September 1st, 2014 marked the 16th year of Rough Edge Online. What was begat as a weekly music column in the Ventura County Reporter -- back when the classic film The Big Lebowski was just hitting theatres -- is now the website and virtual empire you see online today.

Things have changed here since 1998 ... a lot. We've gone from posting reviews a few times a week to posting three reviews a day to posting one review a day to posting whenever we get the opportunity. Now, we're back to posting reviews a few times a week and we're working on doing better. Our radio production and podcasts (see next panel) continue to grow in popularity and in quality. And our news section is still one of the best thanks mostly to News Editor Jeff Rogers.

Because we can't go a single year without (somewhat boastfully) posting it, once again, here is the history of Rough Edge: Rough Edge (the newspaper column) was born in 1989, and begat RoughEdge.com (the online webzine), which begat Rough Edge Radio (internet radio show) which begat Rough Edge Studios (internet radio/podcast recording studios) which begat Rough Edge FM in 2014. In addition to our vast and continually growing collection of hard rock, heavy metal and punk rock CD reviews, we produce several Internet radio shows as well, including Rough Edge Radio which airs each Tuesday at 5PM Pacific Time. There's also the showbiz news show, The Backseat Mogul Show and the wacky and raunchy Friday Shot Day Show. Recently, we started the arts & entertainment news show, Listen Up, Ventura and the new podcast starring actor/writer/director Markus Redmond, Life According to Markus. All of these shows can be heard live each week on our new internet station, RoughEdgeFM.com and are also available via podcast. For more information, just click on the highlighted links above.

As I do every year, I'd like to again thank everyone involved with Rough Edge for their continued support and hard work. Thanks to our East Coast Editor Christopher J. Kelter; Senior Staff Writer Steve "Snidermann" Snider and, again, the energetic Jeff Rogers, who continues to remind me every day that writers write. Thanks also to Spudbeast, who still doesn't write as much as we'd like but who often points us in the right direction music-wise.

As I mentioned in the previous panel, it's Rough Edge's 16th year online and that means Rough Edge Radio's tenth anniversary. Rough Edge Radio is a hard rock/heavy metal/punk rock Internet radio show that broadcasts live each Tuesday night at 5:00 PM Pacific time on RoughEdgeFM.com. Please join us each week at www.roughedgeradio.com as we explore new and undiscovered music from the genres you love. And, please check out our other Rough Edge Studio Productions: The Backseat Mogul Show (Saturdays, 9am), The Friday Shot Day Show (Fridays, 3pm), Listen Up, Ventura (Thursdays 4:30pm) and Life According to Markus (Fridays, 1pm). All times Pacific.

And, if you don't have time to listen live, take us along with you! Rough Edge now offers podcasts of its radio shows, all available via free download at their various podcast links. For more information on all of our shows, please visit http://www.roughedgeradio.net.

And, finally, again, I'd like to thank all of you for continuing to drop by. We truly appreciate your taking a moment and reading our opinions. We'd probably still write them anyway, simply for the love of doing it, but it's so much more rewarding when you know somebody's reading and appreciating your work. There's nothing better than getting an e-mail from a reader, whether they agree or disagree with a review. We love the suggestions, the comments and the fury when we diss your favorite band. As always, should you have any questions, suggestions or just want to tell us to go to hell, please don't hesitate to drop me a line at rsb@roughedge.com.

Thanks again and keep it Rough!

Sincerely,
R. Scott Bolton
Editor