Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Pretty self-explanatory
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Stuart Gardner
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Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by Stuart Gardner »

I didn't imagine it, did I? There was such a thing, wasn't there?

I'm more than a little surprised that I can't find anything about it on the web; all I see are references to the song. I was hoping it was still being published. I wanted to subscribe, or to buy back issues... but I'm not finding anything.

Do I need to start cutting my pills in half?
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by And No Coffee Table »

As far as I know, Bright Blue Times was a website, not a magazine. It shut down long ago, but you can find remnants on the Internet Archive.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070824040 ... stello.htm
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Man out of Time
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Re: Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by Man out of Time »

The creator was Connor Ratliff who is an actor in the USA:

http://connorratliff.tumblr.com/post/11 ... s-costello

He seems to be busy acting these days.

MOOT
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Stuart Gardner
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Re: Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by Stuart Gardner »

And No Coffee Table and Man out of Time, thanks very much. I'm grateful to both of you for the information and for the links.
Then the site Bright Blue Times predated the song, meaning Costello actually titled a work using a fan's coinage. If not quite an endorsement, it's at least a nod of recognition, which is interesting.
cwr
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Re: Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by cwr »

This was my website! Thanks for remembering it. The song came first, thought it was the most obscure song I could've picked, or close to it, at the time. He had recorded it for a TV movie, played the demo on Irish radio (my cousin taped it for me) and I also had a bootleg of a concert in Italy where he played it around that same time. I figured it sounded like the kind of song that a would work well as a title for a fansite.

I got annoyed in 2007 when EC announced he was done making records and decided to delete the whole site. He then made 3 albums in 3 years, and I brought it back a little tiny bit. I eventually just decided that the site had outlived its usefulness and quit it.

You can find some echoes of it archived online on the wayback site, but lots of it is just gone forever.

I recently did a twitter megathread called 45 Days Of Elvis Costello to pre-celebrate the release of Look Now that is so massive that twitter keeps glitching it to pieces and breaking it:
https://twitter.com/connorratliff/statu ... 77152?s=19

And yeah, now I mostly do acting in TV & Film and Comedy in NYC. (You can see me in a tiny part in the upcoming 2nd season of one of Costello's favorite TV shows, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel...)
sulky lad
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Re: Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by sulky lad »

Conor's being very modest here - his site was a definite "goto" for intelligent observation and discerning criticism of all thing Elvis and made a refreshing change from some sycophantic other sites in the late 90s and early 00s. he also had a sly turn of phrase which made you think again about aspects of ECs work that otherwise you'd have missed. Now I',m just waiting for the autobiography, "Irish boy makes good in the US" (I don't think it's been done before has it ??!!!) :wink:
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Stuart Gardner
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Re: Bright Blue Times, not the song but the fan magazine

Post by Stuart Gardner »

cwr wrote:This was my website! Thanks for remembering it. The song came first, thought it was the most obscure song I could've picked, or close to it, at the time. He had recorded it for a TV movie, played the demo on Irish radio (my cousin taped it for me) and I also had a bootleg of a concert in Italy where he played it around that same time. I figured it sounded like the kind of song that a would work well as a title for a fansite.

I got annoyed in 2007 when EC announced he was done making records and decided to delete the whole site. He then made 3 albums in 3 years, and I brought it back a little tiny bit. I eventually just decided that the site had outlived its usefulness and quit it.

You can find some echoes of it archived online on the wayback site, but lots of it is just gone forever.

I recently did a twitter megathread called 45 Days Of Elvis Costello to pre-celebrate the release of Look Now that is so massive that twitter keeps glitching it to pieces and breaking it:
https://twitter.com/connorratliff/statu ... 77152?s=19

And yeah, now I mostly do acting in TV & Film and Comedy in NYC. (You can see me in a tiny part in the upcoming 2nd season of one of Costello's favorite TV shows, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel...)
Connor, hello!
And thank you for replying! I think it's quite amusing that I mistakenly thought Bright Blue Times was a printed periodical, and my confused post was spotted by Mr. Bright Blue Times himself! Yes, it's a small World Wide Web, after all.
It's my obvious misfortune to have arrived so late to your celebrated party, now that all the cake, ice cream and party favors are gone. But happily, as you point out, a few streamers and decorations are still hanging.
I wish I could tell you where and how I heard of Bright Blue Times and how I came to think it was a physical fanzine, but I've no idea at all.
As a Costello fanatic since 1977, I thank you, however, for the work you invested in the project, even though I missed out on most of it.
Finally, I've followed you on Twitter. I'm about to tweet you a screenshot of the music on my iPhone, as I've a feeling you'll approve.
All best to you!
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