Last updated: September 2002
You haven't updated in over a week! What's going on????
Beginning in September 2002, 5h changed significantly.
Most of you became acquainted with 5h during the 1998 or 2000 tour. When there was a tour, the site was updated every day because -- there was *news* every day!
The 5h philosophy was always that the site wasn't updated for the sake of updating it ... only updating when there is important information available. When the band was inactive, 5h was slow. Webmasters take breaks, too.
5h respects readers too much to bring them to the site for made-up news stories, rumors, or rehashes of old information (like commercial online music sites).
Your loyalty and dedication is truly appreciated. It can be frustrating when the band isn't doing anything. 5h is not going to compromise quality for the sake of meaningless updates to make it look like something is always going on here. Thanks for your support.
Where is the Song Of The Month for [insert month here]
This isn't a job. This is supposed to be fun.5h takes pride in creating something for SOTM that is extensive, and interesting. Sometimes, time doesn't permit or inspiration doesn't strike ... and that means -- no SOTM.
This section was retitled "Song X" as keeping up with monthly updates was impossible. Now the Song X section is locked and will not be updated.
I love 5h and I would like to support it. Please let me send you a check to cover some expenses.
It is touching when emails like the one above arrive in the 5h mailbox. However, a long time ago a decision was made that it would be very hard to maintain the integrity of the site if 5h was personally responsible on an individual level to fans who sent donations.
If you want to support 5h financially, you can help by doing one of the following things:
- Click on the ad banners. It's a very small amount of money but it adds up and helps offset costs.
- While 5h encourages folks to patronize local businesses, if you do buy books, CDs or music electronics or accessories online, using these links to businesses such as Amazon.com generates small royalties that help pay costs to run the site. A full affiliate list is here.
Thanks again to everyone for their support; 5h wouldn't exist without you.
footnote: get involved
5h started running ad banners in the fall of 1998. Beginning in 1999, we have been donating excess funds raised from the ad banners to our own selection of political causes. The donations are made in the name of the site, as part of giving tribute and appreciation to Pearl Jam for their continued involvement in political and social causes.
1999
We donated more than $300 to the following causes and organizations:
- Happy Tails Animal Sanctuary
- Make A Wish Foundation of Washington State
- Home Alive
- Bridge School Foundation
2000
Approximately $400 was donated to the following causes and organizations:
- Happy Tails Animal Sanctuary
- Bridge School Foundation
- The Nature Conservancy (Washington and Missouri)
get informed... make your own choices... I have something really cool I want to submit to you for the site.
Five Horizons is a fanzine -- a magazine run by fans. Just like magazines don't publish everything they get sent, 5h doesn't publish everything that someone sends in. Reviews and other items are welcomed, but 5h reserves the right to decide if it "fits" 5h.
Photos, scans of posters or memorabilia, and magazine articles we don't have are also welcomed -- but please write first before sending any scans or other large images. The item may already be in-house, time has been insufficient to put it online or there may have been a decision not to use it for whatever reason. Also, sending large files can crash the 5h mailbox the same way it could crash yours. Please do not send us sound files for the same reason. If you have something really cool that you'd like to share, please write and ask first.
How do I join the fan club? How do I renew my membership (and all other fan club related queries)?
The Ten Club now has a web site from which you can join the fan club. Please visit tenclub.net if you want to join the fan club or get more information about it. Five Horizons is in no way affiliated with Pearl Jam or the Ten Club. Any questions concerning fan club questions should be directed to info@tenclub.net,
Please tell me when the next PJ-related secret show is. Here's my phone number! I promise I won't tell anyone.
If 5h had weeks or even days of notice of when the next secret show would be, well, then it wouldn't be secret, would it? The reviews of the few secret shows 5h staff have lucked out to get into sometimes talk about how we barely got in or happened to be in the right place at the right time, and we would be there with friends. There were also many shows that 5h did not attend and many, many false alarms..
And if 5h *did* have information about a "secret show" in advance, the last thing that would be wise is to put that information on a web site that thousands of people, including major music media sites, visit daily. That would be the quickest way to cause the show to be cancelled because of the thousands of people that would descend on the venue.
Why do you keep reporting on Ed's side projects, but not Three Fish or Brad? Last time I looked those band members were just as important to Pearl Jam as the lead singer is. You obviously have a bent on Eddie.
Believe it or not, way back when 5h started, we learned very very quickly (thanks, McCready!) that some kind of "rules" or guidelines were needed in order to figure out what should or shouldn't be covered.
