Hello! This is Click Opera.: imomus

Hello! This is Click Opera.

1. What's this? This is the last entry in the blog called Click Opera, which means that, in the funny through-the-looking-glass world of blogs, it's the first page future internauts and web adventurers will come to. So think of this not so much as an ending as an entrance. What you've reached is the door to "probably the best-written blog on the Anglophone web", according to Warren Ellis. "It doesn't get any better than Click Opera," said novelist Dennis Cooper.

2. Who's behind Click Opera? The best introduction to who I am is this article in The Guardian Review. I'm a Scot, a musician, a writer, and -- according to this page, gulp! -- the 4697th most significant contemporary visual artist working today. My Wikipedia page is here. You can download six of my early albums free here. Books I've written are here and here. I want to write more books, so if you're a publisher email me! That goes for people wanting to reproduce bits of this blog in print, too.

3. Where can we find out what you're up to, post-blog? From my "personal digital assistant" Maria Wolonski, who announces my engagements in the charming, ringing tones of a talking clock. From the Momus concerts page on LastFM. From my Flickr page and my two YouTube accounts, momasu and bookofjokes. I may even revive my old website (1995-2003), imomus.com.

4. What do you plan to do now? I want to write books and articles. Maybe teach at an art school. Deliver lectures in many lands. Make some more records. Play concerts. Walk around the world. Learn to speak Japanese and live in Japan. Write my own regular newspaper column of cultural commentary (I've written for people like Wired, The New York Times, Frieze, Spike, The Wire, 032c). Hold some more art shows. If you can help me realise these dreams, email me, please!

5. If I want to stage a Momus concert, what do I need to do? Tell your friendly local promoter (or it could be an art gallerist, store owner, festival director) that all I require is travel expenses (from Berlin), accommodation, plus a fee of around €1000 for a regular Momus show (festivals tend to pay more). If that works for the promoters, get them to drop me a line and we'll take it from there. I also do art performances -- live storytelling and unreliable tours.

6. Will you keep the Click Opera archive up indefinitely? Yes, I will. If you feel like helping with the modest LiveJournal and PhotoBucket hosting costs -- or compensating me directly for some illegal mp3s of my songs you've downloaded -- you can make a donation via PayPal here.

7. What's the best way to search the Click Opera archive? Simply type the word imomus plus your search term into a search engine, then follow the links headed "Click Opera".

8. Will you keep reading and responding to comments left under this entry? Yes, I will. Leave your email address if you want a personal response.

9. Why did you stop updating Click Opera? Not because anything went wrong or it got unpleasant. Quite the reverse, in fact. Click Opera was just too damned good: too compelling, too time-consuming, too satisfying. It took over my life. It became my job, the main topic of my conversation, the hub of my self-mediated fame: "Aren't you that guy from the internet?" (Read the piece called Clickswansong if you want to know more about why this blog came to a "happy ending". Or listen to this radio interview with KCSB's Colin Marshall.)

10. Can I step through the door now? Please do! There's a lot to read! You can browse backwards from here, or start at the beginning (Thursday January 15th 2004) and work forwards. The calendar is your friend, or you may prefer to read through the titles displayed in the month view.

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to Click Opera, this big vineyard! You've given me years of pleasure! Happiness, as T.E. Lawrence said, "is a by-product of absorption", and blogging -- the best hobby I ever had -- has been absorbing indeed.

All good things...

ext_224665

February 11 2010, 12:44:58 UTC 10 years ago

New comment

So sad to hear the blog has wound down (I just checked in on a whim this morning). But I know how time consuming a blog is. I did one not nearly as involved as yours and found it ate up hours and hours. That said, I wish you weren't closing up shop and boarding up the virtual windows. It's like so many of the shops and restaurants in my neighbourhood. Establishments that, although I didn't visit them every day or every week, were a great source of diversion when I did drop in and just knowing they were there was somehow a comfort. Anyway... new decade and new beginnings. I've followed you for 22 years now, so no sense thinking I've heard the last of you.

Sayonara!

