After a stint in rehab, Che Underground: The Blog emerges restored and refreshed, thanks to a year-long intervention by our own Jeremiah Cornelius!
Jerry has:
- Untangled an overgrowth of outdated, damaged code;
- Migrated the blog to a modern web host and an updated CMS;
- And finally, reskinned the whole thing to allow readers to comment again and to avoid formatting snafus that had cropped up in recent years.
We’re going to be fixing links and outstanding formatting glitches in the coming weeks — so if you see something, say something (in the comments below)!
Our story so far …
A quick history lesson about this blog: I started it in February 2008 as a way to collect sounds, pictures, stories and assorted ephemera connected with a vibrant, genre-bending music scene that coalesced all too quickly in San Diego in the early 1980s.
Wonderfully, other old friends proved as interested in the project as I was. Powered by a striking graphic design by our own Dave Ellison, we reunited far-flung friends; gathered all kinds of treasures; and even hosted multiple in-person reunion shows, from Che Games for May 2009 up to A Che Underground Leap Night Showcase in February 2019 (right under the pandemic wire).
We also picked up a huge volume of traffic from people interested in our project, and an all-star list of contributors, including Ray Brandes, Kristen Tobiason, Toby Gibson, Dave Fleminger, Dave Rinck, Bart Mendoza, Paul Kaufman and the late Cyndie Jaynes. In addition to the bylined authors, insightful commenters from around the world joined in-depth conversations in the comments.
With the rise of Facebook, the action here slowed down. Meanwhile, aging database infrastructure caused some awful crashes that destroyed priceless pieces and impeded readers and writers. Technologically, the blog became a dusty thicket full of creepy-crawlies.
I’m excited about this healthy new platform, which Mr. Cornelius assures me will last us many years. And I’m also happy to offer a modest alternative to Facebook for people who want to retain ownership of their content and participate outside corporate data mines.
Welcome back! Please have a look around, and drop us a line in the comments.
I was asked how to log in. You’ve got to scroll waaaay down to the lower right until you get to:
META
Register
Log in
I hope for the stability in hosting and content management with the same fervent confidence that you manifest, Matt!
A big hat-tip to Dave Ellison, for the original blog look and feel. I made an effort to preserve the aesthetic of the oldstyle, two column layout, and the impression of grime, that characterized many of the creaking venues referenced here on the site -- Studio 517, Greenwich Village West, Carpenter’s Hall, and the venerable Che Cafe, itself.
The colour pallette is garish, but I hope readable. This may get some tuning, but I want to make sure that The Che Underground is never mistaken for a product site, or a record company marketing effort!
As things settle in, I’ll take the hint and make site login more obvious and accessible!