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2:00 pm Friday 12/21 Ron Paul - Greetings from the Conway Cafe in Conway, NH. Ron Paul spoke here about 3 hours ago. I met him, shook his hand, that was cool. I took video (of course) and pix from a digital camera - see here for 30 or so pics from the event. I hear that Marshall Deasy (Stress Free Studios, Quagmire Swim Team) will be coming up here to New Hampshire, as well as other Central PA Ron Paul supporters. I expect to see him at a victory party on the night of January 8th in either Concord or Manchester, if not before. RP supports - c'mon up. Christmas - Have a Merry Christmas! 2:00 am Monday 12/17 Ron Paul - From press release "Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign had a record fundraising day yesterday. In a 24-hour period on December 16, the campaign raised $6.026 million dollars, surpassing the one-day record of $5.7 million held by John Kerry. During the day, over 58,000 people contributed to Dr. Paul’s campaign, including 24,940 first-time donors. Over 118,000 Americans have donated to the campaign in the fourth quarter. The $6 million one-day total means the campaign has raised over $18 million this quarter, far exceeding its goal of $12 million. "We have the right message: freedom, peace and prosperity," said Ron Paul 2008 campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "We also have the right candidate: Dr. Ron Paul." Good Stuff. Back in 2004, they said that Howard Dean did a great job of using the internet to raise money. He raised $15 mil in the 4th quarter. Ron Paul has raised $18 mil in the 4th quarter so far. Although he's the fundraising frontrunner, the MSM claims he's a longshot because the bankers/bilderbergers don't like him. Maybe this big fundraising victory'll turn em around. The Underwater - After spending Saturday night rocking the Dragonfly Club for the successful Ron Paul Bash (along with Poker Face, Holis, Quagmire and more), The Underwater jetted off to Los Angeles to shoot their new video for "Render". Directed by big-time Hollywood film director Dave Rodriguez, the video will be filmed today, Monday, December 17, and if you're in the LA area after lunchtime, contact The Underwater and they might be able to use you as an extra. Record label news might be coming soon. The Depot - I'll be booking some shows occasionally at The Depot (formerly Murph's Other Bar) in York, PA. If you're interested in playing there, send me an email or hit me up on myspace. Priscilla Ahn - A while back (July 2003) I was geeking about Priscilla Ahn, a singer/songwriter from Reading that Paul Autry tipped me off about. I went out to a small bar out Reading way to see her, and tape her. She moved out to LA a while back and when I was trying to rope in extras for The Underwater video shoot I noticed that she was signed to legendary jazz label Blue Note. Way to go Priscilla. From the Blue Note website: The pop-folk upstart Priscilla Ahn has begun the mixing stage for her debut album this week in Los Angeles. Ahn has a sound that's both radiant and sublime. As of late, she’s made a name for herself on the "Hotel Café" scene in LA and prior sang backup with notable artists, Amos Lee and Josh Radin. Possessing a truly angelic voice, her music is both intimate and sprawling, with crisp finger-picking acoustic guitar accompaniment and lush vocal harmonies which she replicates live, in real time, by sampling and looping herself. Priscilla's record is being produced by drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, The Bird And The Bee, R.E.M) and features label-mates Inara George & Greg Kurstin on select tracks among others including Jesse Harris who also contributed a wonderful new song. Halestorm - Halestorm is out in LA working on the debut full length CD for Atlantic Records - expected 2nd Quarter 2008. They're playing a bunch of dates in CA including tonight at Key Club opening for Metal Skool. 10:00 pm Tuesday 11/27 Ron Paul - Ron Paul Bash - Where: Dragonfly Nite Club - When: Dec 15, 9pm - Ages: 21 and up - Cost: $10.00 (tickets) - The Bands: The Underwater, Holis, Poker Face, Colossal Oz, Artists Over Industry, Red 18, A Utopian Skyline, 7th Layer, + more - All Star Jam w/ members from: IVET, Hierosonic, Quagmire Swim Team + more! - Win $500.00: Save your ticket for a chance to win $500.00. Darcie Miner - Darcie on TV - Darcie will be the musical guest on the 10! show. This is an NBC station out of Philadelphia. The show run from 11:00 AM till noon. The live broadcast is on Thursday 11/29/07. She will perform one song during the show and also play another to be taped for a best of show that will air later in December. Leila Broussard - Lelia signs! - "I have signed a deal with Rondor/Universal Music Group for a publishing deal. A publishing deal is not a record deal but its really important for me as a songwriter in that my songs will get exposure to all the music editors who use music in television and film and other media forms. So that is exciting for me and it also means that I now have a "job" as a songwriter. Which is really why I am moving to LA, as I will not only be writing more songs for myself, but for other artists as well, in fact, I've already written songs that I don't feel are for me, but are more suited to another artist. So the publishing company helps me with that kind of stuff." That's a lot of PA females out in LA right now. The Drama Club - Kings of A&R is continuing to geek out over The Drama Club. A big bunch of words on Nov 26, on top of the many paragraphs on Oct 26. NYC show, Don Hills, Nov 29, several labels will be attending. Shea Quinn - Get well soon. 4:30 pm Friday 11/16 Ron Paul - A good couple of weeks for Ron Paul. November 5 - a large online fundraising drive brings in $4.3 million, breaking a bunch of records - biggest one-day online, biggest Republican day this cycle. Currently, RP is at $8.2 mil for the quarter - halfway through. The goal for the quarter is $12 mil. He'll hit that almost certainly at this point. The real big day online fundraising wise is going to be December 16, another big day timed to coincide with the aniversary of the Boston Tea Party. The goal is $10 mil and I think theres a good chance that goal is hit. Here's the countdown. November 8 - RP wails on Bernanke, pointing out the inflation he's causing by printing so much money. Also, RP introduces the American people to the idea of legal alternative currencies on national tv. November 9 - The FBI is issued a seizure warrant against the largest alternative currency (Liberty Dollar). November 10 - Big RP Rally in Philadelphia. Media estimates between 5k and 6k in attendance. I believe that's the biggest rally for a Republican this cycle. It was a good time. Marshall Deasy, Paul Topete, Ray Zeiters, Brandon Deroche in attendence. November 14 - The FBI steals million of dollars of alternative currency in gold, silver and copper from Liberty Dollar, including 2 tons of copper dollars with RP's face on em. The Fed is not happy. From all this, you can get a feel for what the next year is gonna be like. 10:15 am Monday 11/5 Politics - Ron Paul - Big Fundraising day for Ron Paul today. There's a grassroots unofficial fundraising effort today November 5. As of right now last updated: 11/05/07 10:11 AM EST total raised today: $1,123,912 current values (online + offline) total at start of day: $3,115,107 total at last update: $4,239,019 Check this out, and watch the totals go up today, November 5, it refreshes about every minute - you can also donate if you want. The Ron Paul rally this Saturday in Philly at Independence Mall at 1pm is gonna be big. Book Club - I was asked by Book Club (next show Philly, Nov 24, at The Fire) to mention them as often as I do The Underwater. I told them that would be impossible. 2:00 pm Thursday 11/1 The Underwater - Buffalo tonight, NYC tomorrow, York Saturday. Stuff about managers - Some of our local favs have gotten big time managers recently. The Drama Club have apparently affiliated with Rob Dippold (General Manager of Trustkill) as Manager, as per Kings of A&R. That is somewhat personally interesting to me, as I was at Gullifty's last Thursday, The Drama Club, City Sleeps (Trustkill), A Utopian Skyline and Torn From Red played. Rob Dippold was there, presumably (I thought) to see City Sleeps. The next day, theres a long article about The Drama Club in Kings of A&R, with a link to RobertDippold@aol.com as manager - "Not only that The Drama Club teamed up with a manager as was just added to ‘POWER ROTATION’ on AOL Radio “New Rock First” station." So, I'm thinking that The Drama Club hooked up with Dippold right there at Gullifty's and Dippold goes right to Kings of A&R for great press. I don't know that for a fact, but it makes sense. (Ok, I was apparently wrong about that. Although it made sense, apparently Rob Dippold has been managing The Drama Club for over a year now. I think I like the story better my way). Jealousy Curve who I was geeking about after great shows last month at Gullifty's and Dewey is apparently now being managed by Union Entertainment Group, Inc. They manage Nickelback among others. Now, I don't know how long they've been managed by Union. I think I recall that back in the day they were managed by the same guy that managed Voodoo Blue. Either way, it does appear that they've been managed by Union for at least a while and that's notable, so even if it's old news, it's notable. And more on managing. I got what appears to be at least somewhat personal email from Pat's Management Company saying "Hi Verona Grove is doing shows in Pennsylvania in November with The Last Goodnight. It would be great if you could check out any of shows or do an