15 Years of Travalanche

travsd

Mar 3

I launched Travalanche on a leap year day, February 29, 2008, with an introductory post about myself. But my first "real" post was a few days later, on March 3. Thus today is the 15 anniversary of that first post, a review of the show The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, which you will find here.

In re-reading this old post I am amused at how much of its real estate is devoted to my own preoccupations and proclivities, as opposed to the show itself. That is the point of a blog, in case you're one of the countless thousands who don't seem to know. Back in the day, when I was fortunate enough to write regularly for print media organs like The Village Voice, American Theatre,, and Time Out New York, the goal was critical objectivity. By contrast, the point of a blog is subjectivity. Here I get to pursue my own agenda, and the freedom of that is joyous, really is its chief reward (beyond the generous support from many of my readers).

During the first year I only posted theatre reviews like that first one. Then, I began to add content streams related to my books starting with such things as vaudeville, circus, burlesque, silent comedy, and so forth, and gradually that led to pretty much everything related to the performing arts and show business, with a strong emphasis on the antiquarian remaining. Above all, I love connecting the past to the present.

For fun, a few stats:

Your will find 7,400 original articles on Travalanche

There have been over 6 million hits and 3 million individual users. 2020 was our best year in terms of readership, but 2023 is already shaping up to beat it if the current trends hold!

The top category on the blog by readership by far is sideshow freaks. Individual articles with a tragic or scandalous angle are also among my most-read posts.

Performers I have written multiple articles about include the Marx Brothers (118), Charlie Chaplin (114), W.C. Fields (109), Laurel and Hardy (60), Our Gang (49) and Mae West (34), among many others

I have written biographies of 1,800 vaudeville performers, more than any other resource I know of, in print or online. Among those vaudeville posts, those that attract the most readers include ones on the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Eddie Foy, W.C. Fields, the Four Cohans, Frank Fay, Burns and Allen, Jimmy Durante, and the Three Keatons

My second, Members-Only Patreon Blog was started five years ago, and so that's another cherished statistic, the scores of folks who support me there. Care to join them? As little as $1 a month gets you all sorts of extra content over and above what we do here, including extra posts with lots of old time movie, radio, TV and record clips; and exclusive audio and video presentations by Your Humble Servant. Hither to the 411.

Thanks for reading! And here's to achieving 15,000 posts by the 30th anniversary (haha, not really, but who knows?)