#446: SLOW DOWN! (An announcement)

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GETTING MORE TALE #446: SLOW DOWN!

Since March 2012, LeBrain has been bringing you the rock on a daily basis.

I’ve been writing about music for a long time.  Over the years, I accumulated an immense catalogue of music reviews.  I saved them up, and gradually expanded and polished them up for publishing here at mikeladano.com.  On top of that, I also had an incredible stock of Record Store Tales to post.  Some of these had been gathering dust for well over a decade.  Including new content I’ve stirred into the mix, it took over three years to burn through all the old reviews and stories.  I am now dry.  I had a few movie reviews left in the hopper, but these are abandoned now, because this is (mostly) about the rock.

It’s much easier for me to revise and expand an old review, than it is to write a new one.  It’s actually an enjoyable process for me to revisit and fix up an old writing.  You’d be hard-pressed to tell an old polished up review from a brand-new one unless I pointed it out.  The huge amount of stuff that I had built up to publish enabled me to post content every day.  In fact, in my old “theme song” video I boasted that mikeladano.com was “updated daily!”

I can no longer keep going at that pace.  It’s just not possible; not if I want to maintain a level of quality.  Listening to music takes time, articulating thoughts into words takes more time, and adding the photos, videos and anecdotes takes even more time.  I love writing about music and sharing my music collection with you.  I can’t deny that this hobby is hard work, albeit a labour of love.

So, without any shame, I am now announcing that the pace of new content here is slowing down.  I don’t plan on using a schedule, but you can count on new reviews and stories here about one every other day.  I hope you continue to read and enjoy.  This will hopefully enable me to spend more time posting and responding to comments.

Music is an important part of my life, and yours too, I’ll wager, or you wouldn’t be reading this.  Coming home from work every day and sitting down to review music because I “have to”, to keep up the pace, isn’t what I wanted to do.  I don’t want to work on reviews because I “have to” maintain an inhuman pace.  You might not have noticed but I feel the more recent reviews I’ve written have been rushed.  I think the quality may have suffered in favour of quantity.

No longer.  You can count on the same brand of music reviews, the same kind of stories, and the odd “WTF” here and there…just not on a daily basis.  I’m taking tomorrow off!

Shit.  I guess this means I need a new theme song video.

See??  The work never ends!

76 comments

  1. Right on Mike. I totally get it. You have to do what feels right. With the amount of work, care, detail and knowledge that you put into these posts (unlike other people’s posts I could name koffkoff ME koffkoff, pardon me, something in my throat) it’s only natural that you’d need to slow down. Especially if it’s new content every day. Being able to use the carcasses of old reviews from other sites might make it a bit easier, but it’d still be all new work to update them. As soon as the fun goes out of it, stepping back a bit is the best idea.

    I’m glad it’s not a full-on hiatus. Because full-on hiatuses are for chumps! I know! I tried it! hahaha (all deference to those currently on hiatus).

    Whatever you post, and whenever you post it, we’ll all be reading. Rock on, dude!

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    1. I was going to work “Hiatuses are for chumps” in this post but that’s your thing! Hahaha.

      This feels right. I’m working on a pretty major series right now, and if I were to stick to posting one a day, I’d have to start this series tomorrow. It’s not nearly ready to start posting tomorrow. When I did that Van Halen series, I spend a few weeks on it. That to me is my high water benchmark for quality. I don’t want to rush this next series. The band deserve better than that. That was essentially my deciding factor in doing this now. I did not want to rush this next series out tomorrow, just so I have something to post tomorrow. Fuck that!

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  2. Also, this is a timely post and message for me, as I have tasked myself with a nigh-on impossible task for this Sunday’s Service. You talk about slowing down when it becomes work more than fun, and here I am, piling it on! Because I’m crazy! Gah!

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  3. Cheers Mike.

    Was wondering how the heck ya kept up the pace with all the usual daily work, activities and family needs. Enjoy the rest! And what better way to announce a slowing down but with HALFORD!?

    Brilliant! ;)

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    1. Wardy, I wanted to use Ozzy’s song Slow Down! But Sharon must really protect their copyrights, because there isn’t one copy of Slow Down by Ozzy on youtube. NOT ONE!

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      1. Hmmm… Some classic 80’s Ozzy may well have trumped the bald one too on this occasion and just checked also and you’re right, not one audio stream of that Ozzy with Jake E Lee song…

        Regardless, think you chose wisely under the circumstances \m/

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  5. Jeez, Mike, some of us struggle with a WEEKLY post. Congratulations and max respect for lasting this long on the dailies.
    Although I’m a ‘sometimes’ reader (the heavy end of the spectrum being a less-than-central part of my listening), I’ll watch out for new stuff as it appears.