So here are the "rules." In order to be included in the Concert Chronology, an appearance must meet one of the following guidelines:
- It must be at least two members of Pearl Jam, preferably playing Pearl Jam (or associated) material;
- If it is only one member of Pearl Jam, they either must:
- Be billed as "X of Pearl Jam", or
- Perform Pearl Jam songs (whether originals or covers strongly associated with the band);
- Anything to do with the Who doesn't apply to the rules (see the inclusion of Ed's appearance with Pete Townshend in '97 and with the Who in 2000 -- if you hadn't noticed, there is this pervasive Who theme to the site!)
- If an appearance does not apply to any of the above, but in 5h's opinion is historically significant, it gets included;
- Finally -- rules are made to be broken; let's have fun with the site.
This is why 5h originally didn't cover the "Neil Jam" tour of 1995 (but it is listed in the CC now). 5h doesn't cover every single Mike McCready appearance (Mike climbing onstage to play a Screaming Trees song, explain how this fits). Brad, Three Fish, the Rockfords, Wellwater Conspiracy, etc. are *way* out of our purview but tours are mentioned (for historical/timeline significance) in the CC and brief updates are found in the Side Projects section. Note: the Side Projects section is now locked and will not be updated.
This isn't scientific, but there *is* a standard by how it is determined what gets included.
You fucking corporate cocksuckers! You've sold out!
Yes, this is from an actual email 5h received.Please refer to the question below about how 5h is financed. 5h has no corporate sponsors.
5h staff have worked very hard to provide a service to the community. Efforts to help fans buy tickets, make travel arrangements and keep up with show news when a tour is in progress should be proof of that.
However, the bills have to get paid somehow. Costs continue to rise as the site gets more and more traffic, and the physical size of the site grows. There are more than 500 pages on the site now.
When 5h began, there was no idea that it would grow into what it's become. It's grown far beyond the original vision, and in order to keep it running, a decision to accept limited advertising on a few pages of the site was made. The small amount of income derived used to finance the costs of running 5h. Web site ad banners honestly don't bring in much money, but it helps lessen the increasing financial burden of keeping 5h online.
This was not a happy decision, but it was accept a few ads, or take the site down ... somewhat like PJ deciding to tour with Ticketmaster, as opposed to not touring. The only difference between 5h and a Geocities or Tripod site with banners is that instead of the money going to a big corporate concern, it's going to fund 5h. Nothing about the content of 5h is going to change as a result of this.
There has been lots of wonderful email from fans who have wanted to help support 5h financially. If you support the ad decision, click on the ad banners and help out. If you don't, you are welcome, as always, to visit any of the other fine PJ sites on the web (or ignore the banners).
So do you go to every show or what?
No. Plain and simple, it's just a fact. There are a lot of wonderful fans (like you) who contribute setlists, notes, scans, etc.
How do you get to go to as many shows as you do??
We both work very very busy full-time jobs and have other projects outside of that, as well as friends and families. This is why we don't go to *every* show. We save our vacation time, we save our money, we budget and we plan like maniacs. We are not independently wealthy, we work hard for our money just like you do. We choose to spend some of it on Pearl Jam, just like you do. There is no secret or any connection, and if it makes you angry that we go to a lot of shows, we're sorry, but it's not our fault!
How do you get so many tickets to shows?
There's an article that talks about all the ways you can beat Ticketmaster (or any ticket service). This article was written because these techniques are things that can help others get tickets: call, wait on line, enlist friends. Anyone can do these things. That's the purpose of the article and why 5h has worked to provide all the on-sale information ... so you are empowered to see as many shows as you want to. (These ticket buying techniques work for most any ticket situation, by the way.)
5h has no special "connections" and does not buy from scalpers. 5h buys tickets EXACTLY the same way you do.
Do the band know about 5h? What do they think about it?
Don't know :)
5h doesn't exist to get close to the band.
What do you do for a living?
High-tech geek dealing with the internet every day in the course work. Almost entirely self-taught; much of what was learned on the job is used on 5h, and vice versa.
How do you pay for 5h?
The site is self-financed. Some server space that is kindly donated by a friend who also happens to be a fan.
You are trying to stop anyone else from having a Pearl Jam web site.
Goodness, no. If you will notice, in the mission statement, and in other locations throughout the site (such as the Essential PJ Web Resources), it is consistently stated that 5h is not trying to be the One and Only Pearl Jam Page. The mission was, and still is, to make the best page that can personally be create, and that is a reflection of the 5h individual fan experience.
