On this day in 2004, I wrote my very first blog post. It was a very simple post introducing myself to the world. I had no idea what I was going to do with this blog. I had vague notions I would use it to journal my year in France, but that was it. I certainly didn’t think I’d still be blogging two decades later.
What a long, strange trip it has been.
There have been many changes over those years. I’m certainly a different man than I was when I started writing The Midnight Cafe (which was called Brewster’s Millions way back then).
I had hoped to write something a little more celebratory. I had hoped to link to some of my favorite writings and shows. But the storm put enough trouble in my way to keep that from materializing (we have power now, but no internet – I’m using my phone’s wi-fi hotspot to write this). I may do a nostalgic tour when everything comes back.
I do want to say a great big thank you to all of those who have been around for a long time. No one was here from the beginning as I was too shy to tell anyone about it for a few weeks, and when I did start to open up about it only friends and family had access for a while.
People come and go from these things and while that is perfectly understandable, it is wonderful to see some of you coming back day after day, year after year. It is wonderful to see new faces, too. I’m really just surprised and amazed anyone comes around so thank you to all who do and for the support you have given this little site.
It has been a real treat and an honor to run The Midnight Cafe for these past twenty years, I hope I get to do it for twenty more.
PS: That top picture was taken not long after we moved to Strasbourg. The bottom one was taken a few minutes ago. What a difference twenty years makes!
themidnightcafe.org 
Cheers and thanks for all your hard work. I’m here for the music but I do find your movie reviews well written and humorous. Congrats!
Thanks for the kind words.
Happy Anniversary! This is my first time commenting here, so while I am at it, thank you for access to all the amazing music! Most importantly, I’m happy that you and your family are safe. Hurricane Sandy hit me pretty hard in 2012; as beautiful as nature can be, her fury I can do without! Twenty more years of The Midnight Cafe? At the bare minimum, please! Hopefully for much longer! Congratulations!
Thank you and thanks for finally commenting. I appreciate it. These winds were strong but nothing like a hurricane. I can’t imagine going through one of those.
Mat, thank you for this nostalgic post (not to mention all of the other hundreds of posts you’ve written that I’ve read). I dig your site. I come to it often…but up until this moment have never offered a comment. I am a big Grateful Dead fan which is what drew me to the site, but it is your continued very interested posts that have kept me coming back. I’m pretty sure that we are about the same age (I’m 50) and you share a birthday with one of my kids (thought that was cool) and you spent your college days in Alabama (was it the Montgomery area, I can’t remember for sure). I’m from Huntsville (live out West now)…but thought that was interesting. By chance did you attend Huntingdon College? I asked my buddy (who played soccer at Huntingdon around the time you were in college (I assume) and who is a big Dead fan) if he knew you. A lot of time has passed since then, so he couldn’t quite remember. Anyway…thank you for the continued music and posts.
Cheers,
Tim
Thanks for commenting. I appreciate it.
I went to Faulkner in Montgomery in the mid-1990s (graduated in 1998). I wanna say I knew a few folks from Huntington but I really can’t remember. I was active in the theater and knew folks from different schools who were into that.
Mat, I enjoyed the recent Bertha (Grateful Dead) project. I have a GD project suggestion…all of the Colorado GD shows or all of the Red Rocks GD shows. Cheers, Tim
That was a fun project. I need to do another one again sometime soon. Red Rocks would be fun to do. Thanks for the suggestion.
Congratulations on 20 years! I have only been with you for about a year and only occasionally find a show to download but I LOVE reading your movie reviews. Hope you have another 20 or more if you choose. Regards
Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android
If you have any requests for shows or artists for me to post please fee free to make them. I can’t promise I’ll find them but I’ll sure try.
And thanks for saying you like my reviews, I appreciate that a lot.
Congratulations on 20 years! I have been with you on (and a little) off for around 10+ of them. Love most but not all of the music – some great stuff passing through. We’ll agree to disagree about some of the films!
Dan
Oh wow, thanks for being around here for so long.
And disagreeing about movies is half the fun.
So many roads Matt and it has been and still is a pleasure travelling with you.
Long may you run.
Thank you so much
I enjoy your posts. Thanks.
