It’s been thirty days since I started developing estreetshuffle.com, and twenty days since it went live; that seems like a good time to step back for a moment and say:
Thank you for checking out my blog. Extra thanks if you’re a repeat visitor, and extra extra thanks if you subscribe and/or comment. It makes me happy to know you’re there!
I’m still getting the hang of WordPress but starting to feel comfortable. If you’re a more experienced blogger than I am (meaning you’ve been at it for more than 20 days), tips, suggestions, critiques are all very welcome.
I also thought I’d answer a few questions that I’ve received via e-mail, the feedback form, DMs, or my somewhat bemused friends:
Do I really roll dice to figure out what song to write about next? No, I don’t think they make dice with hundreds of sides. But I do keep it random by using Google’s random number generator. I like the surprise of not knowing what song is coming next, and it forces me to re-listen and really think about each song before writing. The only “Roll of the Dice” post that I cheated on was the first one–I wanted to start with a song that was meaningful to me. From there on out, it’s random.
Can I keep up the steady pace of content? I think so. Getting a head start helped, and writing at least 80% of the week’s posts in the wee hours of the preceding weekend has helped me stay ahead of the calendar. As I write this, I’m still six days ahead of schedule, so fingers crossed for staying there.
Why so many covers? Because there are so many covers. Seriously, it was an effort cataloging the hundreds of songs that Bruce has penned or performed (I still have almost 1,400 in my list, so I don’t think I’ll run out of material any time soon). I can’t even begin to wrap my head around how many covers of Bruce’s songs there are by other artists–the list is crazy long. It’s also a fun way to keep content coming while I’m thinking about the longer analysis pieces, and I enjoy seeing how other artists interpret Bruce’s music. I hope you’re enjoying them, too. If you have favorites or obscure ones, please send them my way.
What happens with the Kingdom of Days posts after a year? I’ll revisit. Those posts started mostly as a way for me to organize all the random video and audio clips I’d collected over the years and share anything that appears not to be in layperson’s circulation (i.e. Youtube). So far, almost everything I’ve linked to was already available, which I greatly appreciate. But I’ve created a youtube channel for the clips that I can’t find elsewhere–and those clips start with Saturday’s post. You can subscribe to the channel if you want to see the clips as soon as they’re posted (generally about a week before the blog posts catch up). If you’re a long time “uber” collector, I don’t think you’ll discover anything new. But if you’re a moderate to ardent fan, you might dig the stuff I upload. Either way, let me know. Oh yeah, and the revisit: I don’t want to overstuff these posts, so in year two my plan is to freshen them up with new media.
Any plans to broaden the scope? Nope. Other than launching a new series tomorrow (concert reviews of shows I attended, called “Where the Band Was“), I’m satisfied with the focus of this blog. There are so many great Springsteen-focused blogs out there, each with their own unique lens, so I want to keep this one personal and true to its name: an unpredictable journey through Bruce’s catalog, cameos, and influencees, one song at a time.
Thanks again for reading, and for all of the retweets, likes, and especially the comments (those are my favorite!). Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
Ken@estreetshuffle.com
