I’m at a crossroads right now. I feel as though I am neglecting this blog. I’m not sure what to do with it at the moment. I’m currently stuck in a rut with how to take the blog forward. It’s been a labour of love for over eight years. It has gone through several changes in that time, from the fangirl monster that was vacuously obsessing over Jim into being a more rounded and expansive Simple Minds blog which included my visual creativity, expanding into a wider music and gig review blog. It then started to decline into the reverse.
University takes up a lot of my time. I don’t have a vast array of gigs to go to this year. I naively believed that once the worst of Covid was over with, I would automatically get back on the horse and go to lots of gigs again. So far for this year I have been to just two gigs and one in-store album signing. The rest of the gigs I have lined up for the rest of the year are spaced out sporadically.
I’ve been thinking about artists on my “must see” list. Two of them are Iggy Pop (although, the thought of going to an Iggy Pop gig scares me) and Suzi Quatro. Last night I looked into going to see Suzi. The only problem with both of these rock ‘n’ roll stalwarts is that neither of them are performing in Scotland. Iggy’s only gig in the UK this year is happening in London, and Suzi’s closest gig to the Scottish border is happening in Manchester. Aside from the travel involved is the ticket price. I haven’t even looked at what the ticket price is for Iggy’s show but the cheapest good seat I could get for one of Suzi’s shows was £55. I don’t have that kind of money at my disposal at any time to buy a ticket. The only way I can do that is to offset the cost by putting it on credit. It isn’t something I am keen on doing.
The other element of the blog I am thinking about that has trailed off recently has been conducting interviews. It’s been over a year since I had an interview on the blog. I’ve tried securing interviews over the past year with little to no success. I have hopefully secured one interview but it won’t be able to take place until later in the year. In the meantime…what do I do with this blog?!
I was at pains to have to turn it into the personal during my move to Scotland and then through Covid and lockdowns but it did keep the blog flowing and people seemed to enjoy my exploits into my move to Glasgow and my exploration of the city and other parts of Scotland when the lifting of restrictions allowed it.
I was immensely proud of the work I put into the celebration I undertook for the release of Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call in 2021. I really enjoyed highlighting and celebrating each track on the albums in closer detail and looking at the recording of the albums in greater detail. I loved the research it required and it was something I could really sink my teeth into.
This is a ‘dot’ year for Simple Minds. The only thing that falls into a halfway milestone is that it was five years since the release of Walk Between Worlds, but that ship sailed as the anniversary of the release was back in early February.
I thought about going back to writing posts on the topic of “Why I Love…” and discussing and dissecting a Simple Minds song of my choice each week. Only on Tuesday did I realise I completely missed the opportunity for a Minds Music Monday post. This theme is the only regular thing I have left going on the blog.
It feels like my tower is crumbling. Changes have been afoot and it all feels like it’s coming to a stop.
I have to consider certain things. I don’t know whether to bring back some of the personal stuff here? I felt that talking about my university studies on this blog would bore the readers. My readership is declining. It was never big anyway. My blog has always been niche. I used to feel proud of its uniqueness and felt that was its strength. I enjoyed having a small readership. I used to enjoy sharing certain elements of the blog with the SM fanbase, sometimes posting things on SMOG. Then I started to feel it was far too niche and I needed to broaden it, hence the gig reviews and the broader music topics beyond exclusive Simple Minds talk.
I want to keep the blog going. It’s not just a time devoted blog. I invest money in it too. It looks this good and runs this well because I invest in it and I am dead against monetising it and making it one ad-rich eyesore. I don’t want it to be one of those sites where you get bombarded with pop-up ads and a narrow centre with ads scrolling down either side of the content the reader is actually at the website to read or view.
For want of anything else to say right now, caught in my quandary of what to do with this blog for the foreseeable future, it’s Kerrsday and I am going to share my all-time favourite photo of Jim just because I can. Why do I love it so much? I think it beautifully encapsulates everything that he is. Although he is still and reclining, he looks in motion. The positioning of his arms and hands makes him look both restful and restless. His furrowed brow shows him to be in constant and mildly fraught thought. I love the composition of it overall. His reclining position, the position of his hands, his facial expression, the simplicity of what he’s wearing. He’s just beautiful. It simply is the most beautiful photo of him. It’s been at my bedside for several years and I never tire of gazing upon it. I don’t think I ever will.
