a (god I hate to say it) fan site. Nowhere is Paul referred to in the first person and there are no posts about how the line “one needs a match and one needs some ice” means that my only friends are alcohol and cigarettes.

The e-mail continue and in the case of Paul Westerberg, I can kinda see how people think I might be him. We share the same hairdo and his name is in the URL. But yesterday, someone left a comment for Bret Michaels right here on I Will Dare. Now that’s just unconscionable. I look nothing like Bret Michaels and there’s no mention of him in the URL. I don’t wear a rug or a ‘do rag. Though, when I think about it, we both have an affinity for plastic body parts, his are just attached to actual humans and mine aren’t.

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