Farewell to the "Blogfather"

Acidman is dead. I really gotta start going through my blogroll more often. I was taken aback by what I found over at Gutrumbles today. He was a cantakerous old coot. Foulmouthed, illtempered and ornery as a rattlesnake in the dog days of summer. But he was a damned creative writer. Fun to read and pulled no punches. His was the first blog I ever read. I remember thinking to myself how cool it was that he had this place to write and was so damned good at it. I remember thinking I could never be that bold. But here I am, a baby blogger and it's in great part to the inspiration I derived from reading his vitriolic rants.

I'm a bit saddened by it. This guy is world renowned...literally. He was considered a tall dog in the world of blogdom. Every post got 30-50 different comments. He had loyal readers all over the globe. I began my writing by composing a few well thought out comments on his blog. And it almost felt like an honor when he saw fit to acknowledge your comment. We even exchanged a few emails. He was extremely supportive of my plans of starting my own blog. He even "approved" the name Wight Wing Wadical for me. It was strange reading his June archives and see his posts day after day and then one day a post from his daughter, a fine blogger in her own right, who said that he had passed away. That post got 561 separate comments of condolences from his readers. That's gotta be like a record or something. Bloggers who'd never met him travelled to Savannah, GA for his services.

He's near the top of my blogroll for a reason. He used to be at the very top until my other site occupied that spot. I guess I'll have to take it off whenever it finally shuts down. But I think I'll leave it up for now. Those of you who've never read him will probably not understand why I'm even posting this. But it seems appropriate to give some type of acknowledgement to the man who inspired me write what I feel.

So long, Rob.