In Which the Proprietor Writes His Last Post

Time to quit. Too much work. Can’t even write complete sentences anymore. Blogging’s been fun, but you know it’s bogus when it prevents you from reading as many books as you want or from reviewing as many books as you want or, most importantly, from writing as many books as you want.

I won’t miss the stupid fights. I won’t miss the yahoos. I won’t miss a few excruciatingly bad writers. I won’t miss posts titled “In which . . .” I won’t miss searching for links using dial-up. I won’t miss checking stats. I won’t miss Google Images.

I will, however, miss the ready-made excuse to write & think (as if you need a fucking blog to do that!). And I’ll miss all the intelligent & inspired people with whom The Beiderbecke Affair has put me in touch. Thanks to Terry Teachout, Trevor Jackson, Annie Gottlieb, Mike Smolinsky, Horace Jeffery Hodges, Scott Esposito, Mark Sarvas, Mark Thwaite, James Marcus, Laurel Snyder, Mairead Case, reader_i_am, Maria Yoon, Robert Koehler, Benjamin Schwarz, and Chris Mitchell. Your generosity has been much appreciated.

IMAGE: Closed for Business by Marcus Jansen (Oils on canvas, 2002)

Comments

[TJ]

That's some fine company you've listed me with. Thanks right back.

Nice work up in here, but if it's gotta end, it's gotta end.

[reader_iam]

Got the Davenport Blues, here, at discovering your blog's going up In a Mist.

Eh, well, got to link to you one more time--with sincere thanks.

Good luck with everything.

[TEV]

Best of luck to you, Brendan. Will miss your posts.

[Bud Parr]

Quite sorry to hear it, Brenden - if you ever want to post something out in the blogosphere you're always welcome to post at MetaxuCafe.

Bud

[Brendan Wolfe]

Thanks a lot, everybody. This has been quite a bit more fun than I ever expected . . .

[amba]

*sob!*

This has been a wonderful blog. I will miss it badly. I hope you'll leave the archives up for a while because I know I've missed some stuff I didn't want to miss. Also, how to know when you review a book? Or write a book?

[Mike Smolinsky]

Damn! I'll miss it. This is the best lit blog on the internet. What am I supposed to read over my morning coffee? The "random musings" of some second-rate scribbler? More celebrity snark? The New York Times?

Good luck with the book. I hope we can keep in touch. I'll be in IC a few times over the next year, so let's get together for pizza and beer. On me, for all the hours at work that I've happily--and fruitfully--spent at L'Affaire Beiderbecke, as you're known in the Francophone world.

[Horace Jeffery Hodges]

Brendan, I've been so busy writing a Milton article that I didn't notice until today that you've closed shop.

I'm sorry to hear this news, but I understand. Blogging can be a burden. So far, it hasn't been for me, but I can imagine that it could be for others.

Good luck, and stop by sometime.

Jeffery Hodges

* * *

[Chris]

Hi Brendan,

it's sad you're closing the blog but good for you for getting your shit together and realising what you really want to spend time doing.

I'd love you to write some more stuff about Korea for Spike or my newish travel site www.travelhappy.info if ever you're interested.

If you can shed more light on the Spam Giftset, that would be a good start...
http://travelhappy.info/korea/spam-giftset-south-korea/

Best
Chris

[mairead]

(i've been out of town, so didn't read this until just now, but) i raise my zippo to you. i will miss yr words here, but i will continue to look for them elsewhere. cheers! (and thanks)

[Randall Ferrari]

All the best.I have enjoyed your musings.
Perhaps you'll return some day.
Randy Ferrari