interview with the guys for PA Rocks. Here are the shows. Thanks. Nov 13 Lancaster, PA at The Chameleon Club Nov 14 Pittsburgh, PA at The Diesel Nov 15 Philadelphia, PA at World Café Live" Now, I don't think that I've ever done an interview exactly, and I rarely leave the house, but I certainly do want to give praise to Pat's Management Company for doing stuff that a manager would do or that a manager would have someone do. It makes me think "Oh, one of the things a manager (or staff) does is send emails to music websites asking for press." A show I saw having nothing to do with The Underwater - So, last Friday, I was a judge at a Battle of the Bands at Valencia Ballroom in York. Valencia Ballroom is a legendary venue from way back in the day, Frank Sinatra played there. It's pretty much unmodified from those days. It's huge, a great place to have a show. The show was great. Kingsfoil played, but didn't participate in the Battle part (they almost certainly would have won) Real good band, drew 200-300 themselves. It was their CD release party. All the bands in the battle were good. Second Self won the battle, good jam band, good musicianship. I gave them good marks, but I personally was most impressed by Dana Alexandra (I've seen her before, good songs and fantastic singer - there must be something in the water around here, lots of quality female singers from South Central PA) and Book Club. I'd say I'm most geeked about Book Club, because I was familiar with Dana. Book Club plays indie pop/rock. Groovy dance with Trombone and Glockenspiel. If you can get geeked about Black Kids and Jay Reatard (CMJ buzz bands), perhaps you can get geeked about Book Club. Indie that sounds anything like Book Club is pretty rare around York and Harrisburg so they do get extra credit for being familiar with music that appears on the CMJ charts. Listen to Dana and Book Club above in that youtube embed thing. 9:00 am Wednesday 10/24 Upcoming - Wed Oct 24 - good stuff at indie @ the abbey (ABC Brew) - Warm in the Wake, from Georgia. If you have On demand on Comcast, you can check them out on concert.tv. They sound like Wilco, and Philly's Grandfabric. Do listen to their 4 songs on the myspace. Thu Oct 25 - City Sleeps (Trustkill), A Utopian Skyline, The Drama Club, Torn From Red at Gullifty's. Let's see, I wrote this for the Gullifty's website, might as well just cut and paste. "City Sleeps - "From Atlanta, new CD "Not An Angel" just out October 9, 2007 on Trustkill Records. They aren't Hardcore though, but Alternative Rock. 1st single "Prototype" is getting airplay. Hopefully "Not An Angel" (presumably the 2nd single) gets a solid radio push, even to Top 40, that's a fantastic song, better IMHO than Prototype. Bros with The Underwater, they've toured with them a lot. Jeff (ex bassist of The Underwater) was in City Sleeps before The Underwater. Adriel will make a great Producer." Jim Lott - PA Rocks" Fri Oct 26 - Battle of the Bands at Valencia Ballroom in York. Valencia Ballroom is a legendary venue from way back in the day. Glenn Miller fired his band there NYE in 1937. Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and a whole bunch of famous big band types played there. Valencia Ballroom is available for rent to those who want to put on rock shows. I took a look around the venue after some event took place and asked a few questions. Quite a cool set up they got there. They have a liquor licence, yet it's an all age venue. In comparison to a venue like the Chameleon Club, the all ages and the 21+ don't have to be separated, due to the nature of the liquor licence they have. Which is ideal. They'll supposedly be using a wristband system. Also, smoking or non-smoking, at the discretion of the person doing the show. Huge room there, nice big stage, and the rental of the venue can be surprisingly affordable. Good good stuff. Looking forward to this battle of the bands, which is being done by Radio Cure Productions. Lots of good bands playing - Dana Alexandra, Kingsfoil, the Swinging Fingers, Book Club, Second Self, Ralph Real, The Backroad, The Breadbox Band. Sat Nov 3 - The Underwater @ The Depot. The Depot used to be called Murph's Other Bar. Before that, The Depot. It transferred ownership sometime this year, and for a month or 2, they stopped having shows. I thought that the new ownership stopped having the shows (see below). Apparently, the old ownership stopped having the shows. Either way, after a couple of months, they started having shows again at The Depot/Murph's. They had Hexbelt a couple of weeks ago, Rosematter and Chuggernaut before and on Oct 31. The Underwater upcoming, Until We Rise upcoming, The April Skies upcoming. This could turn out to be a good one. Sat Nov 10 (day) - Ron Paul LIVE! at The Independence Mall in Philly. 5,000 to 10,000 are predicted to attend. I plan to go. Sat Nov 10 (night) - Rose Hill Drive at The Abbey. Besides touring with The Who, being named one of Rolling Stone's 10 artists to watch, quite notable about Rose Hill Drive is the fact that they're on Megaforce Records. Hooray for Megaforce Records, a label that many consider (equivalent to, similar to, related to) the Biggest Label Ever. Sat Nov 24 - Anthrophobia's farewell show at The Silo in Reading. Anthrophobia is going out with quite a bang. Apparently, every lineup of Anthrophobia will play. Everyone who has ever been in Anthrophobia with Frank, all the way back to Frank's High School days. They're playing a super long set. And, tons of opening bands, all of whom will be playing Anthrophobia covers. Review Let's see. Gullifty's on S28 was good. Dewey on S29 was real good. There certainly were a lot of people there. The Underwater had maybe 300 watching them. Jealousy Curve kicked ass. The Crash Motive and Ten Spoke Indies and Darcie Miner were all good. We were there in Dewey maybe 8 hours total. Saw a bunch of people I haven't seen in quite a while. Ed Pennypacker, Stenger I hadn't seen in years. O12 at Big Eam's Sports Bar in Dallas, PA was real good. I really like that place. It used to be Desi's. It doesn't have a stage, but it's painted black behind the stage area, which counts for a lot. The really good thing about it is that there's a balcony. Most similar to 8x10, but also similar to The Chameleon. Having that balcony there really makes the lack of a stage not a factor. The lights are good and the sound is good. The venue overall reminded me a little of Fiddlestyx. The ownership has a great attitude. Definitely a good venue. The Drama Club was the headliner that night, they did a great job, they seem to play Big Eam's fairly frequently. O13 good enough, but bands that aren't Christian bands, who don't typically play churches, should not expect their fan base, built in bars, to follow them to a church on a Sat night. Bands in those circumstances shouldn't expect big turnouts. It's fine to play a show there, but don't expect your Gullifty's fan base to come. People over 21, who typically go to bars on a Sat night do not want to go to a church instead. You can ask them to, and some may, and have a near miserable time, especially if they get there too early. I wasn't even gonna go (the outcome was entirely predictable) but I heard Werner upstairs, and we got there less than a half hour before The Underwater's set. Play the show, sure, perhaps you have a large fan base of 14 year olds, or a fan base at that particular church. Those 2 groups should be encouraged to go. S26, O4, O18 acoustic / open mic shows at Gullifty's are typically pretty good. A lot depends on whether or not they have the $4 pitchers of Pabst in stock. In theory, they should always have the Pabst. $4 pitchers all the time is how it works. In practice, the last 2 times I was there on Thursday they either didn't have it, or ran out during the night. I should call beforehand. I mean, $4 and $8.50 are different prices. Apart from The Underwater acoustic, there's been good stuff on Thursdays. Machina (ex Evanescence), World in White, e.joseph all did well. Hopefully Thursdays at Gullifty's can stay good. Oh, and the new tv's they have at Gullifty's are fantastic. Flat screens all over the place. One big, quality flatscreen right over the bar that everyone sitting at the bar can see. Good stuff, mostly relevant for football, but good. Politics - Ron Paul vs. the Rothschilds Ron Paul has been doing well - raising $ (he had the 3rd most $ on hand at the end of the 3rd quarter (5.4 mil) of all the Republican nominees) winning straw polls, internet polls, text messaging polls. Moving up in the so-called scientific polls (the Rasmussen poll, apparently, gives choices of Giuliani, Thompson, McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Other). He just raised over $400k in 3 days. Big Rally at the Independence Mall in Philly on Saturday November 10 in the afternoon. Things are going well. His ideas do seem to be opposed, however, by almost every other candidate, as well as the media. Why is this, why might this be? His political posititions are basically not very different from traditional Republican values. Conservativism, tradition, limited federal government at home and abroad. Who can be against that? Communists can. I don't really have the energy and motivation at this moment to do a lot of typing, or, honestly, to try to make too much sense. I'll just give you one random fact. 1) The Rothschilds gave both George Soros and Bruce Kovner their start. They're the main financial source of the main financial or ideolgical sources of both the Democratic (Soros) and Republican (Kovner) parties. Both the Republicans and Democrats are likely, we can guess, to be doing the bidding of the Rothschilds. What do the Rothschilds want? I'll leave that