    Enjoy your day(s) off, when you’ll no doubt be thinking about music, spinning CDs, visiting record stores, reading other blogs, planning posts…

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    1. Thanks man, I appreciate every comment you make, even as a “sometimes” reader. That makes them more special to me! I’m definitely going to enjoy some time off. I suspect that it may impact my reviewing style, in a good way.

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    1. Thanks buddy, you were on board early here and you had a LOT to do with shaping the content ever since you showed your face around! I definitely don’t want to post every Mon Weds Fri like you do, because that’s your thing! Mine will be random…maybe next week will be Mon Tues Friday…or Tues Thurs…who knows? I have absolutely NOTHING planned right now, except a post on Friday, some MEAT/Can-Con for you.

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      1. Actually I was just gonna have two this week (Tuesday and Friday) but I was able to get a third one done..that may even be my new schedule at twice a week…….

        Kinda Wierd not having my early am Ladano read this morning with my first Java of the day! Ha…..

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  7. Hey, no one blames you for slowing down! I look forward to your future posts! It’s hard producing quality content every day, and somehow you have done it for this long! Keep on rocking, and writing at a more manageable pace!

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  8. I’m astonished you kept the daily pace going – and I never noticed a quality drop, what a run!
    And although I’ll miss a daily read, I think you’re wise to make sure you keep enjoying it and keep blogging out of fun, rather than obligation.
    I’ll add Simon & Garfunkel’s “slow down, you’re movin’ too fast” feelin’ groovy to the relevant musical quotes for this post.
    Enjoy some well earned breaks, I think you’ve banked a couple vacation days!

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    1. I have several vacation days banked! I think I may also pop in every once in a while with a “filler” post. Like, “Hey, in case you missed them, here are links to my Aerosmith series, enjoy!”

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  9. Dude. I hear you loud and clear. There’s no shame in slowing down. I’m enjoying not having to worry about writing posts all the time and listening to music with a view to writing about it. It’s giving me time to work on other long delayed projects and read other bloggers’ great work.

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    1. I feel like I’ve probably missed a lot of good reading. Now I can catch up!

      Thanks for the support! It was fun listening to music today without thinking about writing about it. But you know what that spurred? Many thoughts I want to commit to paper!

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  10. I tip my hat to you, sir – during my time following I’ve been impressed that you’ve kept posting each day. As others have said, no harm in slowing down – especially if it allows you to enjoy listening and writing a bit more. Not to mention enjoying non-blog stuffs!

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  11. I totally appreciate and support your decision, Mike. I have always enjoyed your posts and am/was always amazed at the frequency and high-quality level of the content. Believe me, my iPad is littered with bookmarks of blogs that haven’t been updated in weeks/months/years!!! Thanks again for bringing the goods so often!

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    1. Thanks for the support! I hope the quality level will be the same or better. A loosey-goosey schedule is going to give me plenty of time to work on the quality aspect. I hope you dig the next forthcoming series. A power trio who never got their due.

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  12. Always follow your METAL heart, Mike! I am a huge admirer of your writing and look forward to your future postings. However, I do get the feeling that you are really going on a Bigfoot expedition in The Great White North… just remember to not tease Bigfoot with any Slim Jims. \m/\m/

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        3. He sure did and if there are things in the wilderness that even he can’t explain? Then I trust him on that!

          Personally I think Bigfoot is real, and out there somewhere, and I hope I’m right and live to see him discovered.

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  13. You deserve a little bit of a break. You work so hard at your blog but you mustn’t make it a chore rather than something you enjoy. I am amazed that you were able to produce so many reviews and stories. It’s time to slow down and enjoy watching the Blue Jays. You might only have to watch one more game. I hope not…..

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    1. Joe, I appreciate it. Not to point out the flaws, but I was disappointed in recent weeks that I wasn’t able to raise the bar a little bit on the photographic aspect. Of course you set a high mark for that already, but I like visuals too, and I haven’t had the time to do them.

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  15. Hey Mike, I’ve been reading your reviews etc only recently but am thoroughly enjoying them. I hope you continue writing , even if its only every other day. Much respect to you brother.

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    1. Hey thanks much for the comment! A new review coming tomorrow. But this is buying me much needed time to finish off what I hope will be a killer review series on one of the most under appreciated bands in the world!

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  17. I sometimes click the following button when reading on my cell phone and I accidently unfollow. I had to check this morning, but sure enough no new post. It is off to your back catalogue for me.
    I hope you don’t mind comments on posts from years ago.

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  19. Well it appears as if you’ve more or less got back to that position of daily posting now. I think you only miss one day a week. I suppose the Sunday Chuckles helped with this

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