Having said that, there are many things that 5h does not do that are not being done out there ... it would be great if someone would do them. The more great PJ pages that are out there, the better it is for all of us.
However, making a Pearl Jam page does not mean copying the 5h source code and changing the font size. That does raise objections. 5h will continue to defend the work and content that is unique to 5h, as anyone who is proud of their work should.
I'm on AOL, and sometimes when I connect to 5h, I see you have updated something, but I can't see the update! I don't have this problem with any other web site I go to.
This is because AOL, as a proprietary online service (NOT the internet), caches on the server side. Without going into major technical details, all you need to do is increase the size of your browser's cache. That should solve the problem.
The reason you don't have this problem with "any other site" is two-fold: One, many sites do not update as frequently as 5h; and two, any commercial web sites can change the settings of their web servers to accommodate AOL users especially - sometimes they even send AOL users to their own separate web server. 5h cannot dictate these kind of controls to our service provider.
If you have any other complaints about this, take it up with AOL, or *ahem* get a real internet provider. You can try some of the tips on this page.
You have mp3s of a show up. That means you have the show, so can I get a copy?
First, just because the mp3s are on 5h, it doesn't mean 5h has the show. Many fans are very kind and want to share things as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that sometimes is to make sound files that can be used on the site.
Second of all, let's think about it this way: even if only one person a day asked for a tape, that's seven in one week, and 28 in a month. You do the math.
So please tell me where you got the sound files from.
Again, do the math: there's no way one individual could accommodate the most basic of requests. 5h policy is not to give out names or email addresses of people who provide sound files. Otherwise, people will not be willing to share things with 5h, making it impossible to share them with you.
Why do you do this?
Well, there are a lot of reasons:
- Love for Pearl Jam.
- Long time activity on the net and a desire to give something back.
- Unhappiness with existing net resources (remember, the decision to create 5h was made in 1995), so instead of complaining or trying to tell someone else what to do with their web site, we decided to do it ourselves.
Really, that's it.
Are you making any money off of this?
No. There have been some good deals from service providers (and some, not so good). Much personal expense has been paid over the years for server space, bandwidth, domain name costs, etc. That's beyond costs for personal a personal email account and online access. This doesn't take into account the amount of time and energy spend working on the site. Any extra income generated from ads has been donated to charity; in 1999, 5h donated more than $300 to various charities (see above).
Are you trying to be the official Pearl Jam or Ten Club web site?
No. 5h is *unofficial* and proud of it!
Where do you get your information from?
From source 5h feels is official and/or reliable.
Where can I get the videos or audios you talk about on your page? Can I get them from you?
No where does it say that 5h actually owns any and/or all of the show recordings discussed on the site, so asking for a copy of a tape or CD is incorrectly assuming 5h has it. 5h provides lots of pointers, in the Boot section as well as in the Concert Chronology and Concert Video Guide as to where you can find others who trade live Pearl Jam material.
Why is everything on your web site copyrighted?
Because 5h staff wrote the material and because there are very uncool people out there, with no imagination or true talent of their own, who think that the way to make a cool Pearl Jam site is to steal content from other people's pages. With a copyright, 5h has some cursory protection and could really fight it if we had to. (Yes, everything is legally copyrighted).
Why can't I link to a specific page or graphic or sound file? Why can't I put X on my web page?
Because 5h wrote it and more importantly, 5h MAINTAINS it. One of the biggest problems with other PJ sites when 5h was initially designed was that people put them up ... and then let them languish. When there's only one copy, and it's on 5h, and that means 5h can (and will) make changes to that content when it is needed. If you save something as html and put it on your page, well, when 5h is updated or corrected, you don't get that.
If you link to a specific page on 5h and it gets changed (which is going to happen occasionally), then your link is broken. Why not just link to the main Five Horizons page and save everyone time and effort?
How many people visit the site?
A lot! =) For internal reasons, traffic is watched and log files are analyzed. From a webmastering perspective, it helps make the site "work" better by seeing what sections are most popular and what sections you don't even bother to look at. :) It is particularly amazing to see the huge amount of international visitors 5h has. There is no external counter available on the site.
Can you tell me if a live CD of X show comes out?
No. 5h doesn't support or buy unofficial bootleg CDs. News about official releases will always be found on the site.
Got a question? Why not e-mail us?
Copyright © 2004 Five Horizons