The Fancy Colours history page!

LAST UPDATED: DECEMBER 19, 2007 at 10:00 pm, local time.

December 19, 2007
----------------
Added SOS release updates (!) on the Chicago page and SOS page. :-)

October 7, 2007
---------------
1) Info for the new (October 2) 40th Anniversary compilation and forthcoming special issues, and MySpace link added to the Chicago page.
2) Long overdue (!) date corrections on Family Page #2.

April 12, 2007
--------------
Info updates to The Exceptions page; many thanks to Mac Macoy and his friends for the inputs!

March 30, 2007
--------------
Info updates to The Exceptions page; many thanks to Mac Macoy and his friends for the inputs!

March 27, 2007
--------------
Over 9 years on-line (as of March 21)...
1) Info updates to The Exceptions page; many thanks to Mac Macoy and his friends for the inputs!
2) Remaster info for 16 and 17 plus two compilation track listings added (and other minor updates) to the Chicago page.

January 21, 2007
----------------
Info updates to The Exceptions page; many thanks to Mac Macoy and his friends for the inputs!

January 1, 2007
---------------
Happy New Year!
Minor updates to The Exceptions page; many thanks to Mac Macoy and his friends for the inputs!

December 31, 2006
-----------------
Updates to The Exceptions page; many thanks to Mac Macoy and his friends for the inputs!

October 7, 2006
---------------
Over 8 years on-line (as of March 21)...
Fabulous at 40 years and counting! :-)

Updates to the Chicago page and created new sub-page for The Exceptions.

February 13, 2006
-----------------
Chicago XXX (!) info added to the Chicago page.

September 3, 2005
-----------------
Added new Chicago IV page and fixed links and title mouse-overs on the Chicago page and the other 6 discography pages.

August 18, 2005
---------------
Over 7 years on-line (as of March 21)...

1) Chicago page: Rhino is FINALLY releasing the remaster of Chicago At Carnegie Hall on the 23rd! Also added the Love Songs compliation released in January.
2) Tomorrow would have been Mom's 75th birthday.

October 13, 2004
----------------
Over 6 years on-line (as of March 21)...

My dear mother, Joyce, passed away at about 6:50 AM (MDT) today. :-(

March 14, 2004
--------------
Minor updates on the Chicago page and SOS page.

February 28, 2004
-----------------
Frank's new URL for The Stone Is On Fire! updated on the SOS page, plus minor updates on the Chicago page and The Heart Of Chicago page.

January 16, 2004
----------------
Added two more selected solo albums to the list on the Chicago page, plus minor updates on the SOS page.

December 31, 2003
-----------------
1) Updates to the Chicago page and SOS page. Lots of updates! :-)
2) New additions on the Cool Site Tools page.
3) New sub-page for Chicago covering all of The Heart Of Chicago albums, including thumbnails of the green and yellow releases :-).

October 27, 2003
----------------
Updates to the Chicago page and SOS page. Lots of updates! :-)

July 27, 2003
-------------
Updates to the Chicago page.

July 23, 2003
-------------
Updates to the Chicago page and SOS page.

July 10, 2003
-------------
Updates to the Chicago page and SOS page about three SOS tracks featured on Chicago: The Box.

June 26, 2003
-------------
Updates to the Chicago page: New Chicago II DVD-Audio and upcoming Chicago: The Box.

April 26, 2003
--------------
Updates to the Chicago page and added the sixth album review.

April 19, 2003
--------------
1) Updates to the Chicago page and added the fifth album review.
2) Minor updates to the Disclaimer.

April 5, 2003
-------------
Over 5 years on-line (as of March 21)...

1) Update to the bonus track info for the April remasters of Hot Streets, 13, and XIV on the Chicago page.
2) Promotion update to My Life And Times page.
3) Rhino link updates on Music, Chicago, and SOS pages.

March 13, 2003
--------------
1) April remasters of Hot Streets, 13, and XIV information added to the Chicago page.
2) Additions to the text on the SOS page.