unanswered, except to say that Ron Paul stands against it. Links Wikipedia - Rothschild family Wikipedia - George Soros ("George Soros has purchased the Democratic Party.") Wikipedia - Bruce Kovner ("Kovner is also the Chairman of the American Enterprise Institute, the premiere American neoconservative think tank") NY Observer 01/09/00 ("Mr. Kovner ... helps run a $13.8 billion proprietary fund of Lord Jacob Rothschild") Financial Times 07/05/94 ("With backing from the Rothschild family, Kovner launched Caxton ... in 1983.") New York Magazine 08/08/05 ("Bruce Kovner - George Soros's Right-Wing Twin") Time Magazine 05/04/87 ("In 1969 Soros started the fund that became Quantum with only $250,000. Members of the Rothschild family and other rich Europeans soon kicked in an additional $6 million. Since then the fund has grown mostly through reinvested profits.") Business Week 03/10/97 ("The Rothschilds' Hedge Fund Guru") 5:00 am Saturday 9/29 Jealousy Curve is crazy amazing fantastic incredible. Holy fucking shit. Ron Paul. Ok. I'm a bit of a fanboy there. I want less government, not more. About half the people who can vote pretty much vote every 4 years for the president. A bunch of people who love government run for president and tell people in what ways they're gonna give them more government. Those people then choose which person is gonna give them more government. The other half of the people don't vote. They don't want more government. They want less government. Much less government. Maybe no government. States are fine, they can do the government. Make sure you're printing the money yourself, ok? F the "Federal Reserve Note" it's time to get back to "United States Notes", backed by gold. It's in the constitution, ok? It would be cool if when a plane hits the World Trade Center we have enough government to make sure that another plane doesn't hit the World Trade Center like 30 odd minutes later. That's not that expensive. Really minimal government. A military that's like faster acting than every stinking TV Network in the US. Not asking a lot. Half the people do not vote. They think the government is the enemy. Not a friend. They want less, not more. They want to stay away from all that stinky stinky government. They do, lots and lots and lots of people stay as far away from voting as they can. 1/4 of the people vote for Democrats, 1/4 of the people vote for Republicans, 1/2 of the people want less government and stay away from voting. This time around it might be differnt. Ron Paul is pretty clear on a lot of issues. I'm pretty sure that he's gonna fight for less government. I'm pretty sure that people are starting to catch on already. Again, like, half the people don't vote. They don't want to choose between one guy who wants to shove a 7 inch butt plug up your ass and the other guy who wants to shove a 5 inch spiked butt plug up your ass. The anti buttplug people don't get counted in polls. They don't have a habit of voting for the sodomites, so they can be assumed not to start to vote. Point being - one quarter of the people vote for dems one quarter vote for reps, one half don't vote, but if they hear about him, they'll love Ron Paul. He could win, but the Rothschilds would kill him (see, Lincoln, Kennedy, etc.). That little fact keeps me from busting my ass for Ron Paul. I might drag my ass up to New Hampshire right before the primary though. 11:30 pm Sunday 9/2 Still in Maine right now, The Underwater is probably playing right about now in Omaha, next in Minnesota. I have a lot more speakers and receivers now than when I left York. Some are likely going back to York at some point. Nice vintage stuff. Some small Scott S5s that I like, Corals, and old Pioneer solid states SX-424, old Sherwood S-7200, paid like $35 for 5 pairs of speakers, 5 receivers. Halestorm will be appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday, September 7. That's Good Stuff. Apparently it's some type of funny taped segment having something to do with the VMA's and it was taped at an apartment where Halestorm is staying, and apparently a part of Halestorm's video will be shown. Good Stuff. 2 shows at Gullifty's worth close attention. 9/15 has 5 bands, all playing the Dewey Beach Fest - The Sketches from DC, The States from NYC, OFM from Baltimore, Fat City Reprise from Philly, and Grandview from Harrisburg. Most of the bands will be new to you, and they're all good. 9/28 is The Underwater homecoming show. They left for tour in July, and this is their 1st show back. Also appearing are Jealousy Curve, On A Sun, and The Kung Fu Girls. All 4 bands are playing at The Rusty Rudder for Dewey Beach Fest on Saturday 9/29. The Underwater you know, Jealousy Curve, from Philly, you do as well, they play here a lot, On A Sun is a good band from Milwaukee, they played with The Underwater last year at York College. But, I am really geeking out about The Kung Fu Girls. Here's what I just wrote to kingsofar.com. Kings of A&R contacted me about The Underwater about a year, year and a half ago, when Drake was the manager. **************************** I have a band that you might want to take note of. (BTW, The Underwater is touring now, currently in Omaha, will be in Minneapolis, Chicago, etc. It's a 2 month tour, they hit The Viper Room in LA, toured Texas and surrounding areas with The Feds, Upside, and before that, the southeast. They have a record "Forces" ready to go, seeking a label. It has 3 songs produced by David Bendeth, more by Warren Riker. Mastered by Ted Jensen.) Anyway, the band you might want to notice is called The Kung Fu Girls. They're from Long Island. Fronted by 2 sisters, Mia Koo and Ava Koo. Mia is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, Ava is the lead guitarist, backing vocals. Mia is 17, Ava is 18. http://myspace.com/thekungfugirls Mia sings on the Plain White T's album. Co-wrote the new Plain White T's single "Our Time Now" Here's a quote from Tom Higgenson. "Yeah, Mia Koo is a genius. She's going to go on to write a lot of great songs, I'm sure." http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/260-08092007-1390488.html They sound a bit like Kelly Clarkson, Avril, Paramore. You should check em out. ***************************** I can't stress enough, check out The Kung Fu Girls. Hit songs! They're playing Gullifty's 9/28, 9/29 and will likely make further appearances at Gullifty's and in the area. Gullifty's has other, hot, buy your tix in advance, shows. Jerry Joseph on September 14, The Clarks on October 5. 11:30 pm Thursday 8/16 I'm in Maine right now, The Underwater is probably playing right about now in Arizona, tomorrow at The Viper Room in LA. Julia Othmer (she lives in LA now, I booked her into Gullifty's before, may again if possible) has TV on her resume now, with her song "pull me back" appearing on the TV show "Army Wives". I'm happy to hear that. She's a talent. 3:00 pm Wednesday 8/8 Scratch your name into the fabric of this world before you go. That's Noisettes. My new favorite band. Seriously. Check it out. Also, check out Gullifty's this Saturday 8/11. 3 female fronted bands that haven't played at Gullifty's before. Rosematter (12 mid, Lobster Records - Yellowcards label, from York), Pora!Pora! (11p, from NYC, press in the house for this I hear) Tormenting Gray (10p, from Carlisle, getting gigs at Crocodlie Rock, excellent attitudes). I booked this one. I still book a show here and there at Gullifty's, but I don't like to put the name on shows, I prefer the idea of the shows and the bands standing on their own merits. The band does good, the band gets the credit and comes back through the standard procedure. The Underwater is in Texas today, touring. Next show back here will be at Gullifty's on September 28, and they're playing Dewey the next day. That same day, Sept 29, Hierosonic's Ohio people are doing Verus Music Festival at the Chameleon. 30 bands. 30 is a lot of bands. Starting Sept 12, Harrisburg is gonna get a full 1/7th better, with Indie @ the Abbey. Every Wednesday, at ABC Brew, good indie bands from out of town are playing. So, Wednesday in Harrisburg will go from basically nothing to see, to something to see every Wednesday night. Check out the bands they got coming in, the myspace is up to date. Good stuff. Hopefully it works, enough people show up, etc. 7 days in a week, Wednesday is 1 day, so 1/7 better. It'd be cool if there was something good in Harrisburg 7 days a week. Eh. But starting Sept 12, and as long as they keep putting pure quality bands in there, Wednesday is definitely covered. Other good new(ish) stuff in Harrisburg has to include Small's / MVT. CCUP seems to be bringing a coherent booking strategy (retro / hard / punk / "real rock") to both those venues and seems to be putting their top bands in a good, tight rotation. If you fit within the retro / hard / punk / "real rock" category, and you're local (even if you're not) try to get a show there, because it definitely appears that if you do reasonably well, and you're a stylistic fit, you can get a show every 2 months at both venues, which comes to a show a month. I live in York now, which, um, isn't faring quite as well as Harrisburg. For years, Murph's was the top spot in York, and Murph's was sold. No more Murph's. The Waterway is picking up some of the slack. Good prices on pitchers of beer and of mixed drinks $5 always. Cool Bartender / DJs (friends of Jesse's). The band room is small, which can be good or bad. The location is good. Roughly comparable to ABC - a few blocks from the center of town. It's mostly promising at this point. It appears that there's a decent clique of regulars upstairs, the right kind, that would support quality live original music. There's no powerhouse competition, which makes it easier. The top young York bands are playing at The Waterway - The Underwater / Rosematter / Pariah Piranha / etc., or, put differently, that's where those bands play in York (at least in the 21+ context). One definitely positive thing that I will mention, which is good, and rare for this area is that they have hardcore there, and it's a 21+ venue. Casket Architects this Saturday August 11. 