8:00 pm Sunday 4/26 Halestorm - The new album comes out on Tuesday. Buy it here or somewhere else.
And I've heard the album. Apparently you can get free music on the interweb, so, um, voila. Anyway, phemominal album.
Not indie rock, but commercial radio rock that will crossover in a big way to Mainstream Top 40. I am simply floored by
"Better sorry than Safe" If they choose to release that track to Mainstream Top 40, I would not be surprised to see that hit #1.
I'd be more surprised if it didn't. Phenominal big big hit song. But, again, not phenominal in a MPP way, a Dan Deacon Snookered way, a Veckatimest
way but in a massive mega Mainstream Top 40 hit. Here are some random sentences I'm just gonna type in. Halestorm's new self-titled album
is the Merriweather Post Pavillion of radio rock in 2009. Halestorm's new self-titled album
is the Veckatimest of radio rock in 2009. Unvarnished praise for the album. 10/10. Perfect radio rock with gargantuan Top 40 appeal.
The first single, "I get off" is doing well, moving up the Active Rock charts. Currently #26, with 525 spins in the last 7 days, up 113.
A good song, which serves as a good introduction to Halestorm. I'm guessing that we can call it a hit song right now, because it is
in the Top 30 of the Active Rock charts - if I'm reading these charts right, 1.662 million people heard the song on an Active Rock station
in the last week. A very Active Rock friendly song. It tells a Liz Hale story that they want to tell. "I get off on you getting off on me."
I have a bit of a theory about lyrics. If you want to make a hit single (as opposed to a indie piece of art) you might want to consider writing
something that people would want to hear. Instead of talking, you're singing to someone. In the case of "I get off" - "I get off on you getting
off on me." Liz being female is likely addressing mostly men on this one. An active rock radio listener, male, probably works in a warehouse,
is listening to a hot girl (Liz) tell them (warehouse dude) that she (Liz) gets off (presumably in a sexual way) when you (warehouse guy) get off
on her (hopefully there's a commercial transaction there, perhaps the purchase of a record, a tshirt or a concert ticket. Warehouse guy hears this
song and a perfectly natural Pavlovian response is going to be to try to please Liz here, by consuming Halestorm product. Brilliant songwriting. There's
probably another reading, with voyeuristic, peeping tom tones, but I hear it the first way.
But back to the overall theory. You, the songwriter, singer, are talking / singing to a person. You are telling them something that they like to hear.
And if what they hear makes them want to give you money, all the better. "I'll give you what you want." Yeah, guys like to hear that from hot girls.
On the other hand, it's also cool if no one knows what you're saying because you're not enunciating your words, and throwing in as much Timberlakian melisma
as possible. And if people read the lyrics, it's cool if people have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Song #17, more whining about
some girl, I think, i'm not sure. It has something to do with Montagues. I'm confused by these lyrics, will I be tested on this, or can I safely
ignore this? Anyway, that wasn't about Halestorm, it was dt.
Let's get back to Halestorm. "It's not you" I think is a song that girls will want to sing. Guys are not going to like hearing it.
"I'm in love with somebody and it's not you" Warehouse guy liked hearing "I'll give you what you want" Warehouse guy wants to hear "I'm in love with
somebody and it's you." But this is a song for the girls to sing. The girls who are signing along with Liz are Liz, Liz is saying what they
want to say. So, sometimes you are singing to a listener. Other times, the listener puts themselves in the shoes of the singer. The listener is either
listening or talking. Most songs, at least many songs, are a variant of either "I Love You" which goes well from a guy to a girl, and "Fuck Me"
which goes well from a girl to a guy. We're talking about hit songs, again, not post-rock instrumentals, etc.
Song 3 - "Bet you wish you had me back" is a Top 40 candidate. I love love love the lyric on sorry / safe, whereas this one doesn't speak as directly
to me. It's a strong candidate for Top 40 though. It doesn't sound like Liz singing. I think there was a lot of production on the vocals.
The vocals sound good, but not like Liz. From a lyrical point of view, a girl can sing it, and a guy can
hear it. A guy can regret a breakup, that's cool, not sure he wants to hear he's not loved.
Song 4 - "Innocence" - "I just want to take your innocence" - a version of "Fuck Me" - see above.
Ok, enough, you get the idea. Hit songs often have words that fans would either want to hear or say or both.
Song 7 - w/ "you must be high, it was just one kiss" has a nice sexy / sassy quality. Girls can say, guys are not going to think that
she's talking to them, she's talking to a dorky guy who isn't them.
