I joined this forum before I could legally drink. I’m now 42. I was one of the babies on here in the early days and ended up moving from the UP of Michigan to Chicago at 23, in 2005. I was welcomed with such open arms by the people I’d met here that my early days in Chicago felt much more warm and joyous than I could have imagined. It was so nice being able to go to shows and know several people there, day one. It sucks being the new kid in town and lurking alone at the underground rock event. I’m very grateful to this forum for sparing me that experience.

I’ve lived a full ass adult life since then, which I won’t bore you with, and I haven’t been active here in a decade at least, but I still lurk occasionally out of curiosity, and it’s amazing to see that some of the OGs are still knocking around, ruminating, ranking, and crap/not crapping on this comfortingly beige php forum.

I honestly kind of fell off here due to a lot of the misogyny and toxic white male ranting and opinion bullying. The Marsupializification, if you will. I feel like Steve’s public identity attracted a lot of types and some of them just fucking sucked. That said I’m sure I’d blush with embarrassment reading some of the shit I was posting at 22. And honestly most of the people on this forum in those early days were hilarious and thoughtful and made my life online and in Chicago a joy.

Cheers old PRF dogs. I have fond memories of tediously debating whether The Modern Dance or Dub Housing was the better record with you. And shout out to Randall and Scot and Itchy McGoo and Steve’s lawyer and whoever else played pool with me at a random Wednesday night OOIOO or Lungfish show at the Bottle during the Bush administration.

Man. Started posting here I think in 2004, just before I turned 30. I'm 50 now. That's insane to think about. I know I was intimidated as hell by this forum at first, lurking for a month before I posted the first time. Just took in the insane level of intelligence, in both serious threads and the sophistication of the shitposting. I remember that the crash that killed Michael, John and Doug was an early shockwave that hit the forum in my newbie days, and that has certainly stuck with me.

I mean, how have I grown over the last 20 years? I still play music, in twice as many bands as when I started posting here, but with less fevered levels of activity. Certainly do not post incessantly about my own bands anymore, as I now find that exhausting and tiresome. I credit that mostly to life under a Tr*mp presidency and subsequent Covid pandemic. After all that shit yelling about my band seemed pretty trite when there was more important immediate shit to worry about. Even now with a new Body Futures record on the way, I'm sort of dreading the part where I have to make people aware it exists. What a shift! I'm more leftist, maybe even more anarcho-communist depending on my mood, but also more inclined to just live by example and be chill on my couch than try to loudly Make A Difference. I dunno. Is that good, bad, a natural part of aging? I dunno. I am married now and really just wanna hang out with my wife until we're dead.

Speaking of: it's hard not to reflect on 20 years of this forum without thinking about those we've lost. Jake, Bradley, Rob, Steve, so many others...they all informed the person I am now. This year I also lost one of my best friends, the person I was dating and living with when I started posting here. She succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 48. Completely fucking unfair. Those losses probably define me now as much as anything else.

Don't quit, everyone. We're still doing awesome shit, if at a lower gear. Thundersnow's on the way in February again and we don't intend to let up with that at least for another few years.

same wrote:Cheers old PRF dogs

salut!

As tempting as it is to talk about low T, arthritis, and boner pills on here (almost made a Viagra vs Cialis thunderdome once and thought better of it), I try to keep this forum from becoming an old man’s playground. Many of us are growing old on here, and that’s a good reason for this thread to exist.

I’ve been on here for 14 years. People on here have been incredibly supportive of my music habit, and that’s been lovely. Made a lot of friends. This forum has taken some losses and hits over the years, but it always seems to get back up. Cheers to the old dogs who keep it resilient, and cheers to the newer ones who keep it lively.

rsmurphy wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2024 10:22 am

same wrote:Cheers old PRF dogs

salut!

If you didn't Ride the Dog, you ain't old!

same wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2024 4:33 am I joined this forum before I could legally drink. I’m now 42. I was one of the babies on here in the early days and ended up moving from the UP of Michigan to Chicago at 23, in 2005. I was welcomed with such open arms by the people I’d met here that my early days in Chicago felt much more warm and joyous than I could have imagined. It was so nice being able to go to shows and know several people there, day one. It sucks being the new kid in town and lurking alone at the underground rock event. I’m very grateful to this forum for sparing me that experience.

I’ve lived a full ass adult life since then, which I won’t bore you with, and I haven’t been active here in a decade at least, but I still lurk occasionally out of curiosity, and it’s amazing to see that some of the OGs are still knocking around, ruminating, ranking, and crap/not crapping on this comfortingly beige php forum.

I honestly kind of fell off here due to a lot of the misogyny and toxic white male ranting and opinion bullying. The Marsupializification, if you will.

marsupialized was an equal opportunity bully and he's welcome back anytime. the loveline thread was just a bunch of nerds willingly asking for it and it was glorious.

I genuinely miss Sup.

And his terrible boots.

Gramsci wrote:I genuinely miss Sup.

I see him weekly now. He's doing well.

He says 'whats up.' Well, no he doesn't but I'll pretend he did.

jeff fox wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2024 2:40 pm

Gramsci wrote:I genuinely miss Sup.

I see him weekly now. He's doing well.

He says 'whats up.' Well, no he doesn't but I'll pretend he did.

Tell him we think of him… and those boots.