February 23, 2003
-----------------
More background of Chicago's pre-history added to the Chicago page.

February 9, 2003
----------------
May God comfort the families of the Columbia astronauts.

1) Updates to the Chicago page and added the second and third album reviews, plus new remaster info for X and XI.
2) Additions to the text on the SOS page.
3) Updates to the Alan Parsons page and the first album review.
4) New album entry on the Barry Manilow page.

November 24, 2002
-----------------
1) Updates to the Chicago page and added the first of the album reviews (at long last!).
2) Link updates and minor revisions on the SOS page.
3) Updates to the Alan Parsons page and the first of the album reviews (at long last!).

August 18, 2002
---------------
Over 4 years on-line (as of March 21)...
1) Migrated all pages to Prodigy server! Please click here if you see any broken links or pictures!
2) Minor updates on Barry Manilow page, Stone Of Sisyphus page, Chicago page, My Life And Times, Playlist and Cool Computing Links.
3) Page creation dates added to all pages that didn't have them listed, updated ribbon rack, and did spelling corrections for all pages.

December 31, 2001
-----------------
Probably the last major site overhaul! 98% of the pages have significant updates... :-)

September 11, 2001
------------------
May God comfort those who lost loved ones today, and bring His vengeance on those behind the attacks.
Updates to band member page links on the Chicago page.

July 13, 2001
-------------
1) Kelly AFB closes! :-( My Life And Times updated.
2) Better version for the MIDI on the Chicago page uploaded. (from alt.binaries.sounds.midi)
3) A "Magic"al MIDI added to the Main page.

June 16, 2001
-------------
1) Ribbon rack image updated on My Life And Times.
2) Minor revisions on Main page, Kim's tribute page, and My Life And Times.

June 2, 2001
------------
REMEMBERING WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MOM & DAD'S 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
1) New image added to and minor reformatting on the Main page.
2) New images and text added to Kim's tribute page.
3) New at-work image added to My Life And Times.

May 20, 2001
------------
1) Added privacy policy to the Disclaimer. All page headers updated accordingly.
2) More text, one revised link, and four new links added to the Alan Parsons page.
3) Text revision and new MIDI and pop-up picture added to Classic Road Trips.
4) More additions to the playlist.
5) April 30, 2000 picture of me added to Friends page #1.

April 8, 2001
-------------
1) Migrated all pages to TalkCity server.
2) New cumulative hit counter installed on Main page.
3) Updated the home page link for Richard Aitken on Stone Of Sisyphus and Disclaimer.

March 29, 2001
--------------
1) Header and e-mail address updates on all pages.
2) 'Guest Book Sign' button now available on all non-pop-up pages! :-)
3) Alan Parsons page: Woolfson Entertainment Group and Miramar sites are down, so I removed the links. Rewrote and added more text. :-)
4) Stone Of Sisyphus page: Yet another rewrite. :-) THANK YOU to all of you Chicago fans who discovered and e-mailed me your feedback about this page!
5) Cool Computing Links: Two new links added and several others revised.
6) Music: Official 'Weird Al' link logo added, and Disclaimer has been updated to reflect this.
7) Playlist: New links and entries added.
8) Chicago page: Link for Lyric removed (dead link) and text slightly revised.

March 24, 2001
--------------
1) Main page: The last vestiges of redundant HTML that FrontPage Express left behind have been quashed! YES! Thanks to Dreamweaver v4.0!. I also removed the construction place holders, as I have finally figured out how to tweak the table flanking images for the RealAudio clip and Get RealPlayer so they stay permanently aligned with that paragraph. :-)
2) Cool Tools List: Dreamweaver 4.0 added.
3) Kim's tribute page: Minor HTML formatting error fixed.

MARCH 21, 2001
--------------
MY SITE'S *THIRD* BIRTHDAY! (or "G'day, and welcome to year four, eh?" LOL :-) )
1) New welcome video clip added to the Main page.
2) Cool Tools List, Classic Road Trips, About Your Webmaster, and My Life And Times also updated.