Here are some lyrics from Song 9 the future blockbuster "Better sorry than Safe"
i'm not scaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaared because i know there's something out there waiting for me
and i sweaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar that i'll find it someday just wait and see
i don't caaaaaaaaaaaaaare that you call me crazy
I can't stay because I need room to breathe
there's nothing left to say
better sorry than safe.
Huge.
But what does this have to do with The Underwater? Bert (Norberto Ovide) is out on the road with Halestorm right now, doing roughly the
same kinds of things for Halestorm as he did for The Underwater.
5:00 am Friday 4/24 My Brightest Diamond / Biggest Label Ever -
New song "The Honey Bee" for free download
on
The Biggest Label Ever. I've held off mentioning The Biggest Label Ever for quite some time.
I've been up in Maine, working at least half my ass off on The Biggest Label Ever website. It's Brandon Deroche's site (ex The Underwater). He
gets bands like My Brightest Diamond (Sufjan, Dark was the Night) to give away free tracks or albums (Also Ladytron, Girl Talk, Xiu Xiu, hundreds more
and full free albums from Lake Trout, Big in Japan, Jealousy Curve, The Underwater, The Feds, Full Contact Kitty), and writes stories, provides other content etc. I make
the website part of it work. I wanted to first mention BLE here when I thought I could give you a pretty kick ass link to something pretty kick ass.
Click the link to the My Biggest Diamond website. Sufjan - Dark was the Night. Yeah. Sweet Exclusive. That's worthy shit.
1:00 am Thursday 4/23 This Weekend - Dana Alexandra and Darcie Miner at Crimson Frog (Gullifty's parking lot / Cedar Cliff Mall) on Friday.
Dana has a pretty serious college tour already booked (at least partially) for this fall and winter.
I'm seeing
Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York,
Maine (I got my eye on that one), North Carolina, South Carolina,
Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin
on the schedule from Sept 09 to Feb 10. This is real good stuff. Way to go Dana!
Lots of good stuff at The Depot in York. Relapse's Rumplestiltskin Grinder on Friday plus more.
Knot Feeder (Ex Don Caballero, Tabula Rasa), Ximena, Big Mouth Strikes Again on Saturday.
Older stuff 1 - If a good semi famous indie rock band plays on a weeknight in Harrisburg, it can do quite well.
That was the case at ABC Brew a couple months back when Frightened Rabbit and Bigmouth Strikes Again played. ABC,
Roundtable, and, especially, Moviate.org can bring the people out. (I asked a bunch of people there at the show why they were there
and a surprising number said Moviate.org, through Facebook, notified them of the event)
Older stuff 2 - CCL is a good, solid 1970's blues rock band. Not holy shit fantastic, but good, solid. Something I would
see again if I was in the mood for 70's blues rock - good flash guitaring. I like me some 1970's blues rock.
Rory Gallagher, Johnny Winter, etc etc. The lead singer / lead guitarist is a cool guy. Cool stage patter.
4:00 pm Saturday 3/28 Massive Obama Tobacco Tax kicks in Wednesday April 1 -
The Massive Obama Tobacco Tax kicks in on Wednesday April 1. I stocked up on the loose tobacco -
got 10+ pounds. I should be good for a while. I got my tobacco seeds and hopefully that works out.
For those of you who aren't interested in paying a huge new tax right away, get on it.
Custom Blends is temporarily sold out online. I recommend ordering online from Lil Brown Smoke Shop.
Real Cheap Prices and Very Low Shipping.
Here's a link to "The Good Stuff" Full Flavor 6 oz bag for $3.85
. I spent over $100 bucks with these guys
and the UPS shipping was less than $10. Highly recommended!
Halestorm -
First Single, I Get Off, just officially went to radio and is moving up the active rock charts,
currently at 46 on Mediabase with 158 spins in the last week, a "spincrease" of 79.
WQXA spun it 19 times, WMMR spun it 11, WBSX, 8. PA rock stations, keep showing the Halestorm love
and/or increase the Halestorm love.
The New Album comes out April 28, you can buy it now at http://www.halestormrocks.com.
Pennsylvania shows - 1) April 3 Electric Factory, Philly, w/ Shinedown, more 2) April 5 Tink's, Scranton, w/ Trapt, more
3) May 2 Chameleon Club, Lancaster, w/ Trapt, more.
Follow them as a band (1)
or individually (1)(2)(3)
on Twitter, they tweet frequently (and you can follow PARocks.com on twitter as well).
8:00 pm Sunday 3/8 Menya (with Cedar Cliff grad Angie Stipe) NYC Label Showcase -
From Crazed Hits
Buzz band Menya
will be performing for several labels and publishing companies
tomorrow night (Monday, March 9th) at the Blender Theatre in New York City.
To attend, contact rhea@menyamusic.com.
