Yeah, we’ve been on a lengthy hiatus here at Shambollocks!. An outbreak of paranormal experiences which would fluster the firm of Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler bombarded us since our last post. My computer breathed its last breath. A friendly neighbor took my bicycle, on which I put in a good day’s work fixing, off the back porch. Locusts swarmed over this cold, gray land by the lake. I fell into some Bootsy Collins kind of deep funk.

I left you. I apologize. I do.

I can’t promise it won’t happen again. But I will tell you that I will do my damnedest to prevent it.

Today we reboot the site with what will be the first in a series of new features- The Evanston Everyman. Yes, every day you can find the very best in local online news gathered from within a tiny newsroom/ apartment a mere five or six blocks from Chicago. Will it always center on the town of Evanston? Probably not. It will most likely end up as a cranky collection of stray thought and rants. But it won’t be boring.

Today in Evanston, well, why should I lie- it was miserable here today. You expect me to get out of a funk with this kind of weather? How come Scully and Mulder never investigated the perennial mystery of where Chicago’s springs go? If you like sodden ground and potholes with puddle camouflage than today was the day for you. If you’re like me, you kept inside and reveled in digital minutiae. Today, it was how to load the mp3 player. As with most things Windows related, the process was far from intuitive. I handled it, though. Tomorrow, I handle the rest of this messy world.

- Today marked the ten year anniversary of the massacre at Columbine HS. Dozens of protestors laid down in front of the Capitol steps to remind those in power of the students killed by the two sick kids. Elsewhere in America, hundreds of people picked up their guns. What a country!

- I should share with you what machine rolls out Shambollocks! each day. The new machine is a Gateway DX4720-03, with a Acer X193W LCD Monitor. We got a great deal on both from Newegg, plus a half-price refurbished 4G Sandisc Fuze. There’s my plug for the day. Maybe I could have cut a better deal? Hmm…

For those about to rock, we salute you!

The Shambollocks! February Mix

1) Come Saturday- The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

2) Politicians In My Eyes- Death

3) Into The Public Bath- Cattle Decapitation

4) Punks In The Beerlight- Silver Jews

5) My Brain Is Working Overtime- Rivers Cuomo

6) Butterfly Kisses- The Depreciation Guild

7) Pump It Up (Live)- Elvis Costello and the Attractions

8 ) Nobunny Loves You- Nobunny

9) My Maudlin Career- Camera Obscura

10) Danger Bird- Neil Young & Crazy Horse

11) Pine On- Obits

12) So Human- Lady Sovereign

13) Most Likely You Go Your Way (Live)- Bob Dylan

14) Cradle- The Joy Formidable

15) Optimist Vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Come Marching In)- Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

Numbers for the month after the jump.

Now for the stats. We continue to improve our numbers. In January, we averaged 136 users a day. In February, we averaged 166 users a day. That is an 18 % jump! Overall for February we drew 346 more users in a month which was four days shorter. This is great news! The not-so-great news is in our returning users’ #s and usage #s. The site is not drawing as many repeated views, and each user is using the site less and spending less time. I have a few ideas on how those numbers dipped, and will work to reverse them.

As usual, we want to thank all of our regular readers. We hope you get through this last sloppy winter mix, and we’ll see you in an early spring!

Sincerely,

Michael Brett

Shambollocks! Publisher/ Intern

The Shambollocks! January Mix

We here at Shambollocks! want you to get the most out of your music experience. If you haven’t kept up with the music we posted this month, here’s a handy .zip file with a selection of 15 of the best tracks featured here at the site. So crank up the hi-fi, make yourself a hot beverage, and enjoy what we humbly believe is the best mix of music you’ll find anywhere on the web.

1) Loose- The Stooges

2) Destroy What Destroys You- Kreator

3) Warm In The Shadows- Music Go Music

4) Heaven- Lake

5) Fractions- Decoder Ring

6) Cold Sweat (Live)- My Morning Jacket

7) Reasons To Quit- Phosphorescent

8 ) Fear- Benjy Ferree

9) Pen To The Paper- Parlovr

10) Never Had Nobody- M Ward

11) Mathematics- Mos Def

12) Kiss My Name- Antony & the Johnsons

13) Barbarism Begins At Home (Live)- The Smiths

14) Heartbeat- Nneka

15) Inget Kan Andra Pa Det- Veronica Maggio

We also want to take time right now to tell you about how we’re doing here at the site. Our growth has been fantastic! We started this site December 15th, and through the end of that month we were averaging 46 users a day with an impressive 5.21 visits over those two weeks for each user. In January we crushed those numbers. With one day to go we’ve averaged 136 users a day while maintaining our average visits per user at the same 5.21. On Thursday, we broke the 200 visitors/day mark. For January so far, we’ve had 809 users visit the site.

What all of this means is that we owe all of you a huge “Thank you!” There is no way we could do any of this without you. Please continue to let us know what we could do to make your time spent here as enjoyable as possible.

Sincerely,

Michael Brett

Shambollocks! Publisher/ Intern