January 25, 2001
----------------
Text revisions on the Main page.

January 20, 2001
----------------
My brother, Kim, committed suicide on November 30, 2000. :-(
Pages updated: Main, Friends & Family, Family Page #1, Whitworth, and Disclaimer.
New page: The start of Kim's tribute page.

November 5, 2000
----------------
Updates to Disclaimer, Chicago and SOS.
(Many thanks to Richard Aitken for granting his OK to use the wonderful fantasy art background on the SOS page. :-) )

November 4, 2000
----------------
Updates to Chicago, Main page, Music, and My Life & Times.
New page added: Classic Road Trips!

October 9, 2000
---------------
Updates to Chicago, SOS, Music, and Main page, plus a (finally!) completed 1999 and 2000 Playlist!

September 16, 2000
------------------
Quick fixes to SOS (Thanks, Frank, for coming back on-line! :-) ), Chicago, and More Cool Links; 5 new links added to Music, and vintage pictures of yours truly added to About Your Webmaster and My Life & Times.

September 1, 2000
-----------------
Last major update for a while! Pages in this update: Index, Friends & Family, Friends #1,
Family Page #1, Family Page #2, More Cool Links, About Your Webmaster, My Life & Times, SOS.

August 2, 2000
--------------
Minor updates on Family Page #1 and Family Page #2.

July 22, 2000
-------------
1) Friends page: Minor text updates.
2) Family page #1: Added new pics of Tandy, Angel, Ian, & Steve, and revised text.
3) Family page #2: Added new pics of Cousin Norma plus the July 15 get-together with a bevy of Jacobsen cousins. :-)

July 16, 2000
-------------
1) Hopefully, the LAST major code cleanup for all pages. :-)
2) Friends & Family: Flipped the layout to streamline it. Also, Family Page #2 was created for 'Clan Jacobsen'. :-)
3) Family page: Added pic of Stu, and revised text.
4) Computing: VivoActive link removed, since that is now covered by RealPlayer.

July 11, 2000
-------------
1) New sub-page for Friends & Family: My Friends! Please read the important intro to this page regarding trust! :-)
2) Family page: Added bios and pics of Dad, Sam, Andy, and Tandy.
3) Tools list has been expanded. :-)

June 26, 2000
-------------
Still recovering from the HD crash, but finally starting to get everything back together. More updates coming soon. I promise. And I KEEP MY PROMISES! :-)

1) US discography (reviews to come) and new links added to Chicago page.
2) A significant rewrite of and new MP3 link added to the Stone Of Sisyphus page.

May 20, 2000
------------
HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY KIM & TESS! (May 17th) :-)
My hard drive had a Mayday on May Day, so I've been working to recover all my files. :-(

April 1, 2000
-------------
Major-league HTML code cleanup on all pages, thanks to Dreamweaver v1.2a, now included on the Tools list!

March 31, 2000
--------------
Updated background image on all major pages and corrected the META tag entries.

MARCH 21, 2000
--------------
MY SITE'S SECOND BIRTHDAY!
New background image for this page and Main.

February 21, 2000
-----------------
MY ISP connection *STILL* SUCKS! :-(
Ribbon rack pop-up window added to My Life And Times.

February 13, 2000
-----------------
Minor text updates on all pages, and new additions on many of them! :-) If you haven't been by the site in a while, take a look...

February 11, 2000
-----------------
Additions and date updates on My Life And Times.

February 5, 2000
----------------
New sub-page for Friends & Family: My Family! Phase 3 implementation under way at long last! :-)

January 30, 2000
----------------
1) Updated links, and added 2 new photos plus JavaScript pop-up photo windows for My Life And Times.
2) Links + 1 graphic added to About Your Webmaster.
3) Links + 1 graphic added to Music.
4) Links added to More Cool Links.
5) New background pic on Stone Of Sisyphus page.
6) Links added on Playlist.

