So You Think You Can Blog?

One of the great things about blogs is that the rules for writing are much less rigid than in traditional journalism. A website is judged not so much on grammar or writing style as it is on content and presentation. If you think you can blog, then you can. It’s just that simple, and that is the beauty of the blog culture.

Most of you are probably familiar with the main local music blogs. You’ve got We Shot JR covering the underground scene. You’ve got Sam Machkovech writing about Dallas music from all the way in Seattle, and what his site lacks in frequency of entries, he makes up for in content and well written articles. You’ve got Adventures in Live Music, an amusing yet intelligent look at great local shows filtered through beer goggles. You’ve got Boca Tinta, a great blog that needs far more entries than have been posted lately. And saving the best for last, you have The Fine Line, started by Cindy Chaffin, the definitive local music blogger in these areas. When I decided I wanted to start Ghost of Blind Lemon, she was the one I went to for advice. Why? If you have to ask, then you neither know Cindy nor have read her site, and I insist you leave my blog and read hers right now.

But I am digressing from the original intent of this entry. While you probably know all the blogs about the music makers, you may not be aware of the blogs written by the music makers. It’s time to change that. This is by no means a comprehensive look at all the blogs out here by musicians, but rather a small sampling of some of the better choices.

Black Man With Blog: If you’re one of Pikahsso’s friends on MySpace, you have most likely seen him promoting his new blog. His topics range from music to politics to pop culture and whatever else might be on his mind. His writing style is unique to say the least, as he often comes up with wierd (intentionally spelled that way as a tribute to Pikahsso) spellings for words, and punctuation is rarely found in his entries. Once you get past his grammatical style (or lack thereof), what you will find is an intelligent and thought provoking blog. My only advice to Pikahsso would be to rely less on posting outside articles and to add more personal commentary in the entries. That is the one thing that I think could take this already great blog and make it exceptional.

Cameras And Clocks: This blog is run by the exceptionally sweet Camille Cortinas (Fishing For Comets). Unlike Black Man with Blog, this site is more personal in nature. And yes, you can practically feel Camille’s sweetness emanating through the site. Hey, it’s Camille, what do you expect?

Manifesto Moments: If you’re expecting Jayson Bales to write about the local music scene, you may find yourself disappointed, as that is one topic rarely mentioned in the site. If you’re looking for baseball talk, however, this is the sight for you.

Song in My Head: While Mr. Bales tends to avoid discussing music, that is the sole topic of discuss on Johnny Lloyd Rollins’ blog. He talks about the music that served has inspiration, as well as the music that brings him joy right now. By the way, his review of Airline’s new CD is spot on.

There is one last blog I’d like to mention. It’s not by a musician, and it’s extremely new (only one entry as of yet), but it holds an enormous amount of promise. Go to domino-takeonmusic.blogspot.com and see what you think. My apologies to any worthy blogs that I neglected to mention.