4:00 am Wednesday 7/18 Man, I'm loving InnerPartySystem. Lauren is leading some sort of Electro thing in Boston, I mentioned it before, she got press apparently in the print version of URB Magazine. Sweet. I like parts of Techno/Electro whatever, and Lauren does do a fantasic job of finding great examplars of the Electro thing, but, I will say that the hot new Electro thing that Lauren is leading is often, in the case of InnerPartySystem, improved by the great vocal melodies and whatnot. InnerPartySystem, which has Jared ex D'arey October, is on Stolen Transmission Records which I think is an Island sub, if I read all those web things right, and the whole bloody signing video on the islanddefjam server. Oh, The Underwater is twice as good as the best parts of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin put together. Don't forget to tell your friends. 5:30 am Saturday 6/30 Things that are going well: Lauren K. is kicking ass. She's booking shows in Boston now. At Axis. (Axis is quite a good venue). Tonight (6/30) she's doing her first live band show, Motor (from Europe). If I'm giving away awards, I'd give her "most likely to succeed." She's not without her faults, but, um, that's my first round draft choice right there. I'm not easily impressed, and I will admit that I've really liked her for a real long time, but, cmon, she's really doing well up there. Rock, Hardcore, Indie, and now, after way less than a year of seeming interest, she's in charge (with her crew) of techno/goth/industrial/electro/dance in Boston. Pretty impressive. What's next? I can imagine at any time hearing from her that she's gonna be touring nationally as a singer/songwriter. Signed. nd playing World Cafe. Or anything else. Huge. First round draft pick. More a Durant than an Oden though, probably, there are many who think that Durant is the next Michael Jordan. 4:30 am Sunday 6/17 Tara was at the show Sat Night (Pariah Piranha). Tara is great, has always been great. Her band is signed now to an indie label. I think I might be helping PP with internet/video/etc stuff. I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a while since I saw Tara. I'm looking forward to seeing her, working with her again. She might be the singularly most talented musical individual in the Harrisburg/York area. You can go back down to publishers notes 2003 or something at the bottom, or not. But, yeah, I'm looking forward to working with Tara again. Let's give the label the content they want. DVD, etc. 4:00 am Sunday 6/17 I'm gonna give Farewell Flight an award. Most Underrated. They're great. They tour. A lot. They don't get much love around here. But they are good. Hey, when you're on tour all the time, you can't be at home, partying, making friends, etc. Maybe that's it. But listen to em. Listen to Indianapolis. 3:30 am Sunday 6/17 I just saw Madison Falls solid, to very good, to great band. They've been together like 3 months. Emoish but with 80s awesome guitar. They did good, drew 100 themselves. This was at an Underwater show (natch) about 100-200 for The Underwater. What struck me the most was when I was talking to their merch person and their manager. Apparently The Memory does like 300-400 at The Chameleon, and I was talking to Madison Falls about the Sadaharu show that Madison Falls is playing on. I said something like "yeah, the Sadaharu CD Release party show is gonna be great, like 300-400" and they were like, no, dude, you just don't know, much much more than that. Like 600-700. Now, I've seen Sadaharu, and I will admit they are great, and there's footage of me giving them a beer and them being happy about how fast I was, but 700? But, for some reason, I can believe it. It sounds right. Sadaharu does definitely kick ass, you all know that already. But, Madison Falls is a pretty kick ass band themselves. Go see The Underwater at Snitch Friday June 22. 8:00 pm Friday 6/15 Here's something from Melanie. 5th Annual Freedom Fest – Outdoor Music Festival, in the Street! Wednesday, July 4th 2007 @ The Marion Courtroom. Music, Food, and Beverages on Marion St. as well as in and around the Marion Courtroom! Marion Court Room in Lancaster, Pennsylvania is once again proud to present Freedom Fest 2007. This years edition of the annual celebration will pack a walloping mix of 12 bands, hosted on Two Stages into one fun filled day of outdoor live music, food, and fun! MARION COURTROOM IS LOCATED AT: 7 MARION COURT, LANCASTER, PA 17602 - 717.399.1970 Visit us on the web at http://www.myspace.com/freedomfestpa The 2007 edition of music festival - an incredible way to spend a rockin 4th of July!!!! - anchored by headlining act - The John Ginty Band John Ginty Band - Hammond B3 organist John Ginty has performed and recorded with artists such as CITIZEN COPE, SANTANA, MATHEW SWEET, BOB WEIR & RATDOG, SHERYL CROW, RYAN ADAMS, BAD RELIGION, JEWEL and many others, he was an original member of ROBERT RANDOLPH and the FAMILY BAND, in which John received two Grammy Nominations, as well as a Gospel Music Award for Urban Album of the year, 2003. In that same year, John also appeared on the Blind Boys of Alabama's Grammy Award winner "Higher Ground". His discography spans over a decade, and demonstrates his eclectic influences and unique sounds on keys. In early 2005, John put together his own band, made up of some of the finest musicians from the New Jersey music scene. The band developed a unique sound...Hammond organ driven, improvisational, well-crafted American songwriting laced with Latin rhythms, gospel and southern soul guitar...described as "Outlaw Gospel". In Spring of 2006 the band released its debut double-live album 'Fireside Live' garnering rave reviews from critics and fans alike.! What started as an idea to attract visitors to downtown Lancaster over the July 4th holiday, has turned into a summertime classic for Marion Court Room owners Tom Ponessa and Michael Geesey. "We were really pleased with last years event... We have a fantastic city, an abundance of musical talent in the area and its a great day to come out and celebrate it" says Geesey. Also Scheduled to Perform: Stealing the Return The False Bottoms Stinging Nettles Jack Dillman Band Loretta Bilieux The Mint Here, There, and Everywhere (Beatles Tribute) Negative Space Kheris Darcie Miner Band Slimfit The John Ginty Band The event takes place on: Wednesday, July 4th Starting at 3:00 p.m. and running until midnight. 12 Bands, $7, you can't beat this kind of holiday bargain! THIS IS AN ALL AGES/21+ EVENT!!!!! There. Something new on PARocks.com. 4:00 pm Friday 3/30 Murph's has been sold. It appears that there might not be shows there anymore, or at least not good shows. Murph's has been bringing the reliable quality rock to York for years and years and years. It would be bad for York if they stopped. Bad for York. Boat People are bringing in quality indie rock from out of town tonight (Friday 3/30) - North Elementary + Ponieheart + House Fire + American Bitch. Other shows at Murph's Other Bar include: Mar 31 PARIAH LOUT, PAPER TONGUE,CHUGERNAUT; Apr 6 - SOMETIMES FIVE; Apr 7 - VIA SATELLITE, DARK WATER TRANSIT, ROD TORFULSONS ARMADA; Apr 13 - HEXBELT; Apr 14 - GOD BLESS OUR MOBILE HOME; Apr 20 - ALLMIGHTY SENATORS, RALPH REAL, ARTISTS OVER INDUSTRY; Apr 21 - HORSECOP, PARIAH PIRANHA Apr 27 - BIG IN JAPAN, SECOND SELF, PLASTERED SAINT. I've seen Via Satellite, Dark Water Transit, Hexbelt, God Bless Our Mobile Home, Almighty Senators, Pariah Prianha - they're all worth seeing. I'd want to see the Boat People show, Paper Tongue (ex Function 45, minus Tommy Cooper of Betty's Bones, ex Running From Dharma), Big In Japan (Lake Trout side project). Good stuff, I hope the new owners keep the music at Other Bar pretty much the same. 7:00 pm Wednesday 3/28 I got a new server for webmusicvideo.com, and all the old video which used to work, then didn't, now works again. Tell me if any of these old videos don't work. I'll figure out what's up. Got a bunch of new video coming as well, and a complete redesign of the webmusicvideo site, but the old site will still be available. The new webmusicvideo site will be cool. You should check it out, but not yet, although it's up and running without most of the coolest features. 