Celebrating 15 Years of HiddenInTheSand

As we get older, we lose the ability to fully recognize the passing of time. Some of us do, at least, and I’m one of them. In other words… it’s been 15 years since HITS launched and it feels like it’s only been three.

I appreciate all the kind words that people have expressed over the years, thanking me for keeping the spirit of Tally Hall alive. The band members themselves have also shown appreciation for the ongoing support, despite 10 years of hiatus. It’s truly been my pleasure to do it. It gives me purpose, you know?

I was also planning on saying: “I hope you enjoyed the little April Fools’ joke yesterday,” despite my tweet saying I wasn’t going to post an April Fools’ prank this year. Because I did pull a small, but clever little prank — but it appears no one caught it! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed in you guys for not catching it. So… If you missed it, well, too bad. 🙂

Story Time

When I came out of my medically induced coma in June 2020, I was in a serious state of delirium for a couple weeks. Bad stuff. I could write a book about all the terrible things I thought were truly real and truly happening around me. However, during this time, I also came up with a very elaborate April Fools joke for HITS that I seriously considered taking a few months to prepare for this year. But I’ve not had the time or energy to do it.

It involved members of Tally Hall collaborating with Bob Dylan on an album of Dylan songs but with the TH members being the backing band. I had a specific name for the band, too, which now eludes me. So… I was going to photoshop up a couple promotional shots and even try to mix together a song that had Dylan singing and instrumental versions of Tally Hall playing in the background.

It would have been epic and as convincible as I could make it. But, like I said, I kept being put back into the hospital and my energy level these days is just pretty darn low as I await to be listed for a new heart.

Looking Back

So what kind of anniversary post would this be without a trip down memory lane?

Does anyone out there remember the original HITS website? Before there was a Tally Hallmanac, FAQ, and chat room? But there WAS the HITS Toolbar, The Tally Call Program (where you could submit your phone number into a database that the band could access and call you at any given moment), and people could even get their own custom hiddeninthesand.com email address! If you were around during this time, please comment below. I’d love to hear about your experience and memories! (I’m not actually expecting anyone to comment… hahaha.)

HITS screenshot 2006
HITS as it appeared in 2006

Well, if you’re interested in learning more history about HITS (HITStory?), it’s all on the Tally Hallmanac now. It would be cool if you were curious enough to learn about all the stuff that’s happened over the last 15 years.

I ask myself sometimes how long I’m going to keep this site up. I have contemplated shutting the website down and just being a social media entity, since I barely post any blogs here anymore. But I know how important the Tally Hallmanac is to everyone so I think I’ll keep it going as long as I am alive and can afford the hosting. Who knows, though…

I hope you’ll join me for the ride, however long it is.

~ Coz

8 thoughts on “Celebrating 15 Years of HiddenInTheSand

  • April 7, 2021 at 9:10 am
    Permalink

    Wow, I sure am late to the party here… I literally found this website (and the band itself) maybe a month ago, so I obviously don’t have any memories of this website from when it was first starting out. But noticing nobody’s commented yet, and also that I haven’t commented here ever, I thought- might as well. Seeing this website even existing, especially for as long as it has, is really cool (and the Hallmanac is the most useful thing I’ve ever seen).

    Sorry for whatever this mess of a paragraph was, I just wanted to pour my thoughts out onto a page. If you’re reading this, you are now legally obligated to be happy for at least 0.01 seconds today. Okay? Okay. (seriously, happy belated birthday HITS and hope y’all are doing well.)

    Reply
    • April 7, 2021 at 10:47 am
      Permalink

      Thank you!!! And welcome to HITS — and Tally Hall!

      Reply
  • April 12, 2021 at 4:48 am
    Permalink

    Well, aren’t I late. And in more ways than one! (I really wanted to comment here since I first read the article a few weeks ago, but things kept coming up…)

    I’ve been listening to Tally Hall for 4-5 years at this point, which I think is a notable amount of time in its own right, but it’s still nothing when compared to those who were lucky enough to be there in the “active days”.
    Which is a shame, because it seems like you guys had a pretty great time. I can’t help longing for such a time, which I never had the chance to live because of timing and nationality. I would’ve never discovered TH had it not been on the internet, and by the time I was able to move around confidently and communicate clearly on the ‘net, the hiatus was already going pretty strong.

    But, even in my lateness, I still managed to fall deeply in love with the band, and I’m pretty sure I owe it to the Tally Hallmanac and HITS in general, at least in some way. Having access to all that archived information, trivia, and whatever, really contributed to making TH still feel alive and captivating. So thank you, HITS, for letting me live the “Tally Hall Experience”, even if so many years after its prime.

    It’s really nice to see you keeping the site updated, even when actual news is hard to come by, and personal life starts getting in the way. So thank you, Coz, I really appreciate it (and I have a feeling the band members might do too).

    Wow this got pretty long, anyways hope you have a nice day/afternoon/evening/whenever you read this! Take care, and bye

    Reply
    • April 14, 2021 at 10:13 pm
      Permalink

      Wow, thank you so much for sharing all that, Vale. It’s a great honor to do this work. I’m glad when someone tells me my work isn’t for nothing, yknow?

      Reply
  • April 16, 2021 at 9:18 pm
    Permalink

    I’m late to replying here, and I’m CERTAINLY late to Tally Hall / this website seeing as I also only got into the band a month ago.. but like, thank you for still paying for and keeping this website up. There is SO much information, particularly on ミラクルミュージカル and the member’s solo projects, that would be a lot harder to find if it wasn’t for the Hallmanac. I, like, can’t understand how important that is. You rock. (And if by some off chance that anyone else that’s helped with the site/wiki that isn’t Coz sees this comment, you rock too)

    Reply
    • April 16, 2021 at 9:23 pm
      Permalink

      Thanks, Zachary. HITS began with the intention of all fans collaborating and adding to the site. Most of the people had faded away by the time the Hallmanac was born but there’s been countless people who have contributed to it ever since. I mainly just look over it now and am left to maintain the rest of the site with news and stuff.

      Reply
    • April 16, 2021 at 9:29 pm
      Permalink

      *Understate, not understand.

      Muscle memory typo, but I think you get what I meant.

      Reply
  • June 15, 2021 at 11:02 am
    Permalink

    Hello from Russia! I want to apologize in advance for the poor English (I still use the translator haha), but I do not want to pass by without thanking you for working on HITS! I found Tally Hall and this site about five years ago. At a certain point in my life, Tally Hall was very encouraged by their creativity and I was interested in reading about them literally everything. It’s nice to come back here from time to time and see that the fanbase is still alive, thank you for that! Get well, Coz, thank you for everything you do 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *