It happened again this last week. Pay no attention to that man behind the green curtain! One small request was granted by the “webmaster.” I can only assume that the regular traffic on this site has decreased some. At least the activity on the message board has slowed down just a bit. And you do know what it means when one assume’s something, right? O.K., good, then I don’t have to explain it here.
One of my musical buddies, someone to whom I’ve offended more than once, was looking for “Regional Newsletters” via the website. For an unknown reason this was not an avenue that could be managed on the website, at that moment in time. This dilemma was posted on the message board and very quickly resolved.
So I will get to my point here quickly. It is that the website has a lot to offer. If there is something that you are looking for and can’t find. All one needs to do, is ask. Now, as some of you are perusing this new website. You will find that it does not work like the old website. That’s exactly what new things are for, to be very different to what is now considered old. But new “dogs” have new tricks. So, we humans need to be very patient. Look in as many places that one can find. Make notes or leave bread crumb trails, whichever works best. Then ask what the new command is to get the dog to do the new tricks!
There are two items that I have seen brief discussions. But with no further activity, that was noticeable on my behalf. And it is possible that I’ve not been very patient or I’ve just not dug deep enough. So here goes.
The old dog, I mean the old website had a small little area with a counter. Adding up, one at a time, how many visitors had arrived at this website. I don’t know about the rest of you. But this was always something that I noticed every time I visited. Also, just above this ever evolving digit was another set of numerical references as to how many members were currently active. This information had always amazed me. In the past ten years, or so, I noticed the member number go from 2,500 to over 3,000 then back down again. Couldn’t possibly guess what membership is sitting at now? Any guesses out there?
The second item that I saw was in the credo of the CBA. Specifically, paragraph one, article II : “To promote, encourage, foster and cultivate the preservation, appreciation, understanding, enjoyment, support, and performance of bluegrass, old-time, gospel, and traditional instrumental and vocal music of the United States.”
As delicately as possible, how could this website have a small presentation of what goes on in the realm of Gospel Bluegrass Music. Now I know this is as “touchy” a topic as politics. Which neither of the two said topics can be discussed, at any depth, on this website, much less in a public setting, right? But we see IBMA offering up a Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year award. Furthermore, the GMA(Gospel Music Association) Dove Awards offer two distinctions of Bluegrass recorded song of the year and Bluegrass/Country Album of the year. Yet as I look about the website. I don’t really see anything that comes close to touching the topic of the Gospel Bluegrass Music.
Bluegrass music historically touches the general topic of “dreadful things happening.” Whereas, when we hear Gospel Bluegrass Music, it is very up-lifting. There is an over all positive message deliverable to all that listen closely. In this day-and-age, I don’t see anything detrimental to the best interest of human kind, when it comes to music that is up-lifting.
I don’t really know what most of you think, so could you possibly go to the message board, and state what you would like to see on the website. What topics you would like to be informed about further? What types of ingredients meld best with black beans? Of course while listening to Bill Monroe.
Thanks for Listening
Bruce Long