6gig | All Mighty Senators | Amy Simpson | Andrew McCutcheon & Periphery | Andy Scheinman | Angela Sterling Forest | Anthrophobia | Archer | Atomic Jazz | A Utopian Skyline | Aztek Trip | Baby Fat | Badwrench | Bamboo Igloo | Barby Holder | Bead | Big Dave and the Ultrasonics | Big Neon Glitter | Big Tubba Mista | Blindside | Bloom Box | Blue Grace | Bo Bim | Boil | Bonepony | Bon Fuhrer | Boogiehawg | Brave The Day | Breaking Benjamin | Bubba | Bully | Cara's Mosiac | Charm School Confidential | Cherry Twister | Choda Farm | Cider | The Clarks | Cloud Party | Clove | Clubber | Columbo | The Commercials | Conehead Buddha | Cosmetic | Dan Kibler | Dann Otemiller and Dave SanSoucie | Darcie Miner | D'arey October | Dave Venet | Dead 50's | Dead Leaves | Delusions of Grandeur | Deviation Theory | Dunston Ashe | East Side Dave and the Mountain Folk Band | Eden Park | Efatha | Elliott | Emily's Toybox | Empty Promises | Eureka Bone | Farewell Hope | Feable Weiner | Fist | Full Effect | Function 45 | Funkin' Do Me | Funny Money | Fuzzbubble | Gel | Great Mutant Skywheel | Green Eggs and Spam | Halestorm | Halfast Frank | Half Tempted | Handsome Uncle Johnny | Hexbelt | Hierosonic | Hired Guns | The Howlers | Huffamoose | Idle Ride | Into the Woods | Jah Works | Jeffrey Gaines | Jennifer Marie | The Jellybricks | Jerry Joseph | Jet Silver | Jimmie's Chicken Shack | Jimmy D. & Rosey | Jim Rhoads | Jim Stout | John Faye Power Trip | Johnny Action Figure | Juiced | Julian Fist | Julie Schreiber | Jump The Gun | Junior | Katie Did | Kelly Bell | King Konga | Krypton City Blues Revue | Lake Trout | Landslide | Live Alien Broadcast | Liquid Sex Decay | Lisa Barter | Lotus Blue | Lubin Dollys | Luvkit | Maggi, Pierce and EJ | Martini Bros. | Mary Jo Bramble | Mary Prankster | Meatbee | Mercy River | Middleton Brothers | Mightyhead | Mike Dugan | Mongoloidian Glow | Monovox | Mr. Kahn | Mudcat Jones / Recovery | Munch | Mystic Toad | Mystic Vibes | Natural Distance | Nectar | New Invisible Joy | The Nightmare Scenario | Nowhere Quick | Off the Wagon | Orbit Dog | Organic Voodoo Machine | Orion 321 | Out Of Line | Partial Post | Pat Garrett and Suzy Dalton | Perforated Head | Pill Shovel | Playn Jayn | Poker Face | The Polins | Polyester | Poptart Monkeys | Post Vintage | Psycho Candy | Quentin Jones | Radio Caroline | RANA | Real 2 Real | Rebel Amish Radio | The Regulars / Glenn Hamilton | Riot Act | Ripe | Robby Roadsteamer | Rocket 88 | Rosematter | Running From Dharma | The Rutabagas | Scott Keck Band | Sho 'Nuff | Slo-Mo | Smak 9 | Son of Bubba | Sound Universoul | Soveren | Spellbound | Spinebelt | Star Radio | Stealing Pennies | Steve Reso | The Strangemen | Stone Jug | Stu and Keri Lynn Huggens | Stuk | Styles Murphy | Suffrajett | Switch | Tea | Team Shorty | Tony Perry 3 | Uncle Otter | The Underwater | Underoath | UUU | Velcro Mary | Venus Envi | Voxology | Waste of Time | The Wiseguys | The Witnesses | Wolfpac | Wondercrush | The Wonder Stuff | Woodstew | Wrench | Zach Myers | Zero Gravity 7:00 pm Saturday 3/24 Easy Mickey reunion shows - Before The Martini Bros and Bloom Box, there was Easy Mickey. The reunion shows are April 7 at the Village in Lancaster with the Sharks, April 13 at Gullifty's in Camp Hill with the Lookies, April 21 at Fat Daddy's in York with Until We Rise. I haven't heard of any prior reunion shows, and I don't expect more reunion shows, so this could be it. The Martini Bros can still bring it as well as anyone in town. Recommended. SXSW - Was covered well by Directv on their music channel The 101. They had 4 straight days of SXSW coverage. 8 hours live, with repeats. 24 hour coverage. Pinfield co hosted. Good stuff. I saw the Illinois (from Bucks county) and Black Moth Super Rainbow (from Pittsburgh) shows praised in The New York Times. Also Good Stuff. 7:00 pm Tuesday 3/13 Congratulations to / Check out these bands from PA who are playing SXSW this week. An Albatross, The A-Sides, Asteroid #4, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Black Tie Revue, The Capitol Years, Clockcleaner, The Cynics, Don Caballero, Eastern Conference Champions, Genghis Tron, Girl Talk, Michael Glabicki, Grand Buffet, Illinois, Dawn Kinnard, Langhorne Slim, Midnite Snake, Oddisee, Pattern is Movement, Power Pill Fist, Relay, Rjd2, Shot x Shot, Stinking Lizaveta, The Teeth, Three 4 Tens, V.I.P. (Philly). 8:00 pm Friday 3/9 For those of you in the Boston area, you might want to check out Lauren K's dance night at Shine in Cambridge. The first night is tomorrow 3/10. Read about it in the Boston Herald. The Boston Herald is one of the 2 daily newspapers in Boston. That's pretty big. I'm impressed. She's anticipating a potential sellout. Lauren is a star. Way to go Lauren! 8:00 pm Friday 3/9 The Brechbill benefit at Dragonfly a couple weeks ago was the best show I've seen in Harrisburg in quite some time. It was everything MMC was not (even though many of the bands were the same). The Dead 50s really kicked ass. Stuff bands are doing - A decent number of bands are spending time overseas. Movies With Heroes (Lancaster, CI Records) will be in Europe from April 30 to May 31. Safari So Good (Harrisburg) is doing 5 dates in the UK from March 13 to March 17. Niki Barr (Annapolis, NBE Records) starts a Southeast Asia tour running from March 24 - April 18. Last Tuesday (Harrisburg, Mono vs Stereo Records)is breaking up. Their final show is tomorrow Saturday 10 at Champion Ship. They've always toured super hard, that show tomorrow is the final show of their farewell tour. Farewell Flight (Harrisburg) has got a show in April in Nashville with Family Force 5. Halestorm (York, Atlantic Records)has a couple shows in Austin during SXSW and then to LA to work on their debut album for Atlantic. Rosematter (York, Lobster Records) is recording with Chris Badami in Lincoln Park, New Jersey for a couple weeks. Their self released CD, The Fiscal Year, is now available in stores in Japan. August Burns Red (Lancaster, Solid State Records) is touring solid in the US and Canada from now till May. Sadaharu (Lancaster, CI Records) is finishing up a tour - they're in Indiana tonight, Missouri the next coupla days. The Capitol Years (Philly, Park the Van) are playing tomorrow at Johnny Brenda's in Philly, then touring down to SXSW. Hail Social (Philly) has a new CD coming out March 20 and that night they're doing a taping for WXPN at World Cafe Live. A couple ex-MMC bands from before MMC sucked - The Upwelling (NYC) is touring for a month or so with Third Eye Blind. Jonny Lives (NYC, Eleven Seven Music) just played Conan O'Brien and have a new record out. 3:00 pm Tuesday 2/20 Ok, I'll give a MMC recap as well, based on the 3-4 hours I was there on Saturday night, as well as reading hbgonline and pennlive. Overall, depressing I think. Nearing pointlessness. I mean yes, "it's good to see so and so again" If I was there during the day, the handful of people that weren't at the Saturday Hotel show I would've gotten to see. My semi/former writers Paul Autry and Melanie were there. Jim O of Hbgonline. Angela of The Lab. (Those are the MMC people, although Melanie is kinda an Underwater person now) I always like to talk to Steve Pennington. There were The Underwater 100 or so that go to seemingly every show, and another 100 who don't come to the parties. Of course, music-wise, I saw nothing really new. Harris has to pay bands to play (The Underwater got $1000) directly competing with all the venues, which were either empty, or the bands playing were politely ignored. Why do venues put up with it? I mean, The Dragonfly must be so tired of that they booked local original bands (Betty's Bones was one) I'm guessing just to piss him off. Yes! lets have the same exact big hotel show as we had last year, the year before and the year before that (OK, The Underwater didn't play last year, but they did get paid $1000 this year). It's a big conspiracy to keep me from seeing anything interesting. Why, what's the point? I mean, Hierosonic had a huge show the week before at Dragonfly, and the Brechbill benefit (this coming Saturday 2/24 at Dragonfly) will be a better show than the Hotel Saturday. (The Underwater, Martini Bros, Running From Dharma, Negative Space, Bridges and a Bottle, Moody/Dead 50s) There's love there Bobbywise, not so for JH. So, I'm guessing that the hotel shows, especially Sat, broke even or made money. How about making it a little smaller, less costly. If they have to hold the conference in the hotel, spend less money on sound and lights and stage. Maybe make the stage about half the width x depth or smaller, maybe make the stage more than a foot tall. 100 feet wide, 50 feet deep, one foot high. Brilliant. Inadequate lighting for the size of the stage. Make the rooms smaller. Maybe put good unknown bands in there. If the people in charge of MMC (let's just blame Harris) could actually look at a sonicbids EPK and tell what's good and what isn't, that could work. A couple years back there were good unknown bands on the second stage at the hotel. Coke Dick Motorcycle Awesome and Nakatomi Plaza. Both from way out of town, both never played around here, and both got shows after. Both had a decent but small word of mouth buzz after. I had a pretty big hand in picking bands that year, and those 2 I had a hand in putting in those good spots. Going back further, when Vikki was here, there was always an attempt made (by Vikki mostly) to identify a buzz band, a noteworthy band, maybe a major, and put them at a prime spot on a prime stage. Let's analyze. Last year I think Jonny Lives played, and that was hotel. Good job there. They're on Eleven Seven now (or were, I think they still are) they're pushing Get Steady. Were on a movie soundtrack. They played Dewey a few years back, a saw em at TT's in Cambridge a year or so before that. 2005 had Teddy Geiger, Wakefield, Coke, Nakatomi, Tally Hall, all at hotel. 