January 23, 2000
----------------
IN MEMORY OF MY (honorary) UNCLE, Wm. EDGAR (Ed) REAVES. (who was killed by a drunk driver 1 year ago today)
New links, samples, and background image for the Barry Manilow page.

January 22, 2000
----------------
1) New sub-page for Music: Barry Manilow! Also added link for Listen.com.
2) Alan Parsons page: Graphic added for Woolfson Entertainment Group link.

January 19, 2000
----------------
WE SURVIVED THE Y2K BUG! :-) My ISP connection SUCKS! :-(
1) Minor updates to Main page and Playlist.
2) Date reformatting and new pic added to My Life And Times page.

December 30, 1999
-----------------
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Mine will not be. :-(
1) Y2K disclaimer text updates on all pages.
2) MIDI rotation on Main page, and Christmas pages removed.
3) Updates to the Playlist.
4) The private page is now public! See My Life And Times for the full scoop, you can link to it through the About Your Webmaster page, too.

December 21, 1999
-----------------
Updates to Playlist, Chicago page, and Stone Of Sisyphus page.

December 12, 1999
-----------------
IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER, WILLIE JOE SMITH. (who would have been 74 today!)
1) Christmas MIDI rotation on Main page and two christmas MIDI pages added.
2) Spelling cleanup and revisions on the Stone Of Sisyphus page.
3) Music: Links added for Twisted Tunes and Mystic Music.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

November 27, 1999
-----------------
1) Standardization of all e-mail icons, now at the bottom of each page (except intro).
2) New sub-pages for Music: Playlist and Stone Of Sisyphus related links and review (includes MP3 site link!).
3) More Cool Links: Link added for Dr Pepper.
4) Chicago tribute page: Updated album GIF and text to include Chicago XXVI.
5) 'Top' button added at the bottom of all pages!
6) Friends & Family: Phase 3 (sub-page design and text writing) is under way.

October 2, 1999
---------------
1) Date and e-mail address updates on all pages.
2) Friends & Family: Phase 2 scanning is underway. Elroy's page link updated (old Elk Snout Reporter).
3) Music: Yes alt text updated. 'The Ladder' was released September 28! :-) New links: Notes From The Edge and 'Weird Al' Yankovic.
4) Notice anything different about the picture of me on the main page? LOL :-) New CGI counter script installed; 950 hits prior to reset!
5) Minor text updates on and new photos added to the private page.

June 6, 1999
------------
Migrated all pages to CenturyTel server!

May 1, 1999
-----------
1) Minor code cleanup and date updates on all pages. Direct MIDI links also removed.
2) Somebody's been 'bot'ting my site! Some of the filenames may be scrambled to thwart their future efforts...
3) Major rewrite of the Disclaimer; Disclaimer link now featured prominently on all pages.
4) Cool Computing Links: Updated the MSDN Online Web Workshop link and graphic, and added new links for Iomega, Epson, and TUCOWS.
5) Chicago tribute page: "The Pull" MIDI has been 'pulled' by request of the sequencer. Complaints? Thump this ungrateful Chicago fan.

April 12, 1999
--------------
1) Main Page: Guest book migrated to GuestWorld; links updated accordingly; also added my recent WIN to the opening banner. :-)
2) Alan Parsons: Check out the way cool MIDI for "I, Robot"! Thanks to Bill H. from the OE 5 Stationery news group.

April 3, 1999
-------------
1) Site Builder Network is now MSDN Online Web Workshop! Graphics and links updated on Intro, Web Workbench, and the Main Page.
2) New 'Get Windows Media Player' graphics on Web Workbench and the Main Page.
3) Corrected direct download link for 1999 and the header mouseover on the Main Page.

MARCH 21, 1999
--------------
MY SITE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!
1) Date updates and minor code revisions on all pages.
2) Active Channels were discontinued by Microsoft with the March 18 release of Internet Explorer 5; The CDF now adds subscriptions to the Favorites for IE 5 users, and the channel subscription for IE 4 users.
3) Friends & Family is undergoing some major re-construction work.
4) Whitworth College alumni page updated.
5) Chicago tribute page has a new file.

