History 101

[swollenlymphnodes]

The Anime

Sometime ago in the late 90's, a very talented director named Shinchiro Watanabe created an anime masterpiece titled Cowboy Bebop. It received relative success overseas and in particular the United States, especially considering that anime outside of Dragon Ball Z was generally unpopular at the time. This generated several cult followings in various parts of the internet. The anime itself, is based on a crew of space bounty hunters and their travails through the solar system. What makes it such an immaculate anime, is basically well created characters, a series of good stories, a spectacular visual display, a masterpiece of a soundtrack largely composed by the Great Yoko Kanno, and it's myriad of elements of influence. Some of those influences range from, Bruce Lee to Chet Atkins, the Chinese Mafia to Alien the movie, and Miles Davis to Bahgdad. It is these broad range of influences that would reach out to various types of people and social groups and draw them together. One of those such places was Audio Galaxy.

Audio Galaxy
The rave of peer to peer music sharing was in full revolution. Napster had changed the internet and the music world for good. AudioGalaxy.com was one of those offshoots that had surfaced after the RIAA shut down Napster. AG was unique in that it had a 'satellite' type of p2p engine and also, a webpage based bulletin board where traders could discuss the tremendous amount of media being exchanged. Of course having the outstanding soundtrack that Cowboy Bebop had, AG soon became the birthplace of users who would exchange the music and discuss the anime at length. However due to the broad based demographic that attended the boards, discussion soon followed suit discussing a tremendous range of topics usually in the realm of anime, music, books, games and any kind of media. The Cowboy Bebop front had it's fair share of eccentric characters, intellects, otakus, and trolls.

One of the more famous questions that had been asked frequently was, "What's that song playing when Spike is falling out of the window?" The simple answer was of course Green Bird. However, it soon became so frequent that it drew the ire of several members. Soon after, it became a running joke, to unleash a sequence of violent actions upon each new inquirer. It became routine for jthanatos or scyther to find new creative ways to scalp any who dared to ask, like telephone poles for instance.

The Founder
A middle-aged man only known then as manuidichann, took the initiative to form the Cowboy Bebop Front on the AudioGalaxy message boards. Manuidichann was a well read man, who enjoyed many arts. In this particular instance, he saw fit to found the Cowboy Bebop to recognize and promote this under-apreciated anime. He is often remembered for his patriarchal presence, his infatuation with Yoko Kanno and his well-respected mentorlike manner. Sadly though, despite efforts to locate him, due to a sequence of events that shut down the website and a long period of inactivity, we have lost all contact with Manuidichann.

The Final Hour
The biggest reason why contact was lost with Manuidichann and many of the members of the Cowboy Bebop Front was the eventual shut down of all Audio Galaxy servers. The RIAA which continues it's quest to wipe out p2p networks, finally had it's sights set on AG and a subsequent sequence of events lead to the final days at audio galaxy for the Cowboy Bebop Front.

Thoroughly enjoying each others company and the continued zeal for Cowboy Bebop, moved Manuidichann and the others to plan for a mass migration to a place where all members could take refuge in. A website designed by Dark Shining Star, and a companion forum eventually was put up, where a few of the die hard members registered at. Unfortunately, the forum was taken down, and only a hard shell of the web pages existence remained. A forum would be the only way for members to maintain contact, and this removal proved fatal for the large group.

What Went Wrong?
After the external forum went down, many returned to a very unstable Audio Galaxy. Soon however, the end would come, despite the efforts to move. Why did the planned exodus fail? It was a great project with a great deal of work divided among zealous members who committed to playing parts to establish the new web community. However the project turned out to be greater than could be fulfilled. Many had busy schedules. And either the lack of resources for willing members to establish an alternate place to dwell, or the lack of knowledge of alternate venues for those who had the necessary resources, left us with nothing. Also, there was a false sense of security that the RIAA's efforts were beign withdrawn.

