Another Reason to Love LaurenProctor32.blogspot.com

Before I formally begin with today's update I want to thank my readers. I checked my Google Analytics page today to track visitors to this site and I'm delighted. I've always been happy to find that the average person, regardless of how they find this blog, spends more than two minutes on this site every time they pull it up in their browser. That could mean one of two things. Either you're opening up my site and getting distracted by external sources or you're actually reading these posts. I hope for the latter. I've been excited to see slow growth of readership but lately you readers have multiplied rapidly. Thank you. I appreciate your visits. And now would be the time to ask for donations to keep this blog going and me in graduate school (just kidding).

Because of the jump in readership I've been inspired to make this blog even better. I've contemplated a complete layout makeover but for now I think I'm satisfied with the functional simplicity of what we have now. Instead I've got a special treat for music obsessives.

I've decided to add a sidebar on the right side of this page that includes calendar updates for upcoming album releases. Such updates might not be relevant to the normal person, but for years I've searched relentlessly for a comprehensive list of upcoming album releases to no avail. I have yet to find anything respectable so I've decided to track upcoming releases myself. If they don't provided it then make it happen yourself, eh?

I'll admit right off the bat that my list isn't respectable yet. The free calendar system I'm using only allows a certain number of daily updates and I've reached the maximum updates many, many times. In the age of web 2.0 I'm sure there's a fast way to create a calendar like this (so if you're a coder and want to help me create something that would do this I would pay you somehow) but as of now every single update on this release calendar is manual. When I receive information from PR I try to add the album release dates to the calendar, so for now we'll just call it a mini release calendar. But it's a work in progress and I create it anyway for editorial storyboards on my music magazine. For now it's just a sidebar for a music enthusiast who is interested in who is releasing a new album. If one of you likes it that's enough for me.

Below you'll find a sample of the actual calendar I keep. Feel free to add it to your RSS newsfeeds, check the URL yourself, or just follow along on the blog's sidebar. Hopefully someone will enjoy this thoroughly:




In honor of a February 5th release I've just added to the calendar, I'd like to feature Lightspeed Champion This slightly eccentric yet accessible musician (and ex-Test Icicle) plays unique low key tracks with a strange and easy sound. Lightspeed Champion's sound gets sweeter and richer with every listen, so give him a chance. Some of my favorite tracks include, "Dry Lips" and "Devil Tricks."

And as always, you can also give him a listen on Youtube below: