Goodbye Blue Lang

[Hoblit]

I hardly even want to post, this is so depressing.
(Serves as the worst kind of inspiration to continue going to the gastroenterologist every six months.)

"phil redmon and hoblit are both proof that the only thing keeping programmed drum tracks from being freakin' awesome is lack of attention to it. phil said he's happy to spend 5 hours on a drum track, and it shows." - Blue (2005)

This was the biggest compliment to me. A bona fide, good drummer validated my hard work, programming drums for my songs at the time.

While I hadn't seen him a decade, I definitely enjoyed his facebook posts and discussions there.

He is truly missed and I can hardly stand having to write these words.

[fluffy]

It looks like most of the feedback he gave on my songs was back in the Dumbrella era, so it's probably lost forever, but I remember he'd always have this weird way of giving compliments about the stuff I made which he thought was just done automatically (when I was doing especially weird electronic experimentation) even when it wasn't.

I just remembered that a lot of his reviews of my stuff were on somesongs! And that's still up. Here's his review on my "A Variation on Two:"

one of the best 'abstract music' pieces i've heard in a long time. the first few times i heard it, was kinda wishing it had a steady beat to it, but now i like it all strange and unsteady. even tho i know you pushed a button and watched it go, nice sounds.

(For the record it was a live performance on a hodgepodge of synths and there was nothing automatic about it)

[Smalltown Mike]

Ah, very sad. So sorry to hear, and nice to hear reminiscences from people who knew him in person. Blue was certainly a significant presence when I joined SongFight in 2005. Mostly, he trashed my songs in his very blunt Blue way, but said he liked my singing in Gert's Bad Cat and that confused me (he generally hated Gert).

Sincere condolences to family and friends. Take care, share memories, listen to his music.

[mkilly]

Blue was the best. Blue forever.

Blue's song about me https://drive.google.com/file/d/11kcIbY ... sp=sharing
Blue's song "i am the president of the sony entertainment group, ltd" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-dX1l4 ... sp=sharing

[roymond]

I just remembered that a lot of his reviews of my stuff were on somesongs!

What sort of magic gets you onto somesongs? It doesn’t load in any browser I try.

[fluffy]

I'm just using the magic that's within me. It's working fine for me but sometimes it takes a little while for a page to load.

[Lunkhead]

I just remembered that a lot of his reviews of my stuff were on somesongs!

What sort of magic gets you onto somesongs? It doesn’t load in any browser I try.

My brother's servers (which host my email and Web sites) were offline last weekend due to a power outage at the colocation facility where he rents a rack. He got them back online Monday night but the Jukebox and SomeSongs seem to be having periods of unresponsiveness still. I'm not going to have time to look into that till next week.

[Adam!]

Oh damn. As many have already mentioned, Blue really helped set the tone for the community. I had the great fortune to get to know him at SongFight Live 2006, where he drummed for, well frankly most of the bands that were there. I'm still in awe of his ability and willingness to learn 40+ songs for a weekend. More than that, he made me (and seemingly everyone) feel instantly welcome, even when I was a thousand miles from home. Also, the man could grill up some mean fish tacos; I have yet to meet their equal.

[mo]

The fish tacos were such a Blue thing; he really relished meeting people who had never had them before so he could introduce them to the magic of fish taco

[roymond]

Turns out much of Some Songs can be had via the Way Back Machine

[jb]

The fish tacos were such a Blue thing; he really relished meeting people who had never had them before so he could introduce them to the magic of fish taco

I was one of those.

[fluffy]

Heck, I was already team fish tacos and he STILL tried to convert me to it.

[jack]

And here I thought I was special when he made me fish tacos at his house. He loved his fish tacos. And Florida football.

[Mr. Car]

There should be a future songfight title “Fish Taco Thing” in Blue’s honor.

[Lunkhead]

Turns out much of Some Songs can be had via the Way Back Machine

Wow, the now ancient semi defunct v2 of the even more ancient fully defunct v1 lives on in the Internet Archive Next week I will hopefully sort things out, but, honestly, no one has been making any posts/edits/comments to the site in so long that the archived version is most likely exactly the same as the current version. :/

There should be a future songfight title “Fish Taco Thing” in Blue’s honor.

I will pass that suggestion along to Deep Throat, the source of all Song Fight titles.

[fluffy]

Yeah the most recent song post to somesongs was last September, and the second-most-recent was in 2016.

[roymond]

Wow, the now ancient semi defunct v2 of the even more ancient fully defunct v1 lives on in the Internet Archive

Yeah, and look at that, my "I'd Be Scared If I Believed" is/was the top rated!

Blue's review of my "Feathers" beats that, even (fuck, where is that guy?):

all you art wankers out there complaining about how everyone hates your crap, step up. listen carefully. roy knows chords. roy tells stories. roy's songs are weird and roy's songs are good. this, not your bullshit farting into fruity loops, but this, this is art.
--- blue 2004-02-05 17:52

...sniff...

[Caravan Ray]

An irrelevant question I should have asked Blue years ago but I never did - someone might know… is Blue his real name? Blue is a very common nickname in Aus for people with red hair. I know lots of “Blues”. And it is now quite a common name for young kids - if their dads were “blues”. I don’t recall Blue being ginger. Was it his name - or a nickname?

Please don’t post his actual name if it isn’t Blue. He is Blue here. I am just curious if it was a nickname.

[Caravan Ray]

The fish tacos were such a Blue thing; he really relished meeting people who had never had them before so he could introduce them to the magic of fish taco

LOL. I never had one of Blues fish tacos. But I do remember being in a cafe in Santa Cruz with him and he encouraged me to order the fish taco. A boy from Newcastle NSW had never heard of a fish taco. It changed my life. I told my partner Charmaine about this incident. She never met Blue - but she thanks him for the fish tacos I cook every Tuesday night.

[fluffy]

An irrelevant question I should have asked Blue years ago but I never did - someone might know… is Blue his real name? Blue is a very common nickname in Aus for people with red hair. I know lots of “Blues”. And it is now quite a common name for young kids - if their dads were “blues”. I don’t recall Blue being ginger. Was it his name - or a nickname?

Please don’t post his actual name if it isn’t Blue. He is Blue here. I am just curious if it was a nickname.

i believe it was his actual given-by-his-parents name. I think he once said his parents were hippies.

[roymond]

I know it was his professional name and always assumed it was his given name.

[Caravan Ray]

An irrelevant question I should have asked Blue years ago but I never did - someone might know… is Blue his real name? Blue is a very common nickname in Aus for people with red hair. I know lots of “Blues”. And it is now quite a common name for young kids - if their dads were “blues”. I don’t recall Blue being ginger. Was it his name - or a nickname?

Please don’t post his actual name if it isn’t Blue. He is Blue here. I am just curious if it was a nickname.

i believe it was his actual given-by-his-parents name. I think he once said his parents were hippies.

Joni Mitchell released her album “Blue” in 1971. I don’t know how old he was - but I would guess a few years younger than me. Seems legit.