Bite-the-dust.com: 10 years later

16 year old Becca after my first Ringo Starr concert

When I was a teenager, I remember feeling alone because I didn't have anyone to share my interests with. I had friends but we did not have many hobbies in common. I loved music, specifically classic rock. All the kids in my age group were listening to contemporary music: rap and hip hop. Even my own mom was listening to "new music." I distinctly remember her listening to Ja Rule and pop country. (To my mom's credit, she also liked a lot of good music). When I found music I liked I had to absorb every fact about it as soon as I could. I loved learning about the band, hearing all their albums, and just being so into it. It became my religion if you will, my passion, and also what gives me strength. I would have a hard day at school, return home to turn the music on. It stayed on until bed, sometimes after. I'm still that way.

Right at this time my grandparents got a computer at their house. It had AOL dial up with it's own phone line. I remember it well: start to connect to AOL, go make a sandwich, come back and hopefully you'll be online. How things have changed. I took to the internet, and despite all the pervs and weirdos, I was able to carve out a place for myself. I started off with free primitive website services and moved up to Geocities. I wanted to make a website where I could talk about my favorite obsession: music. I accumulated all this knowledge and all these photos from bands I liked, concerts I went to...I had to put it all somewhere.

Along the way I met who I'd eagerly admit were key people. The first person was web designer Emily Deakins. I don't remmeber exactly how we met, I *think* it was in a Monkees/Beatles group on Yahoo. We became quick friends based on our interests, but she also helped introduce me to and teach me HTML. I wanted to get all my music stuff on the web. So she helped teach me HTML. Not bad for us being 3,000 miles apart. She also first hosted me until I purchased my own domain. The first thing I did with my new credit card at 18 was buy a website. I had a long list of domain names I planned to try, and almost all of them were taken (it's even worse now!). Bite-the-dust.com is named after the Queen song "Another one bites the dust" of course. I wanted a website named after a song. I've heard a lot of jokes over the past 10 years about "biting dust" and "dusting". I opened my own website on January 19th 2003.

As I got more into my obsessions, I met more good people who I could talk to for hours about them. Down the road I was able to meet some of them at concerts or diners in major cities. I can't state enough how appreciative I am that they were who they said they were. That seems to be uncommon on the internet. But I connected with great people who I am still friends with to this day who are my age. In a way, we grew up together. By starting a website and sharing my passion with others....I was able to feel not alone.

As I grew I also met younger people who had found me through my website. They were just getting into rock and roll and took to the internet to get more info. A lot of times I found these kids would find my website and feel compelled to write me. They would take to the internet exactly in the same way that I did. They would Google bands they already liked and wanted to know more about. Pretty quickly they found Bite-the-dust.com. In that time I met two very musically intelligent kids, Dylan O and Sean K. They both reminded me of me at that age. Big time. I found myself saying "How could they like this music or know about it? It was so much before their time." People used to say that to me! I was born in 85 so I was definitely born too late if you ask me. What time period music is from is irrelevant. Rock and roll is still relevant. Dylan and Sean knew so much about music that it impressed me. I had to have these guys on my team. They are now 18 and 23.

As the conversations and fan base grew, I expanded to social networking. On Facebook we have over 1,400 fans. I LOVE talking about music and seeing/sharing rock photos. In that time we have gotten appreciation and kind words from Mickey Leigh, who is a super cool guy. I have done a lot of work with bands and musicians websites. I was hired in June 2012 by Steve Moriarty to create The Gits official website. After that I was hired to re-vamp the Broken Rekids website. I have done album cover art, printed material, rock illustrations and lot of other neat things for bands. It finally reached the point where my work spoke for itself...which is the best feeling ever. On January 19th 2013, Bite The Dust turned a decade old.

Over the years Bite-the-dust.com has turned into a mini-rock n roll empire. With the web and graphic design, upcoming Jonestarr Record label, Lou Weed rock performances, album designs for Wendy Flower and romper, and I'm on the verge of finally changing my name legally to Becca Jones-Starr. Just waiting for my court date. Soon I will be getting my business license and try to further legitimize my expanding rock empire (haha). I didn't get to this point by spamming, bothering or begging people to see and hear what I do, (which I see a lot of that going on). I see other web designers do it, other private contractors do it, and I think it's unnecessary if you're really good. I got to this point by being myself, and having my integrity held close to me. Thankfully, people have been able to identify I'm not only a legit music fan, I'm a hard worker as well. I'd had some wonderful clients in the past 2 years who have really believed in me.

I'm so grateful to all the great friends and supportive people I've connected with over the years. It's felt fantastic to have people not only believe in what I do, but believe in me. My plans with Bite-the-dust.com is for it to be a hub for all my other rock projects and of course have all the rock information I have always had on my site. Everything I do is centered around rock and roll. Clearly it has influenced my life and even how I do business. I am sympathetic to both sides, the fan and the artist. I've always been serious about "saving rock and roll." This is how I'm doing it: by keeping the discussion going. I really think that the talking, remembering and sharing keeps it alive. And in my 10 years just having my own website I have seen proof that rock and roll is far from dead.

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Bite-the-dust.com: Rock & Roll Resurrection: http://www.facebook.com/savingrocknroll

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We need to talk about this: The Foo Fighters are "AIDS denialists"

Preface: I am a fan of the Foo Fighters' music, so this isn't intended to be a hit piece. I genuinely feel troubled by what I'm about to share with you in this blog entry. I had no idea about this until just days ago. Recently I saw a video that addressed celebrities with controversial beliefs. The one that stood out to me was Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters being "AIDS denialists" (which I didn't even know was a thing?) aka "HIV Truthers". I immediately had to look into this because it sounded just too crazy to be real (and you should ALWAYS be skeptical of things you hear and do. your. research.) An article that I felt was very thorough on the topic was " Foo Fighters, HIV Deniers " "Maggiore’s message has apparently penetrated the minds of at least some Foo aficionados. She says she has heard from many Foo fans since the show — one of whom, she says, now works at the Alive and Well office. “AIDS is a toxic disease caused

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