reverbcentral
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 19
Felton, CA
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Posted on Oct 07 2008 04:40 PM
skeeter
I miss the radio show.
Any plans on a podcast Phil?
It's all a matter of time & technology. Right now, between the day job at Universal Audio, the track speeders, and my goats and raccoons and rabbit, not to mention my wife, the site is all that there is time for.
One problem I am working on is the errant grouping of reviews in the navigation lists, but I cannot find the cause so far. Those lists are generated with FileMaker, which also generates all of the reviews. Individually the list scripts always work correctly, but collectively, they get messed up... My poor old G4 may be the culprit. I'm a FileMaker developer at work, among the many hats I wear, and yet... I'll figure it out soon. Apologies to everyone who's review is in the wrong place on the list!
Likewise, many of the comp reviews are errant, missing artist names. That bug I found, and I am regenerating all of the reviews over time - there are 727 to regenerate... it's really become a handful to maintain. Oh woe is me!
I have to say one more thing... over the years, I've been privileged to work with a large number of surfbands and players in various capacities. The vast majority have just treated me as part of their family, for which I am eternally grateful.
— Phil Dirt<br><a href="klzzwxh:0000">Reverb Central</a>
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mom_surfing
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 5267
the outer banks of north carolina
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Posted on Oct 07 2008 05:21 PM
i've used reverbcentral as a reference as i do other reviews in other publications. i don't always agree but i like to read other peoples opinions, good or bad, as long as they back up what they say.
boring, boring world if we all liked the same thing.
my 1/2 cent
— www.surfintheeye.com
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wooza
Joined: Apr 24, 2006
Posts: 1618
Ithaca, NY
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Posted on Oct 07 2008 07:01 PM
Dang, I'm really late to this one, but I really like this discussion.
Back to the original "I dig Phil Dirt" topic for a bit, I totally agree. I'm a big fan of Reverb Central and I'm huugely appreciative of everything Phil has done for the surf genre with his site, show (unrivaled in my opinion), comps, etc. KFJC, and later Reverb Central, were how I discovered surf music so yes, my opinion is undoubtedly and undeniably biased (especially given the whole context behind that story. Some of you may know it. I'm not gonna tell it right now:  ). As a result, I used to follow Phil's word as gospel for a while, but eventually began to realize where my tastes differ from his and how best to read into the reviews for reference. Nowadays there's still plenty of overlap between my opinions and his reviews, and also some glaring differences, but I nonetheless enjoy hopping over to Reverb Central at the beginning of the month to check out the new reviews, whatever they may be.
Now with that out the way, trying to be objective I still think Reverb Central is a valuable reference for any surf fan who agrees or disagrees (to any extent) with Phil's opinion, particularly those who are still new or relatively new to the genre. If you can get a sense of Phil's opinions of trad and progressive surf, recording quality, melody, bands like the Ventures, etc, etc... then his review--good or bad--really tend to give you a good sense of what to expect from an album, band, song, whatever. That's of huge value in a genre such as surf, in which having such limited media exposure or access to recordings means many album purchases are made in the dark. It could be that myspace is making that less of the case nowadays, but still I find that if you can find a way to gauge your own tastes against Phil's it helps you know what to expect before actually hearing a band. A couple of you guys have mentioned having a distaste for his reviews through disagreement. Though those reviews may not meet the entertainment criterion for you, they're still informative in an inverse sort of way.
Hmm, it's weird talking about Phil in the third person seeing how he's already responded to this thread.  Phil, good to see you on the board here! Thanks for the input! 
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ElMonstroPorFavor
Joined: Sep 01, 2006
Posts: 2674
New Orleans, LA
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Posted on Oct 07 2008 08:32 PM
Double-Crown-Records
The informational aspect of his website is probably what I value the most though - it's a thorough database of surf releases with album art, track listings and label information. I'd say these days that more surf bands send their music to Phil than any other review site or publication (New Gandy Dancer and Pipeline are others, while for some reason I don't receive as many releases for review in The Continental - maybe somebody's gonna start a thread on how much my reviews suck!)
The "information aspect" is good but unlike his review output there IS somebody else doing that at grunnenrocks.nl
P.S. I got too lazy to renew my subscription to the Continental and will probably renew it but I liked your reviews
— Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio
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crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
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Posted on Oct 08 2008 09:57 AM
Hey phil!
Surf newbie that i am thought you were Phil Dirt from the Dozers for many months Reading your reviews i can't tell you how confusing that is!
I can find only a handful of small scrapy photos of you on the net so it was an easy mistake to make.
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midwestsurfguy
Joined: Mar 19, 2006
Posts: 902
Oxford, Ohio
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Posted on Oct 08 2008 10:02 AM
When I was trying to find the real Phil Dirt I had a hard time because of the Doziers too.
Phil it is great to see you ere on the forums! what about that podcast your were talking about a long time ago? I also figured the problems with your web pages were because of a back end database. Hope you get it fixed!
Thanks
Guy
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