February 18, 1999
-----------------
Minor updates to Main Page, Friends & Family, Whitworth, and Workbench. (My brother and sister are now on-line, and Redneck Heaven is back on-line; go to Friends & Family for the links.)

February 8, 1999
----------------
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
1) Friends & Family: Redneck Heaven has shut down, so I removed the link. Also updated Stu's e-mail link.
2) The January 2 voice clip was rather low in volume, so I resampled the original WAV and updated the RealAudio and ASF clips accordingly.
3) Added 2 page links in the private page.
4) Alan Parsons: Changed background picture and revised text.
5) Main Page: Flip-flopped the New Year's MIDIs.

January 25, 1999
----------------
All embedded Crescendo! pages updated to include the ActiveX codebase link to the LiveUpdate CAB installer for IE 3.x+ users.

January 17, 1999
----------------
Music: Moved the Alan Parsons link to a new Alan Parsons page, which groups all the Alan Parsons links (with 4 NEW links added!) and info. (Watch for updates soon! :-) ) ALT mouseover text for the Yesworld graphic updated (Yes is 30 years old)!

January 11, 1999
----------------
Music: Moved the Chicago links to a new Chicago page, which groups all the Chicago links (plus 13 NEW links!) and info. (Watch for updates soon! :-) ) Arista graphic converted from BMP to GIF so it will work in Netscape.

January 3, 1999
---------------
Workbench: Revised ASX pointer and page code.

January 2, 1999
---------------
1) Minor revisions on all pages to correct a potential problem for IE/NS v3.xx or earlier users regarding the mouseover JavaScripts.
2) The Crescendo! MIDI plug-in control is now "hard-wired" into the page code. If you do not currently have Crescendo! installed, you will be automatically taken there to get it. :-)
3) Music: Regrouping is under way! Part 1 involved setting up three sections and moving the links to the sections.
4) META tags added to all page headers, gonna get a Yahoo! listing soon!
5) Updated the RealAudio voice clip and the ASF test clip.
6) Main Page: Re-wrote the text a bit.
7) Workbench: Added the bio to the drop-down list.
8) Revised the Cool Site Tools list.

December 31, 1998
-----------------
HAPPY 1999!
Main Page: Removed Christmas MIDI page links, and added 2 New Year's MIDIs.

December 20, 1998
-----------------
Main Page: Added 2 special Christmas MIDI page links, and rotated a Christmas MIDI into place.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

December 18, 1998
-----------------
Migrated all pages to EarthLink server!

December 13, 1998
-----------------
1) The alt/TITLE mouse-over fix was applied to all pages; dates updated accordingly.
2) Except for the AC Intro page, all widths set to 100% for best use of layout by the browser.
3) Main page: Guest book buttons now aligned with the other buttons.
4) Music: Musicvideos.gif graphic re-edited for better display.
5) Minor updates to some of the pages were incorporated during the editing in #1 above.

December 12, 1998
-----------------
The server-side CGI counter script now works! Scroll down to the bottom of the main page and have a look!

December 10, 1998
-----------------
Main page: Resampled my picture and fixed the alt/TITLE mouse-over text in the image map.

Decmeber 6, 1998
----------------
1) OOPS! Left the AT&T PWP link off the main page; Fixed! RealPlayer G2 info updated too.
2) Disclaimer: Fixed title and one typo, and revised some text.
3) Music: Arista Records home page link added.

November 29, 1998
-----------------
1) Navigation Maps now featured on all pages! Dates updated accordingly.
2) Tools: Map This! v1.30 added. This program is a quick and easy way to generate coordinates HTML code for image maps. (You still have to create the image! :-) )
3) NEW PAGES: Disclaimer and About your Webmaster.

November 17, 1998
-----------------
New counter CGI server-side script is not working, so the previous counter was restored.

November 14, 1998
-----------------
Trying out a new counter format on the Main Page!

