Learning by doing has always been my preferred method of personal development. So in 1995 when I wanted to learn about web development and HMTL I needed to find a subject to publish a website.
Being a long-time fan of Jonathan Richman and an avid record collector, I created a website listing his discography. This is the story of an oft neglected website about a oft overlook pioneer of punk.
And I say roadrunner once, roadrunner twice
Roadrunner (Jonathan Richman) – The Modern Lovers, 1976,
I’m in love with rock and roll and I’ll be out all night
Roadrunner Once
I don’t have any screenshots of what Simes’ Jonathan Richman Pages looked like in 1995 but I believe it was originally simply called ‘The Jonathan Richman Discography’.
The first version of the site would have been a very basic collection of HTML pages that I had hand-coded in a text editor. HTML and the World Wide Web was still newish and I taught myself the basics by looking at the source code from other websites.
It was originally launched on Demon using the URL https://hippywig.demon.co.uk. Demon was a pretty great ISP back then and one of the first ISPs in the UK offering some of the most affordable virtual servers of the time.
Roadrunner Twice
Wayback Machine shows that I added a counter to the website in 1996 and at some point the website was converted to use frames HTML frames (yuck). Looking back, it’s not pretty, but also not terrible for 1995/6.
At some point I I updated the homepage and the Jonathan Richman discography got bounced into a sub-directory /jojo and made the slightly bizarre decision to put a map to my home.
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?Postcode2Map?E3+2UT&title=How+to+find+Simes
At some point I was running a Jonathan Richman email discussion list and corresponded with many people over the years. I have some of you on Facebook still!
No-one just turned up, we had a meet up at some of Jonathan’s London shows in the 90s, and a bunch of people who had travelled to London stayed on my floor.
Roadrunner Twice
Towards the end of the 90s I was working at an internet startup in London and thought we should give the website a facelift. I ‘borrowed’ and modified an unused design by one of our developers and relaunched it with a shiny new design.
In 2001 we won a ‘Fansite of the Week’ award from musictoday.com.
Roadrunner Thrice
I have no intention (at the moment) to update the website further with additional information or Jonathan latest releases, but it was too sad to see it looking so outdated. I have given it a little facelift and it will continue to live at http://sjrp.org.
Hippwig?
And one last question. Why Hippywig?
They’re selling hippie wigs in Woolworth’s, man. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over. And as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.
Danny (Ralph Brown), Withnail and I, Bruce Robinson,1987
The thought process as to why I chose ‘hippywig’ instead of ‘angling’ or ‘simon’ as the name of my first hosting account eludes me, but for many years my email address was simes@hippywig.demon.co.uk.
What I do know is that the term ‘hippywig’ came from the 1987 movie Withnail and I, staring Richard E Grant and Paul McGann. Still one of my favorite movies, but strangely nothing to do with Jonathan Richman. Just a random decision in my early twenties brain.
