Thank You

Steve Harris - Iron Maiden (c) Ray Van Horn, Jr.

Well, chums, I'm afraid it's come to that point where I must wind down The Metal Minute.

I've had to step aside once before, but I've reached an impasse where my familial obligations and new avenues of opportunity have forced me into this decision. I'm not trying to pull a Brett Favre here, folks. I simply lack the personal time as a working man, father and husband and I find myself with continued pressure to find compensating work in order to protect my family and nurture my growth as a writer.

I have multiple projects in progress and a couple of decent leads to hopefully push me forward in what I love doing. At the same time, I must continue to hunt for extra income in order to scratch out a living. Those who've read me a long time know the past few years have presented more challenge than reward and this year is no exception. Sorry, but the starving artist method doesn't work for me. The bills need paid and my son is growing so quickly as kids do. I have to be his father on top of a writer and therein lies the rub. I love music and I've cherished the opportunity to be a rock journalist all these years, but I love my family more and they must come first. Thus The Metal Minute must take an indefinite nap.

The site will remain live, of course, but as mentioned last week, I do have a new blog I would like to coax you over to, The Crash Pad of Ray Van Horn, Jr. Simply click here:
The Crash Pad of Ray Van Horn, Jr.

The Crash Pad of Ray Van Horn, Jr. will be updated regularly. In fact, there's plenty of material there for you to gnaw on right now, so please visit and bookmark the site as you have so generously with this one. I will gladly trade links with you. The tone of the new blog will be less regimented but I'll still talk about film, music, books and life. Its primary purpose will serve as a homebase for all of my writing projects and announcements, plus whatever's lurking inside my twisted cranium. As support for the site grows, I could foresee throwing up archive excerpts of a few old interviews I've done and perhaps new ones. For instance, I have chats with Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke, Laura Pleasants of Kylesa and Viveca Hawkins and Thomas Pridgen of The Memorials that I've had stashed, two for Retaliate #2 before said venture was derailed.

I will remain connected to the entertainment industry. If anything, I've only just begun to grow with it. I welcome any proposed assignments, gigs, collaborations and grant opportunities. Please contact me using the email address noted here at the site and pitch away! Or simply let me know what you folks are up to and bounce on over to The Crash Pad.

As always, I thank each and every one of you for making this site a success. All of the bands, labels, video distributors and publicists have kept me fired up when coffee doesn't necessarily cut it in the mornings. Thanks to Devin Walsh, Alex Gilbert and those donating their writing talents to give me a break now and then when I needed one. Special thanks to Sheila Eggenberger for more than a year's worth of off-site camaraderie. Her social network cheerleading of this site was mega. Thanks to my regular commentators and playlist playmates. The Negative Nancies and potshot artists were thankfully kept to a minimum here at The Metal Minute, always a good thing when you're building your rep. I'm honored to have all of you in my stable of friends. To the thundering tune of Black Tusk and Chthonic this morning, I'm with you always.

I'll see you when I see you.

Visit me at: The Crash Pad of Ray Van Horn, Jr.