Welcome to the history of this website. This will be no literary masterpiece, just a quick reflection by me (Eric Cockrell) on my contribution to the Smoking Popes legacy. So please keep in mind I'm not great writer, just a pretty decent web designer.

It was announced in 1998 that the Smoking Popes had broken up. This was a sad occasion for many of their followers and for Chicago music in general. I remember I was on the train when I read the article in the Chicago Tribune "Smoking Popes, Number One Cup split up". This put me in a mood that day that anyone there will still remember, but enough about that.

The next year I spent some time digging up what every member was doing, finding not much info out there. A couple fan sites existed that offered as much info as available, but I'd wanted more info. After much researching I opened the website Star Struck as a tribute to the band in March of 2000. Here's a quick look at the evolution of Star Struck.

March 2000 - December 31, 2000	January 1, 2001 - May 2001

After the site took off I made contact with Mike Felumlee, who loved the site and sent me stuff to help the site along. I was also contacted by Mark Ruggiero from Eli's band the Men's Group that year and created their official website for the short time they existed.

In 2001 Mike and I decided to register Smokingpopes.net and make it official. Here's some of the evolution of the official site.

June 2001 - January 2002	January 2002 - January 2, 2003
January 2003 - January 31, 2004

It was in 2002 at Duvall's first show that I met Josh, who I'd corresponded via mail before and spoken to once by phone, and Eli who was not part of the band yet, but was a special guest I met again. Within a month I was creating the official Duvall website along with Julie of alkalinetrio.com. She eventually was too busy and dropped off the project leaving me complete control.

The website was simplified and neglected after Duvall got a little busier, cause I in turn got busier. It sat stagnant until February 1st 2004 when it finally became the megasite it was always intended to be.

I hope this wasn't too too boring, but now ya know. It's been a fun four years, let's hope the best years are still ahead.

Thanks for standing by me and us, I hope we'll always be here for you.
Eric
http://www.smokingpopes.net webmaster