B.

eclectiktronik

February 11 2010, 15:05:29 UTC 10 years ago

The Last Communist here, just saying : Best of luck with your endeavours, and I've enjoyed reading your blog, even if I spent more time lurking than participating due to other commitments!
Hope to catch up sometime in Berlin or Madrid - Let me know if you're ever in this neck of the woods.
regards
Ben - Eclectiktronik

February 11 2010, 15:21:54 UTC 10 years ago

http://www.last.fm/music/The+High+Llamas/_/Rotary+Hop

thought this was appropriate !

adieu

Anonymous

February 11 2010, 15:41:22 UTC 10 years ago

to click opera: thanks for the daily inspiration of the last 6 yrs. your daily ‘voice’, which resonates tremendously with mine, vindicated my own perspective and worldview. for that, i’m eternally grateful. adieu

to nick: best wishes on your 50th anniversary, and congratulations on the impressive body of work accomplished in those years. i’ll always follow your work in whatever form it takes (and i know i’ll be bumping into you somewhere again, because i always do).

eDwin

dickon_edwards

February 11 2010, 16:27:33 UTC 10 years ago

Happy 50th, dear boy. And farewell Click Opera.

There were more than a few times when it sailed several thousand miles over my head - and several thousand miles to the east - leaving me in the dust, blinking and baffled. But never bored.

cap_scaleman

February 11 2010, 17:41:19 UTC 10 years ago

I've been wondering if would've been better to keep silent (since everything has to be commented on these days by everyone anyway). However, I'd like to say that your blog have meant quite a lot during the period I posted the most comments. Dunno if any of them comments I did in an desperate attempt to get an answer from you (that was the whole point of commenting in the first place, even getting a LJ profile!) but at least I had fun, and I made a couple of new friends as well.

Happy birthday, and may it not be your last!

imomus

February 11 2010, 18:40:58 UTC 10 years ago

Thank you, Cap, I always enjoyed your freshness and originality! And your designs were a bit of a cult with me and one of my friends for a while!

10 years ago

ext_224708

February 11 2010, 19:27:30 UTC 10 years ago

Your journal has been a reliable source of bafflement and inspiration. Much enjoyed the NYC Momuthon. Thanks for everything. You are quite a character!

And, happy birthday!

First Post! Last Post!

February 11 2010, 19:56:03 UTC 10 years ago

First Post! Probably Last Post! Your blog opened up worlds for me that I wouldn't likely have encountered otherwise. Your entries have expanded my interests, and your thoughts have expanded my thoughts, and gotten me to think a little more globally. I never felt particularly drawn to posting on forums, but your blog often provided conversational fodder between me and my flesh-and-blood friends. Funny: not reading your blog will free up more time for me to actually check out your albums! Have fun no longer being "that guy from the internet"!

Ryan

February 11 2010, 23:26:18 UTC 10 years ago

momus; a star forever..!

ishinagami

February 12 2010, 03:31:10 UTC 10 years ago

Thanks Momus for all the years of joy and narcissism you brought to my life.

the clicks heard around the world

February 12 2010, 04:28:36 UTC 10 years ago

now we must all turn off these televisions and computers and put our mouth where our money is--the materialist, imperialist show is over. stop drinking the kool-aid. it's over; you can see that capitalist and religious bullies are fighting over the last piece of your acquiescence. again, turn off your televisions and computers. it's poisoning your minds and the world.

it's time to stop the charade of geo-politics and war and truly embody a global vision of humanity; drop all the label games and start looking at people as human beings. this earth is not here merely for our material exploitation of it; we are only another species that inhabits it;. the only way out of this global transition is forward, beyond this so-called modern culture, to a real reclamation of our rightful humanity. to an archaic revival for the future...

carpe diem.

maybeimdead

February 12 2010, 07:50:30 UTC 10 years ago

This is truly sad day for followers of your blog. I doubt we see eye to eye on many things but damn if you didn't open my eyes and my mind to other possibilities. And for this I thank you. Carpe diem.

good bye

February 12 2010, 09:18:32 UTC 10 years ago

I am going to miss you.

Thanks

February 12 2010, 16:43:36 UTC 10 years ago

Hi Nick,

Just wanted to say thankyou. I've been reading you daily for about 3 years and have found you consistently entertaining and informative. Even when writing about stuff I have no personal interest in, you were always fascinating - I can pay no higher compliment. Just make sure you make it easy for us to find out what you do next..

Matt M