2005 was the last year I was involved. There were great shows all over the place, shows had themes. You could look at the website, read the description. Here's one: 8. Crimson Frog Coffee House (Acoustic / All Ages) Thursday 6/23 - 1414 / Jim 8:00 Lauren Marshall (Mechanicsburg, PA) 8:45 Erika Bossler (Philadelphia, PA) 9:30 Grant Wilson (Lewistown, PA) 10:15 Sarah King (York, PA) That lineup had Matt H's girlfriend at the time (Lauren Marshall), a girl he dated briefly in HS (SK) Ex D'arey Erika, and Grant, who I booked at Gullifty's. 1414 is where Matt, Dan and Dale lived in West York and Jim is me. And across the parking lot from Crimson Frog is Gullifty's: 15. Gullifty's Underground Thursday 6/23 - 1414 / Jim 9:00 Emberfall (York, PA) 10:00 State Unfair (North Caldwell, NJ) 11:00 Ghost in the System (Harrisburg, PA) 12:00 Barnicle (Boston, MA) 1:00 Lotus Blue (Harrisburg, PA) Emberfall had guys that The UW guys knew from HS, State Unfair had Matt's sisters boyfriend. Ghost had Gabby, friends with The UW, Bran. Barnicle was Lauren K's band. This was gonna be their first show. They didn't show up. I was bumming. The drummer for Barnicle was in Piebald (or something like that) ((( Lauren K. by the way was in town over Christmas. I went out to dinner with her. That was good. I liked that. She's the personal assistant to a doctor/business owner who's quite the star. She's hosting a dance night in Cambridge. Things are going well.))) Lotus Blue you know. Buds and all. Anyway, so, you know, I really did spend a lot of time trying to put together bills that would work, like that. I was largely successful. Bandwise, I'd say that 2005 was the high water mark, but a case can be made for 2004 and 2003. June 2004 had all baby majors on Thursday at the Hotel (Pillar), and was a changing of the mainstage guard of sorts on Saturday, with The Underwater, Running From Dharma, Bridges and a Bottle playing mainstage hotel, as well as The Commercials and The Drive Home (mix and match those 2, get Safari So Good) and Negative Space. So, in 2004, those bands were mostly new to the main stage, and it was pretty rocking that night. Friday had great bands at Dragonfly. The Upwelling (who has gone on to tour in England with All American Rejects) Duenow, Team Rockit among others. Gman downtown Saturday had great stuff on 2 stages that year, all real close to the hotel. That was my booking mostly as I recall. I think 2003 was Vikki's last year. You can really see her influence there. Out of towners and locals really mixed up in the hotel. I had more influence in 04 and 05. My thinking back in 04 and 05 was agree with JH, I'm happy as long as some good stuff got put at good places, and I got to pretty much put together a couple good shows at smaller venues. Just looking at the hotel that year. A total of 4 local bands. Emily's Toybox, The Badlees, Negative Space and Spinebelt. 10 out of town bands. Klear, Mercury, Gargantua Soul, Flynn, Voodoo Blue, Jettison Red, Rotoglow, Evoka, The Witnesses, The Act Those were all good bands, and they did draw. Now, as I recall, Vikki did make a specific effort to try to find buzz bands, contacted their management, or the bands themselves, and asked them to apply/perform. I know that she worked to get The Witnesses, and The Witnesses were definitely a hit. They came back after the conference a time or 2 but stopped. And a great all age show at Whitaker Center Friday Feb 14, 2003 (that was one that I did). Via Satellite, Mad Revere, The Underwater, Thirteen Over Eight, Sceva. Ck this out. Robby Gallagher was the drummer of Mad Revere. Went on to be the drummer of The Underwater for a time. Was in Bo Bim with Tara. Tara is in Pariah Piranha with the girls from Via Satellite. Jamie T was in Thirteen Over Eight, went on to be the bassist for The Underwater for a time. Aaron Miller of Sceva, then The Midnight Drive , now A Utopian Skyline lived with Dan of The Underwater for about a year or so. Now, excepting Mad R and Sceva, these guys really didn't know each other very well. But, sometimes, intentionally placing a band (The Underwater) that you want to introduce to other bands in the area that might be friends does pay dividends. A month or so later, there was a great show at Underdog with 4 of those bands and I bought like 20-30 pitchers of beer and it was great. Last minute, only a small handful of non-band people were there (Dale, Lauren K were), squeezed the owner for cash for all the bands, I think he paid out like $300 with a door of less than $100, I spent over $100, that was my last show there, but look. High water mark overall. High water mark partying. What's the point of the same damn show over and over and over again. Ah, The UW is playing with Bridges again, UW is playing with Hiero again. And I like Hiero, it's not about the bands. The UW will play with Hiero, and does, frequently, when they want a good band that draws good. Can't we see something different for MMC? The only point that I see is that MMC provides an opportunity for JH to get proven drawing bands to play for free. Why do bands put up with it? I mean, there's a theory about Labels, typically BS, but when the sound really sucks (more later) and bands get pissed, if there's a label there, it's a bad thing, not a good thing. Apparently it's rare for industry to actually watch new bands. McGathy was the keynoter on Saturday 2004, The Underwater played mainstage that night. Same place. McGathy did end up managing The Underwater for a while earlier this year, but didn't apparently check out The UW that night. Typically, labels will find you some other way, other than MMC. They will want to see you, and they will fly out to see your show, whereever it may be. They seem to prefer that you set up a showcase in NYC or LA, depending. MMC success stories are more like "these bands are great friends now after meeting at a MMC showcase" and less like, a A&R guy caught a hot band at MMC and signed em. Vikki says Dewey is different. Back to review of past years. 2002 was pretty standard hotelwise, but did have Silvertide 4 days before they were signed. It was also in keeping with the "if JH gets Martinis, Vikki gets Zach" theory. Halestorm played mainstage that year. I liked my Rusty Nail show with Lisa Christ Superstar, Rock City Crimewave. Shannon and Melanie were doing interviews that year. Keynoters Matt Pinfield, Pat Dinizio. High water mark for daytime/tradeshow/keynoter. 2001 had Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads checking out his Garageband showcase at Gullifty's. I interviewed him for a bit there. Catch 22 was at the Old Courtyard. Dog Fashion Disco, UXB, SEV. A lot of energy with the daytime stuff. Anybody remember Unsung Hero? 2000-2002 roughly is when they were really kicking ass during the day. With a bus to Shakey's and all that kinda stuff. Saturday main stage was quality out of towners, 5 out of towners, plus Reso and The Badlees. Back in the beginning, locals really did want to play MMC, they actually filled out the applications and everything. Out of town bands didn't know the conference as much. I liked my official PA Rocks (and PA Musician) show, with Halestorm and D'arey October in 2000. Darciemania was that year (Thursday @ Shakey's w/ The Badlees backing). Only 1 mainstage night, 50/50 locals out of towners. 7th House, Strangers w/ Candy, SEV, Murder 1, Dog Fashion Disco, oh, and Good Charlotte played at GMan Center City. 99 had Godsmack, Anthrophobia, D'arey October, Halestorm, Running From Dharma, The Commercials at the City Island Pavillion. I saw the D/A/G show. That was hot. Godsmack was getting pretty big by then. 98 was, um sophomore um, not so good. Small, growing. Interesting to see who's still around. In 1998, year 2 of MMC, Julian Fist played the hotel small stage, Hexbelt, Martinis, All Mighty Senators, Jet Silver mainstage same night, Negative Space played Shakey's, Voxology played The Wire, Munch and Poker Face played the Rusty Nail, Shorty Porter's Brother Boys (now called The Lookies - Randy's the singer/guitarist, The Rummager's the drummer) played Midtown Tavern, as did Case 150. Emily's Toybox played Kokomos on the West Shore, Eden Park played Vortex, The Jellybricks, Cherry Twister (Parallax Project now, and Steve Ward), The Polins (Peabody, any Fritchey project), Dan Kibler all played Zee's (now Gullifty's) The Commercials and Negative Space were scheduled to play an allages show at the Vault. The first MMC 1997 is mostly slipped down the memory hole on this one. I know Fuel played that year at Wanda's (now Hardware Bar West Shore), and I'm pretty sure 2 Skinnee J's played Zee's / Gullifty's Why mention all the history? One reason might be to correct the perceptions of some that this conference was "good" I read the Hbgonline message board, and at this point, I think I can admit that Jim O has a degree of understanding of the history of MMC. Listen to him, listen to me. Back in the day, it wasn't like this at all. 5 years ago, the trade show floor was kicking. There were hot, worthwhile bands. Watching me get drunk for somewhere between 48-72 hours straight, without sleep, was part of the fun of the conference. Not "unprofessional" but the spirit of rock. Whatever was there 5 years ago seems almost entirely gone. Pam Saunders was there on Saturday night. She, like me, worked MMC the early days and the best years, and has also stopped working MMC. She didn't seem quite as bored as me, but there was definitely a degree of recognition that MMC's better days are gone. She's working Dewey now. Dewey at this point definitely seems to be the better conference, although Dewey Beach is definitely not the closer town. And, honestly, I actually do want MMC to do well. The music conference in my area should be as good as possible. I don't have any personal ties to Dewey Beach the town Other randoms - the soundguy controversy does seem to have replaced the Noel vs Anthony feud. This newer controversy lacks the compelling "bad guy" that the old feud did. The sound did pretty much suck though, in many but not all respects. I think the equipment was fine, if not better than fine. From what I noticed, the smaller stage had a bit of static, or crackling, between songs. That was noticable during The Drama Club. But, it sounded good otherwise. For The Underwater, the bass was too loud in the mix (or, it got too loud sometime during the set). I believe, however, that that wasn't Chris's fault. There was also a screwup involving 2 mics. That could easily be tricky. I can even put that on The Underwater at least a bit. If they're having equipment issues, which apparently they were, apparently serious ones, during Bridges, you might want to keep it as simple as possible. Sure, the soundguy should remember what you tell him, but, eh, why worry about it. So, the sound wasn't great. The lights were worse (at least for video). I just did my video of The Underwater and The Drama Club from MMC. (Running From Dharma and Hierosonic will be later). They had a number of problems with the lights. 