April 24th, 2010

Random Thoughts - Almost 8 years of IllitPress.com

In these last few days, I've managed to finally get around to updating Illitpress.com. There was a point, I'll be honest, when I was pretty sure the site was dead and buried.

I'd gotten a lot of wild and crazy ideas for the site, and one by one, the people who were on board jumped ship, or simply couldn't commit the time needed to see this whole rebirth through to the end.

I'm not exactly sure what brought about this newfound energy of mine. I mean, let's call a spade a spade here. Since my son was born, and Evilution was founded shortly afterwards, the website took a serious dive. From 2008-2010, the cost of hosting and running the site ran about 400 bucks. Not bad, but considering I'd had a grand total of 7 articles (1 was an album review, so that doesn't really even count), 0 columnists, 0 radio shows, 0 porn, and the daily hits ranked right up with the last 3 totals combined, you'd think that I might as well just close shop, call it a day, and move on to something else, or perhaps nothing at all.

Then something odd happened.

First, it was building the new site. Looked pretty cool, if basic and barren of actual content.

Then there was an article.

Then a second.

Then a third (coming on the 25th.)

I started renewing some contacts, getting in touch with some old writers, and before I knew it, I was fully back in the swing of things. That's when it hit me tonight.

After going over some of the old files, I realized just how much of a history this site has.

First, it was Illiteracy Press. The site, born out of a swan dive off of the top of a building, I wrote an article jokingly blaming a friend of mine for letting me do what I want, and for a pirate pushing me off the roof (Capt. Morgan and I have since made peace).

After a backlash that caused a few bitter emails, and even more people to refuse to speak to me for months, I realized I was on to something.

Then, with JMW in tow, we switched gears, picked up steam, and got down to business.

It was time for I.P. Inc. (Credit for that one goes to Trip for a business name for the site, if we ever chose to go big time. It wasn't until later that we realized the pun in the title, which I still think is brilliant)

We'd originally started with a goal of hitting 50 hits a day.

Once we hit that, we aimed for 100.

There was the British Invasion Week. There was the guy from Ireland.

There was Kathy, and Winston, and LDD.

There was Steve from England, and a few other random articles.

Then, with Velvet Revolver, and a few videos we were hosting, we shot up to 2500 hits a day, and more than once we were shut down for going over our bandwidth.

From there, it was regrouping, then on to the GnR leaks, which at one point brought us up to 6000 hits a day.

Things seemed to be going well for the site. In the summer of 2006, we rolled out the official IllitPress.com Radio show. It started off as 2 guys, then 3, getting liquored up and yammering on about anything offensive we could think of. And in between all of the crude jokes and created on the fly sexual positions, we somehow managed to find a listenership of 500-1000 people a week.

Things were really starting to take off.

And then, as fast as it picked up, it died faster than Michael Jackson at a drug induced childrens party.

Speaking of drug induced, that pretty much sums up the last few months of the IllitPress.com Radio Show.

JMW and Bob had departed. The show continued on with new hosts, and things went rather well for a while. That is, if you consider a drug fueled bender, and no recollection of an entire 6 month period rather well.

When I said there wasn't much written for a while, let's just say, during that period, there was more than a few 25 page Rants that never made it int circulation.

Things had, as it seems, gone to complete and utter shit. And realistically, this should have been the end of IllitPress.com.

Granted, there were a few attempts to revive everything.

RazZ, JMW, and Bob had reunited for a show or two. A few months later, JMW and RazZ tried again. But quite frankly, it just wasn't the same. Gone were the days of reckless abandon, and drinking until 7 am. The danger was gone, the threat we posed no longer seemed so serious.

By the time December '09 rolled around, beyond a smattering of bullshit about the glory days of the site, absolutely nothing had been accomplished.

RazZ had formed Evilution. The band was playing a gig or two a week, and for him to do a radio show, it had to be precisely timed.

JMW had become an accomplished photographer, and, ever the opportunistic SOB that he is, realized there isn't much benefit to him posting photos online. Let's be honest after all. IllitPress.com is now, and has always been, an avenue for the writers and owners to stroke their own egos, get out of it whatever humanly possible, and to hell with everyone else along the way.

That's how we've always done things, and if the band breaks up because we can no longer benefit from our co-existence? Then so be it.

When we tried the first time to revamp the site again, it was, as I said, in December. We chose to pull the site down, and take a month or two, hit the reset button, and start again. Same old faces, new look, bring the entire band together again.

Emails were sent out across the globe, to 4 different countries, to bring together everyone that'd ever written for the site before. Some were game, some weren't. But, had everything worked out, IllitPress.com would do it's damndest to include each and everyone that'd ever made their mark on the site, pool the talent together, and really make a go at this fucker we call the internet.

Well, unfortunately, things don't always play out as you'd like them to. A lot of talking was done, and in the end, here' was good ol' RazZ, standing solo, with no website, and a few articles in hand.

The good news was though, he had some old, and some new to work with.

So back for a second round is the one and only Giia, reprising her Sex Therapist column.

Mikey Henley, professional comedian, will be joining the staff shortly to entertain and enlighten each and every one of us.

We've got 30-40 bands we're looking at working with for the music section.

And maybe, just maybe, we might be able to pull out an interview section, where RazZ will have a chance to catch up with all of the old writers of the site, and possibly re-post some of their old material.

Whatever happens, these 8 years have been one hell of a ride. And for the first time since the days of the Diner swan dive, RazZ is running this roost solo.

Here's to hoping he keeps it on the rails for another 8.

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