Mike and Mike's Music Site

Frogger Dogger is the name of a new music blog, and from the outset, one gets the sense that its content providers, three ex–music writers from the Union-Tribune, are on something of a crusade. “Where music still matters,” announces the blog’s masthead.

David Coddon, T. Michael Crowell, and Michael Kinsman, all 25-year-plus U-T veterans, were laid off in recent years during the newspaper’s presale downsizing. This February, Crowell and Kinsman launched Frogger Dogger. Crowell says that David Coddon joined the team later.

“We have our own niches,” says Kinsman, who also produced the now-defunct San Diego Blues Festival. “I do blues, roots rock, and ’60s rock. Mike Crowell covers jazz and Americana. David Coddon covers classic rock and singer-songwriter things.”

A quick perusal of recent posts turns up a remembrance of Rory Gallagher’s debut album, an Alex Chilton obit, a plug for blues guitarist Nathan James, and stories about Nick Curran, the Monterey Jazz All-Stars, and a rereview of Weather Report’s Heavy Weather.

“It’s not something,” admits Kinsman, “that’s gonna have a real broad readership.” Later he says, “It’s a quirky site. There’s no agenda. There’s no editor. There’s no one calling the shots. Contributors write whatever, and Mike [Crowell] and I read them over.”

But, Frogger Dogger? “It’s a name my daughter calls our dog,” Crowell says. “We both wanted a name that was fun and not literal…not ‘Mike and Mike’s Music Blog.’ ”

Their collective eye, he says, is focused on an older demographic. “That’s who we are. That’s who we want to write to. That’s what we want to write about.” He says the content is weighted toward what he calls legacy artists. “But we’re looking at pop artists, too. Fountains of Wayne,” he says. “That’s a great little band that’s been around a long time.” Crowell says they are not genre-phobes. “We’re just looking for good music that appeals to us.”

Kinsman says they plan to post interactive content that would award prizes such as tickets to upcoming shows.

“That way,” he says, “clubs are going to want to drive traffic to us.” He says they are talking to clubs now but doesn’t want to spill the beans prematurely on which ones they are negotiating with. “We haven’t approached them all, frankly because we don’t know what we have. We just want to write it and see what it becomes, what it feels like, and then go from there.”

You can check out Mike and Mike’s music blog at froggerdogger.com.