1) The mainstage was too big. The lights had trouble covering the entire stage. Band members would walk from light into darkness and back. 2) The lights were too powerful. When theres inadequate stage coverage, it's ok, i can fix it, if i can keep my exposure at 0. I don't use gain. For me, it's 4 steps down. When the guy in the band walks into the light, i get a good picture, accurate. When it's poorly lit, it's poorly lit, but accurate. I don't have to play with levels much to get a good picture. When the lights are so bright that I have to step down quite a bit more than the 4 to 0 to get a good picture on the band guy in the light, the dark areas are really too dark. 3) Stop flicking on an off the lights, that just makes it worse. It's nice to change shit up, but turning up and down the side lights every 5 seconds isn't a good idea. (Watch The Drama Club video for that one - I couldn't even figure out how to try to fix that). I will say that if memory serves, that's what The DC did at Gullifty's last October, so that might be on The DC. 4) The gels weren't transmitting the same amount of light. The purples shoulda been darker or the reds paler. 5) One of the sets of lights on the side went out during Running From Dharma. So, stage not tall enough, too wide, too deep. Lights inadequate. Sound not great. Also, ck this - no smoking inside at all. Long drink lines, limited selection. Yes, laws regulating hotel ballrooms do allow the mixing of U21 and 21+, which is rare in PA. But, is it that necessary to have this particular show a U21 show? It's not easy to have a problem free experience in a hotel ballroom. Real venues sometimes have problems with their equipment, but they, over time, figure out how it works, and typically it does work. Gullifty's is a good example. Gullifty's has some non-ideal conditions. The ceiling is low, which limits the height of the stage, primarily. But, because the back is raised, the people in the back can see the stage easier. They have lights facing the musicians as well. Even though the stage at Gullifty's is short, it's quite a good concert experience, and I've shot some real good videos there. Combine the Gullifty's lights with JD's lights and you really got something. If the Penn Harris Ballroom was a permanent venue, it would likely be quite excellent. Time and care and money could be put into getting it right. Penn Harris has super tall ceilings. They can make the stage the right size. Then, hang lights from the ceiling, face em down at the stage or at the stage from the front. Figure out the quirks involved in making the sound good. Those things take time to get right. But, MMC doesn't have that time. They have to go in there, to a room not designed for music, and try to make it work. No real ability to put lights where they should be. Making sound work perfect is tricky, a lot of issues there, time is needed to debug. The time isn't there. Because of all these problems, and the inability to solve these problems, I'd say scrap the "big show with all the popular local bands at the hotel" entirely. What to replace it? How about splitting that ballroom into 2 or 3 rooms? I know that was doable at Crowne and Hilton, and actually at night when the bands played, the ballroom was one room, and during the day, during the conference, the ballroom was divided into conference rooms. Remember the setup at the Courtyard? There were 2 rooms and the bands played in the 2 rooms simultaneously. One room was bigger and one room was smaller. One NYE at The Courtyard had 3 bands going simultaneously. Get bored with one band, go check out another, while getting drunk. JH knows how that works. 2, or 3 or 4 small rooms might be the answer. 2,3,4 small, but quality, systems, small stages, well positioned lights. Walk between rooms smoking and drinking. So, who plays there? How about 4 stages, 5 bands a stage? 2 or 3 nights? 60 bands. Maybe the usu suspects? But, maybe not. Maybe you can skip the usual suspects entirely. Take that $ that would likely go to Hiero or Bridges or the UW again and maybe give it to some band from PA that's playing SXSW? But not $1000 bucks to one band, give $100 to 10 bands. Does anyone have any idea how many PA (and MD) bands are playing SXSW this year? A lot. So, maybe give $100 to a SXSW band and say, play this show, and maybe, book the show as well. One of the many many reasons that MMC can't compete whatsoever with SXSW is that SXSW pays all the bands. I think it's like $180 last I checked a few years ago, or you get a laminate, which is good to have because theres a lot of good bands worth seeing, and worthwhile daytime stuff. So, go find bands you want and pay em. That's kinda what Vikki did, at least the searching for bands part. Either develop an interest in live original music or delegate this responsibility to others who do. I know I did a good job of picking bands. Mike Powers would do a good job. Jim O. Todd Schaeffer. Me. The Boat People. If you have 4rooms x 3nights, that's 12 bills of 5. Or, give some of the usual suspects a small amount and tell them to book it. Bravetheday pretty much booked their show 2 years ago. I gave them (Rebecca) a list of MMC applicants and said "pick the bands you want to play with." We worked on it a little bit, and it was a good bill, and JH approved it. It was at The Firehouse, and was billed as Friday 6/24 - Beckys Pop/Rock. They ended up playing a show(s?) with one of the bands they picked, who they didn't know previously. You could go - 12 usual suspects, 4 rooms 3 nights. It's not too hard to figure out who the usual suspects are. If there's gonna be a MMC next year, you could start now. I'd recommend though to start doing some things that might make club owners happy. Like, Gullifty's. Maybe give Gullifty's an actual headliner, as opposed to an opening act. Maybe work with Dragonfly again. Identify 18 usual suspects. 1-6 can go to Gullifty's 3 nights and Dragonfly 3 nights. 7-18 can headline the 12 bills. Tell em beforehand. Let's say one of the 7-18 bands is Betty's Bones. Tell them long beforehand what night they have to book. Tell em they can pick from who applied. So, you give Betty's $100, and Betty's then goes and talks to their people getting them to apply. Maybe they get Blonde Hair Blue Eyes. But also a couple of regular sonicbids applicants that fit well with Betty's Bones. And in the next room over, Pariah Piranha. Tell them to get their buddies from DC, Pittsburgh, etc. And Solar Staredown in another room. And Lotus Blue in another. And the usual suspects aren't playing at the same time. Let's say Solar at 10 Lotus at 11 Piranha at 12 Betty's at 1. Let's put The CCL with Solar. Via Sat with Piranha. Blonde Hair with Betty's. You get the point. Throw The Izzy's in there. Assuming that Hiero and UW are playing, keep them away from that night. Keep Hiero away from UW. Utopian or the Masquerade would go with Hiero or UW So, Gullifty's/Dfly one night would be UW Masquerade another night would be G/D Hiero Utopian. the other night would be 20 bands/ 4 heads at the hotel. There are other natural flows as well. Keys has his flow, Condition K, Julian Fist, Grandview. put Bridges in there. Have a Champion Ship flow. Safari So Good plus whatever Tony wants. Running From Dharma I think probably fits in that flow. A power pop flow with the Jellybricks. Bravetheday's flow (not against Betty's) Have Darcie do a night. How about a label night? I've suggested that in the past, and I can recall "oh Gig Records night didn't do that great" ok, fine. How about let a label take one of the 4 stages? How about Piranha night, Betty's night, Kill Rock Stars night? On brief glance, it looks like a lot of the SXSW shows are related to an indie label. Perhaps some outreach to those indie labels. Hey, "do you want a night at the hotel?" might work. Or, you can keep doing what you've done, which appears to be along the lines of : Collect $ from sonicbids. Realize that there are no local bands. Beg/Pay a handful of popular local bands to play at the Hotel. Put sonicbids bands elsewhere, at random. No one shows up elsewhere. Hotel does well. More clubs drop out, fewer locals apply, only out of town sonics who've never heard of the conference. All locals will have to be paid, all will be playing the hotel, lights will be either blinding or nonexistent. sound will be deafening yet scratchy/staticy and intermittent. The stage is one inch high, yet as wide as the room. Bands at the hotel will be scheduled in such a manner as to ensure that the people in attendence will not see a band they haven't seen before numerous times. The bills at the hotel should resemble the most typical bills in the area. If band A plays with bands X,Y and Z frequently, that means that band A should play before band Z and after bands X and Y. Just because there are hundreds of bands actually paying money for the chance to play doesn't mean that we should see them. No effort should be made to identify a potentially good and/or interesting band. If a clickable hyperlink to a good, interesting band that appears on the MMC website, there is a theoretical chance that someone might click that link, find that band interesting, and go somewhere else but the hotel, giving $ to someone other than JH and MMC. Unacceptable result. No links. Seriously, it was bad. The hotel bands that I saw were the proper picks. They are all good bands. Good drawing bands. They all played good. Good bands, bands good. Good, good, good, good, good. But otherwise, cmon. I mean. No links on the website? We had links on the first website in 1997. For years, there were pix, 40 words. Showcases by time, alpha by performer, by venue. This year, alpha by performer and a nonclickable url to the bands site. that's it. (some other listing on the myspace). I'm guessing that every single person (except yourself) who knows how it was done when it worked is gone. Certainly, there's no one on staff who knows any html at all. The top line right now on mmc11.com is "THANK YOU TO ALL MMC10 ATTENDEES, PRESENTERS, SPONSORS AND PERFORMERS!!! Remember, MMC11 will take place in February of 2007, please mark your calendars!" When was that line written? June 2006? You never changed the links page. That's the same page I did in 2005! Dude. This year's sponsors are in the left border, the 2005 sponsors are in the middle. Cmon dude. Pretty sad. On the bright side, some really good video from MMC 2004 and 2005 was recently linked by Pennlive - reminding people of when MMC didn't suck. Yeah, that's my video. Enough of MMC recap. This was a long one. Big news coming on The Underwater front I'm thinking in about a week or 2 maybe. 