It’s been a hot minute since I last posted the monthly numbers around here. The ego of it started to get to me. Shrug. But with the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, I wanted to take a second and mark the occasion of the year passing and most especially to say thanks to everyone who made the ridiculous figure above a possibility. In 2012, The Obelisk had a whopping 2,117, 104 page views. It’s the kind of number that makes me want to say “golly” in the high-pitched voice of some scamp from a ’50s sitcom.

That rounds out to over 176,000 page views per month, and that’s about where we’ve been (December was right around 166k). Not bad for some rinkydink one-man operation, and I’m even more stoked that things like the forum have managed to stay consistent and that The Obelisk Radio  has been getting a solid response. I genuinely had no idea what it would turn into when I started this site, but even up to the fact that just under 300 people took part in the 2012 Readers Poll, I’ve been consistently amazed and humbled by the response and support.

So this is the part where I announce I’m quitting and moving to the Riviera, right? Nah. Fact is I’m hooked into this thing now and I don’t think I could stop if I wanted to. My biggest complaint with the site these days (aside from the fact that the sidebar is too close to the main posts) is that I don’t have enough time to do all the things I want to with it. Man’s gotta work. I hold down two jobs in addition to this, and do the best I can with the time I’ve got. If you sent me a CD and I didn’t get to review it, I’m sorry. If you emailed me and I sucked at getting back, I’m sorry. I’m trying and it’s a work in progress.

Let’s run down some numbers real quick:

The unfuckingbelievable 2.1 million page views came from an astonishing 185 countries around the world. The US accounted for just under half of the total traffic to the site, with the next five countries being the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia and France, in that order. In America, the top five states were California, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Texas, with New Jersey and Oregon close behind, and NYC, L.A., Portland, Seattle and Chicago were the top cities. Makes me want to get out to the Pacific Northwest even more than I did already.

On the forum, there are currently 1,175 registered users, and 78,929 posts in 5,939 topics. Wild times continue to ensue. Meanwhile, The Obelisk Radio now has more than 15,000 songs in its playlist, doubling the original amount contained on the K666 drive when I got it. I’m going to keep pushing that and updating as much as I can, and hopefully expand it over the course of this year and beyond, ideally with things like weighted playlists (i.e. more Kyuss) and maybe even a live show once a week or something like that. In the meantime, thanks for checking out the stream if you have and if you haven’t had the chance yet, no time like the present.

While we’re here, some other business:

The Maple Forum: Please don’t forget that Clamfight‘s I vs. the Glacier is coming out Jan. 22. I’ve got the boys at work on a track-by-track for the album and hope to have that posted by the time presales go out next week. Stay tuned for much more as we get on release time, and if you’re in town, they’re playing their release show this Friday in Philly with Kings Destroy, Thee Nosebleeds and Wizard Eye. More info on that here.

Features: Much to come here too. I’d still like to do a Top 10 EPs/Demos list for 2012 if I can get a chance in the next week or so, and the annual Top 5 I Didn’t Hear is imminent as well. Interview wise, I owe emailer questions to Pleasure and Wight, among others, so I’ll get on that hopefully this weekend, and I’ve got that Arthur Seay Q&A in the can waiting to be transcribed. Sometime in the next couple weeks, expect a Looking Forward To 2013 list — I’ve started compiling it and it’s getting near the 20 mark. Lots of lists, but it’s that season.

Reviews: Well, I don’t want to forecast a whole year ahead, but there’s some great stuff coming up in both the near and far. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my review of the Clutch show in Allentown the other night, and then I’m headed out to see the three opening acts from that gig — Mondo Generator, Saviours and Wino — at the St. Vitus bar in Brooklyn, so I guess there’s no real slowdown in shows. Hell, Neurosis and Graveyard are rolling through. It’s a great time to be alive.

Radio: I’m pleased with the reaction it’s gotten so far. I know I’m about a decade behind on the whole internet radio thing, but I hope you’ll take a listen if you can and hope you get to hear something you might not otherwise. Ain’t no Weltraumstaunen on Pandora, last I heard. I’ve got another 50 records ready to go up tomorrow and I’ll keep up with the Add of the Week too. Check the update page for the latest.

Columns: Much love to Tommy Southard and Tim Catz for their work on “Drinking with the Devil (Dick)” and “70 RPMs,” but I think it might be time to find a couple new columnists. I understand dudes get busy, and it ain’t like I’m paying. So yeah, look for a couple new columns to come this year, maybe on these topics, but certainly on others as well. I’ve been back and forth with Ron from Ice Dragon about starting a horror-worship column and hopefully that will come to fruition, and Andy Clamfight‘s an archeologist when he’s not destroying his drums, so it might be fascinating to hear about that too. It’ll come together over time. I’m not looking to force anything, but if you have any suggestions or comments, I’d love to hear them.

Canon of Heavy: Expect more to come with this as well. So help me gawd. It’s too cool an idea to waste.

Alright y’all, I think we should be just about caught up. Huge megathanks again to everyone who joined in on the fun this year one way or another, and to everyone who will be along in the next 12 months, I hope you get some use out of it. Killer.

Wishing you the best in 2013 and beyond,
JJ Koczan
Humpty Phrumpty Taskmaster

Tags: doom metal, self-aggrandizing, stoner rock, The Numbers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2013 at 6:55 pm and is filed under The Numbers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.