New Site Sighting

Like everything in life these days, seems like the word of the day is “simplify.” So when my website started breaking down every other day and needing upgrading and editing and HTML-ing and CSS-ing and Javascript-ing, I finally decided it was time to simplify that, too. I spent enough years dealing with all that stuff at Borders Books and Music and then Internet2. I need something easier these days…

The new one is considerably more lightweight, and is built using the latest full site block editing capabilities of WordPress 6.3 (as of this writing), which offers a point-and-click way to build a site, and is more likely (I hope) to survive underlying code changes than the previous one. Yeah, I still had to use just a couple workarounds here and there, but less than a handful this time.

You’ll also notice it has no shopping cart. I know there won’t be too many of you upset about that, because not many of you ever put anything in it. Ha-ha. But I know, hardly anyone buys music anymore. Including me, so I’m not judging. They stream it, which is the subject of another blog post I’m working on. And believe it or not, when someone did buy a track for $0.69, I got a whopping $0.13. Such a deal. Not. Worth. It. I want to spend my time making music. It’s way past time to worry whether anyone is buying it or not. (Hey, if you still really want to buy it from me, get in touch and we’ll work something out!)

As you can see, the new site is extremely simple, consisting of nothing but blog posts categorized as songs, albums, posts, etc. The home page lists them all, in the order they were released. If you want to see just songs, click on Songs in the menu. For albums only (an album is a collection of songs for those who aren‘t familiar with the term!), just click Albums, and so on. Lyrics, audio links, notes and reviews are included in each post.

A word about the audio links included: since I removed the option to buy a song, I decided to include a Linkfire “smart link,” which loads a little window near the top of each song where you can scroll through the most popular music streaming services and click on your favorite to hear the song in your own music environment. Nifty, huh?

I’ve also opened up the possibility of commenting on each song. If a song or album means something to you, let me know, or share it with someone…

Now you can even use doughowellmusic.com to get here if you want. How‘s that for easy to remember? (If your browser warns you that the address might be unsafe, don‘t worry. I just have to get something called a multidomain SSL certificate. I‘m working on that, as well as a few other things…)

And not trying to be morbid here, but another reason I wanted to simplify the site was so it stands a better chance of lasting a few years after my time to exit this earth comes around. When you‘ve lost several of your dearest friends and a quarter of your high school classmates, you start thinking about such things. Since I’ve always considered the songs to be gifts from God, I’ve tried to share them with you the best I know how, just in case God wanted to give, or speak, or sing them to you, too…

A hearty “mahalo nui loa” (thank you!) and “e hoʻomaikaʻi i ke akua” (thanks be to God!) to you, my listeners and supporters through the years. “Hoʻolohe me ke aloha” Listen…and love!