November 11, 1998
-----------------
HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!
1) One new entry added to Tools list.
2) Music: MIDI file rotation.
3) Workbench: Trying out a drop-down list for page navigation.

November 9, 1998
----------------
Created a private page. (Sorry, only my close personal friends will get access!)

October 25, 1998
----------------
1) Computing: Download IrFanView 32 link added.
2) Tools list revised.
3) More Cool Links: Garfield Online link added.
4) Far more Fancy Colours added to the Active Channel button images. :-)

October 23, 1998
----------------
1) Minor code cleanup and date updates on all pages. All pages now have cool mouseover effects on the title banners. (Run your mouse over the title above to take a look!) All pages now include direct e-mail and "Back to Top" links, too. (except IE 4 Intro)
2) Music: MusicVideos.com added. Check out the Cardigans pre-"Lovefool" video links ("Carnival") in ASF from that site! :-)
3) More Cool Links: Westwood One, Rand McNally, and Spokane.net links added.
4) Updated the Active Channel button images.
5) Added Workbench to the CDF.
6) Now using node names within this file. For pages other than the main page, clicking the updates link now takes you directly to the date the changes were made. :-)

October 21, 1998
----------------
Music: E-mail link added, and updated animated Chicago album cover GIF and alt text; now includes the new Chicago 25 (Christmas album)!

October 18, 1998
----------------
1) Minor code cleanup and e-mail link added to Computing.
2) More Cool Links: TV Guide home page and e-mail link added.

October 15, 1998
----------------
1) All pages now have a link to this updates page.
2) Music: VH1 graphic added to VH1 link and MCA Records home page added.
3) News/Weather/Sports: Links added for Bloomberg and Fox Sports. alt mouseover attributes added to all off-site links.
4) Computing: Link added for C-Net.
5) More Cool Links: Links added for The Discovery Channel and Toyota.

October 13, 1998
----------------
John Mellencamp and Columbia Records pages added to Music.

October 10, 1998
----------------
1) Capitol Records home page added to Music.
2) WinZip home page added to Computing.

October 6, 1998
---------------
1) Revised the main page, and moved the tools list into a new page.
2) Testing STYLE attributes on this page.

October 4, 1998
---------------
1) NASA home page added to More Cool Links.
2) Main page formatting tweaked with FrontPage Express 2.0, and now works properly with Netscape! Recommend NS users set variable font to Verdana-11 point, and enable document-specified and dynamic fonts for best viewing results. (It's the third radio button in the "Appearance--Fonts" section in the "Edit--Preferences" menu in NS.)
3) Workbench: The embedded ASF file now works properly with both IE 4 and NS! IE 4 users of WMP may get the requester to install WMP again. Install again and reboot. All will be well when you run the page again. :-)

October 3, 1998
---------------
1) Added new Workbench and updates pages.
2) Minor code cleanup and date updates on all sub-pages.
3) Updated my RealAudio clip. Now using Creative Wave Studio v3.19 to generate the base WAV file for RealEncoder v5.1 to convert.
4) Workbench: First featured test: ASF/ASX files for NetShow/Windows Media Player.
5) ESPN SportsZone and CBS SportsLine links added to News, Weather, & Sports.

September 21, 1998
------------------
1) Primary Construction completed!
2) Web technologies employed since inception:
- Embedded auto-play MIDI sounds for both IE and NS.
- RealAudio streaming voice clip.
- Multiple-entry Channel Definition File (CDF).
- JavaScript onMouseover (IE4 AC intro page).
- Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and JavaScript clock routines.
- Logos with attached hyperlinks and alt (mouse-over) text.

March-September 1998
--------------------
Creation of the sub-pages, moving links to the sub-pages, testing MIDI embedding, and adding CDF support for IE 4 users with Active Desktop. Thanks to everyone who tested the features and gave me feedback!

March 21, 1998
--------------
I saw someone's personal web page, and was inspired to create my own! Thus was my web page conceived, using the AT&T PWP Quick Template.

Back to Top