Mandolin Cafe Blog

Last month the Mandolin Cafe marked 14 years on the web, and the fun is just starting! Here are a few things on tap for 2010:

We're estimating the launch of the next generation of message board software from our current provider some time in late January. This is a total rewrite of the software with existing and new and improved features. To date the software is receiving rave reviews in beta form, and some web site owners are already using it. We prefer to let others work out some of the kinks before going live. Look for a lot of new user enhancements, added features, and an interesting content management system that we're really looking forward to getting our hands on. A lot of people don't like change that comes with software upgrades, but the goal is to retain this information for posterity, and the web is rapidly changing all the time. Keeping the technology up-to-date is a critical part of the game.

Our series of artist interviews with questions from our message board members will continue. With the well received John Reischman and Paul Glasse interviews already in the can, we have Mike Compton, Mike Marshall and Doyle Lawson already preparing for their interviews, and some very exciting names right behind them yet to be announced.

In addition, we're already at work on another series of separate interviews with some people you may not be as familiar with that play interesting and/or important roles behind the scenes in the mandolin community. Some will be familiar, some will be new to you. These interviews will be put together by the Cafe staff or some hand-picked folks working in cooperation with us. If you read our interview with Jeff Dearinger recently, that will give you an idea of the format behind the interview.

We're also in the midst of a massive overhaul and update of our builder database with more accurate records, more Eye Candy, and most importantly, a permanent process in place where the entire database of 900+ entries is reviewed on an annual basis. We anticipate the work on that to be finished mid-to late January.

If you haven't guessed by now, we will be significantly increasing the number of hours dedicated to this site in 2010.

Got an idea for this site you'd like to see? We always have our own list, but we're not for sharing those ideas just yet... But we're always interested in your opinion.