60% of The Underwater are in LA right now, 40% are here. Holmes has been in LA on average about once a week it seems. Fly to LA, remix a song with Riker, fly back. Fly to LA remix a song with Riker fly back. Fly to LA remix 2 songs with Riker fly back. Now it's Matts, Bran and Chris Werner doing something having to do with Silverchair I think. There might be meetings of some sort I'm not sure. I think Holmes flown to LA 4 times in the last month.Apparently Riker is huge. Lots of famous rockstars seem to hang out there. Something about Incubus. Ren. I wasn't really paying attention. Blah blah Incubus blah blah. I prefer "Muse in my house" There seems to be a nice stream of big names, but I really don't recall. Oh, Jim, put these eyedrops in the cats eyes 2 times a day, well I'm off to LA. I'm focused on the Big News and want to get that out, so that info can be released in a timely, logical way. Warren has definitely been a big help. Hooray for Warren! And Hooray for Bendeth! Hooray for Jeremy Rockstar, who is apparently dating a pornstar out on the west coast (he was at mmc, but we didn't talk about her - is Jesse James a pornstar name, i think that was it?)! Hooray hooray hooray Dan Jeff Bert Jessica and Me are here (I think). Got the Sweet Vintage Dell memorabilia from Atomic Warehouse. Old Posters that were on the Wall of The Old Shady Dell! For Hundreds of Dollars? You betcha!!! A front doorknob? Not so much. What else is new? I moved the dresser in. Got new boxes. Moved stuff from the floor to the dresser. So now I have a dresser with clean clothes and a dresser with dirty clothes. Perhaps I will clean all the dirty clothes someday, but I wouldn't bet on it. Moved stuff from the older boxes to the new boxes. Organized that and moved it in. Have extra boxes. So, I'm good there. There is definitely a foreseeable scenario where my room is clean. The boxes are the key. I have 6 extra boxes. Looking around, I can see the crap on this table would fit in one, maybe 2 boxes. I could find a plastic bag and put some of the crap into the bags and take it outside, or i could just put it in boxes. Again. I know I have 6 boxes. Identical, stackable boxes. The empty beer bottles and cigarette butts could go in the bag, outside, or in the box with the other stuff, typically pens, silverware, remotes. Doesn't matter. The empty beer bottles and soda cans and cigarette butts on the floor can go in the bag outside or in a box with the other dirty clothes. Doesn't matter. It's certainly not something I really have to think about for months. I have boxes now, so all good. 7:30 am Friday 1/26 Mia Rose Update: Well, if you look right now (730a friday 1/26), you can see her smiling face on the home page of the Rolling Stooooooooone. Link to article Screen Cap of rollingstone.com home page PARocks.com ahead of the curve as always. (She's at 4.4M video views in the last 3 weeks or so, btw, oh, and it's her 19th birthday today too. I'll give Mia the Liz/Darcie Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Mia.) 5:00 am Thursday 1/25 you really should check the below out. theres some pretty smart stuff in there below. band self-financing a record. pay with points. investor/financial points. an investor pool of points. there could be some time-based weighting system. "the investor pool" - climb on in the waters fine - a risk ratio. the first 200k is riskier than the second 200k. so, the weightings are beyond the scope of the discussion. but let's say the band wants to give x percent/points/whatever to the investors. let's say 10 points, out of a total of 100. because not all deals are the same... the band is the label, a sub i guess, with national distro. so, a fair sized chunk of points, or however exactly its arranged goes elsewhere. the band is left with far more than the typical 10-15 or whatever number of points to give out. so, the investors are in the pool. x is the total number of points. here, x is 10. the investor pool gets 10 points. so if theres one investor, they get all 10 points. if investor a spends 70k and investor b spends 30k, then investor a gets 7 points and investor b gets 3 points. if investor a spends 250k and investor b spends 250k, then investor a gets 5 points and investor b gets 5 points. that's enough of the idea. ok. gather names of every high school in the city. well, unless you're an urban artist, you might want to consider the suburbs as well (not said exactly right, but you get the point). i like cable tv. it's cheap. well, it becomes cheap when you can hand off a commercial for nothing. just part of the workflow. if someone could answer these questions for me it would be cool. comcast is in a heck of a lot of markets. can i get a discount if i buy in multiple markets? i know there are minimums. within reason, can we say, ok, comcast, we're giving you x number of dollars, to you, comcast, can we give you tv spots, one per show we're playing in whatever market. and can we just make that happen that one time. again, said differently. let's say we have 6 shows and we want to give you $5000 to broadcast tv commercials in 6 different tv markets, can we give you $5000 and sit down with one person and map out what commercials we want to play when and where and just send the commercials to the right people. or just hand you the commercials? or, do we have to negotiate with 6 different people in 6 different markets? another comcast question. i had a great relationship with them, short, but they did a good job, when i aired commercials for halestorm and gullifty's back in like 2000-2001. but, they wanted either betasp or u-matic (i know it's called something else - half-inch?) whatever, i did betasp. anyway, do we have to use betasp or umatic still? i know back in the day they transferred everything to mpeg2 transport stream. Do they just specify the encoding parameters these days and let us upload it, or is it much less user friendly? if i was comcast, i'd consider a web contest like "win a 30 second commercial" that's what "synergy" is. you have this big contest on your website (makes people go to your website) and the prize is you get to be on a commercial. submit your 30 second clip in the encoding parameters form, and if you get the most votes, you get to be on a commercial. or, you get that 30 seconds... whatever. i mean, comcast i'm digging and all, no doubt. fast internet. but, hey, that's a good idea. i mean (and not to be too negative) if im watching comcast, why am i watching a commercial for comcast. i mean "whew i made the right choice" is cool and all, but... give one of them to the winner of that contest. synergy. or it's like just a regular feature and you don't make a big deal about it. just you know "comcast clip of the week" comcast.net like you're you tube. or, make a deal with youtube. they're run a banner about specials you have, maybe put a little bug on the website (comcast clip of the week) shouldn't i be living in better conditions. honestly, these are not complex ideas, they're kinda obvious. paris hilton's album sold (from what i hear) 13k records. and i'm pro paris hilton. did the glassjaw guy end up working on it? so, i mean, it's not automatic. 11:30 pm Wednesday 1/10 Is anyone paying attention to Youtube? More specifically, Mia Rose? Unsigned (for now) singer/songwriter from the UK, Portugal. 18 yrs old. Joined Youtube a little over a week ago. In the last week and a couple days, shes gotten Video Views: 1892001 - that's 1.8 Million Views of 13 videos in about 10 days. (stats 11:35 wed) As a point of comparison, OK Go has had 11-12 million views (to their official musician channel) over the course of 10 months. And they were signed. This Mia Rose is basically singing and dancing (a bit) to a track (boombox?) on some songs while being taped by a camcorder. Those songs are typically covers. Or, sitting on a bed, singing and playing guitar. Those songs are typically originals. Incredible stuff. Goosebumps. Spellbinding. Or, am I wrong, am I losing my mind? It's certainly something that you all who are interested in this kind of thing should check out. I think this might be the first real internet discovery. Or, as someone mentioned on a Mia You Tube comments page, is it a LonelyGirl15 deally? Mia Rose Youtube Channel Mia Rose Myspace Check it out.
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