Then one typical day, members would type in the website, or click on their saved favorites to draw the familiar bulletin board... only to find it gone. The period of time where the site was down was substantial enough where eventually, everyone just gave up, and moved on. A very sad time period for all diehard members it was.

A Small Revival
I don't recall how long after the shutdown occured the time period was, but eventually, a few of the members discovered that Audio Galaxy the website had been ressurected. Whether they decided to type the ol' augiogalaxy.com or if they were using a search engine, soon a few of the members out of a nostalgic whim... discovered that Audio Galaxy was back. And slowly... little by little... a few members returned, overjoyed of course, and hopeful, but soon solemn about the sad state of the old club. Eventually, most came to the realization that it would not be the same.

Eventually, it moved into it's steady state of a miniscule amount of members, posting at intervals of several weeks. At it's worst three or four members - including JetBlack87, Ultimate Solidus and GrinFilledCelt - kept the place alive as a small group of friends keeping updates about current media. One of the sad occasions was the revealing of the passing of one of those diehard members, ultimate solidus. He died of cancer. Still, several others helped the original members to become forum regulars, making the death of the Cowboy Bebop Front seem impossible. There would be periods of silence, but there was always a return to the little blue bulletin board.

cowboybebop.net
One of the quirky natures of audio galaxy was the irregular board clean-ups. A moderator, or some program would delete all posts to nothing. This became increasingly frustrating, and seemingly more frequent as time passed. The temporary-nature of the board always hung a cloud of uncertainty over all members. One day, after being wiped clean not too long before, the board was yet again erased, leaving members to eventually raise the subject of an exodus yet again. Talks of AnRe, and myspace arose, but a consensus was never reached. One of the reasons was those proposed places would not be like the old familiar AG home, a place they made their own.

Finally though, one of the members now had the resources and the knowledge to create that new home. It still consists of that small band of members who faithfully inhabited the AudioGalaxy message board, and it inherits the wacky nature of the old place. It's a new place that they can call home. Hopefully, it will be found by former members who may have that nostalgic whim to see if the old home still exists. If not, we can still share many of the memories of the good old days. Today, the topic in vogue rarely involves Cowboy Bebop. But this board still consists of a bunch of friends which that very anime has drawn together.

The Cowboy Bebop Front... forever!!!

[swollenlymphnodes]

Anyone's free to post here... not like this is a national monument or anything.

One last look. And framed for posterity's sake.

_________________
nodes aka GTBaka
eh?
*Eternally Lurking*

[GrinfilledCelt]

Good riddance, I say. It was a wonderful thing in it's day but it's just been sad for way too long. They should have put it out of it's misery long ago.

It seems that they were just waiting for nodes to create this place (what took you so long?).
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Songs for the flash frozen.

[JetBlack87]

I don't think I can say good riddance. Yeah the place got to be a hell hole, but we did have some good times there. Plus it did last far past it's expiration date.

[IronPoke]

[FallenAngel5766]

I'll never forget that place. Many great memories were made there.
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Life is a game of chess, upon the end of which, both kings and pawns are placed in the same box.

[Anime Otaku Chik]

Friends, too. Friends I get to meeeeettt *dansu*

Watashi wa ureshii desu! Lassen wir spaß haben!
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[Dread_Knight^Samurai]

[Anime Otaku Chik]

Ne kimi.. What's that supposed to mean?

HOW DID WE BE FRIENDS?!
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[FallenAngel5766]

*Hangs up sign on his door*
"VACANT - LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL TENANTS"
_________________
Life is a game of chess, upon the end of which, both kings and pawns are placed in the same box.

[Anime Otaku Chik]

What?! Where are you going?!
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[DaGeneralLee]

i miss you!!!!!

[IronPoke]

We've got a rebel here...

[FallenAngel5766]

Kelsey - I'm moving.

Who is this General Lee?
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Life is a game of chess, upon the end of which, both kings and pawns are placed in the same box.

[DaGeneralLee]