Thank you
Congratulations Mat, twenty years is no small feat!
Thank you my friend.
Dear Matt
Congratulations on achieving twenty years of continuity with your Midnight Cafe Blog!
Thank you for keeping the faith during these turbulent times.
Twenty years ago you began your blog in the mid-noughties at the onset of a golden age of Blogs… there was an incredible flowering. But sadly that only lasted for several years. Everything rapidly changed after the financial crash of 2008 – technology got dumbed down with the rise of the mobile phone, the music industry began to prosecute people for sharing files – the old days of dial-up, when memory was expensive and viruses were rife, rapidly evolved into the Age of Alexa, Siri and Streaming.
Whatever happened to Pirate Bay?
The wild west of the internet has been tamed and commodified into a cash cow…
In the noughties I worked in a Library and for part of my shift I would work in the IT Suite. When I was in there and had the time I used to search for blogs – and that was when I discovered that flowering I alluded to earlier. There were Blogs I visited regularly. “Singer Saints” and “The Clock That Went Backwards” were a couple of favourites….
I am glad that the Midnight Cafe did not close – and that you survived the recent tornado relatively unscathed.
Thank you for your generous share.
I recently shared this link at Guitars101 – a great Forum. In case you do not have it. The Cream Reunion from 1993 when they were inducted into the RnR HoF
https://www.mediafire.com/file/41nhx7cvj6x1oc7/1993+01+11+to+12+Los+Angeles+Cream+Reunion+Party.rar/file
Enjoy – and thanks again
Allthecolours
Thats a memory lane! I remember the Clock that Went Backwards. So many other music blogs from the day have come and gone.
Sometimes I think I ought to join some other revolution like substack or something since blogs seem so old fashioned, but figuring out how to make them work seems like too much…well work.
Congratulations Mat,
this blog is like the NET: it’s not about the single shows, rather has to be aknowledged as a giant contemporary art installation.
I’m not here from the start, so I still find gems scattered here and there.
thanks from Italy
Thank you for your kind words. Feel free to leave a comment on any old post with bad links and I’ll do my best to reupload.
Dear Mat, Congratulations from your Russian fans, Robin and Inna and keep smilingfor the next 29 years! Thank you for all your hard work!
Thank you. One day I’d love to visit Russia. It has been on my wish lists for years and years.
Hi Mat. Congrats on 20 years. I stumbled across this site less than a year ago. It’s been a treasure trove of goodies. Thanks!
“Take care of you memories, for you cannot relive them”.
Thank you.
Congrats Matt and many thanks for all you’ve done. It’s been a fun trip.
Thannks very much.
happy 20th Mat – thanks for all the great music!
Thanks pal.
Happy Anniversary, Mat! I’ve been visiting the Cafe in its various forms since at least 2012, though I never really commented until relatively recently. I don’t know how you manage to find the time to do it all, from finding new shows to writing them up to posting them, plus the movie reviews and such. And you still have time to watch all those films! I feel like I barely have time to visit the site once or twice a week to check it out. (Not that I have that much going on in my life, believe me.)
Anyway, all of this is to say that I really appreciate your efforts over all these years. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours and hours of enjoyment I’ve gotten from all the music. I hope it continues for a long time to come. Thanks again.
PS. Glad everyone made it safely through your weather issues and hope you get everything sorted out soon.
Thanks so much for coming to my site for so long. I can’t believe I’ve been doing it this long.
The secret to my success is having absolutely no semblence of a life 🙂
Cheers, Mat. So glad you have kept it going!
Congratulations, I hope we can celebrate other twenty more.
Happy Anniversary Mat. And many thanks for your endeavour’s
I’m back in town from my family’s biggest trip in – 20 years! So I’m going to toast not only that, but also the gift you’ve given us all with this blog for these years. It’s pretty cool to see all the comments above and get a sense of how many you have who benefit from the music you share.
Your posts are great, the music is easy to access or search for, people can talk about the show if they want or not – it’s the perfect music (and movies!) blog.
Thanks for taking the time to share with all of us all these years. Truly appreciate it Mat!
Thanks Noel (and everybody else). I always appreciate that you take time to comment on a show. That means a lot.