Look, usually we send you emails that are all funny, cutesy, clever,
look at me I'm a Jellybrick, kind of stuff. You know the deal here.
Today we're cutting the cheese. Or at least through it. Here's the deal:
through the magic of the video game 'Rock Band' and because of fine people
like yourself virally emailing our little homemade video around like the one
where the monkey drinks its own pee, our ugly animated mugs are on RollingStone.com. Here's the link:
We'd also like to take the opportunity to plug shows because hey, isn't that what rock bands do?
Rock rockity rock rocka locka talk:
February 21
Cedars
23 N. Hazel St.
Youngstown, Ohio 44503 http://www.myspace.com/cedarslounge
We'll be returning to our home away from home (unless you're name is Larry Kennedy, in which case you're
returning home) to play a magical show along with our pals Pete Drivere & The Pretty Demons.
We'll also be joined by our brand new pals The Robbie Jay Band. Tell your friends about the magical night.
March 6th - Tara Station, Harrisburg, PA
25 S. 4th St.
Harrisburg, PA
Our first ever appearance at Tara Station in downtown Harrisburg, and it’s a full-length
night’s show! We'll be playing for 18 hours! It's right across from the Amtrak station in
Harrisburg so it's a wonderful opportunity for our fans to commit a serious crime, then hop
onto a train and make your way out of town, stone cold great train robbery style.
So in conclusion, we're playing in Ohio and PA, you will commit crime, watch Jellybrick, and leave town.
And we've landed our dumb selves in Rolling Stone (dotcom). We're also really happy to have someone as
cool as you read this far into one of Tom's dumb ramblings.
We love you for supporting us. And thanks for still listening to someone with nothing to say.
The Jellybricks,
Larry, Garrick, Bryce, Tom
*****
Selders email
*****
The Jellybricks are making some national news with "the first truly clever
viral music video of 2009" according to Rolling Stone.
A staple of the central-PA music scene, The Jellybricks have produced
several critically acclaimed recordings and are widely considered to be one
of the top "power-pop" bands internationally. Their enthusiastic live shows
are characterized by excellent musicianship, a tight ensemble and comedic
bantering. Goodnight to Everyone is the current album and "Ruin Us" is the
first single. While the video is picking up steam, the audio will be
landing at radio nationwide in about a month with a promotional campaign
targeted at the Adult Album Alternative (Triple-A) format.
Susquehanna Entertainment does not represent The Jellybricks, but we like
those guys a whole lot and congratulate them on this accomplishment. We
just thought you'd like to know about this, so I'm passing it along on their
behalf.
- Terry Selders
9:00 pm Saturday 1/31 Soda with Pure Cane Sugar in Refillable bottles available in PA If you live near Catawissa, PA, which is up near Bloomsburg and Danville,
you can get that - soda made with Pure Cane Sugar in 32 ounce returnable/refillable bottles - at the Catawissa Bottling Co.
Their house brand is "Big Ben's". They have a lot of flavors - I got Lime, Grapefruit / Lemon, Sasparilla, Grape, Cola, Root
Beer when I made a side trip over. Good stuff. They won't sell returnables to people not from the area, because they really do want people to return them
and they can't buy returnable / reusable / refillable bottles anywhere. I'm not a big fan of the environment, I certainly don't like
the government forcing me to recycle. But, refillable glass bottles are good for the environment, and soda (as well as beer as we all know)
tastes better in glass bottles. Back in the day, when we didn't "care" about the environment, 60 odd years ago,
we only had refillable glass bottles. Now, small indie bottlers who want to do the right thing, like catawissa, can't even buy bottles.
But we have to "recycle" - separate our trash. What bullshit. Hey, Coke makes a better profit under this system probably. All those
empty cans and bottles alongside roadways? They weren't there when bottles were refillable. The deposit on the 32's at Catawissa was 25 cents
a piece. http://catawissabottlingco.com
And cane sugar vs High Fructose Corn Syrup? HFCS has always been questionable to say the least. It doesn't exist in nature and requires
extensive chemical treatment to manufacture. Because it's not a natural product, the body has a difficult time digesting it. And now,
guess what? They found out that much of the HFCS on the market is contaminated with MERCURY, which is really not food at all, and is quite
bad for you. In fact, they think MERCURY causes autism. Now, it would be interesting to see a chart with autism rates and rates of consumption
of high fructose corn syrup. This is something for someone like high powered class action attorney Alex Pires. I've tried avoiding HFCS for awhile
even before the HFCS / Mercury scandal broke. It's kinda gross. Remember "New Coke"? That was a scam to hide the switchover from
Sugar to HFCS. And now we read that Coke has Mercury in it. Where's Obama on this? Is he in favor of Mercury in HFCS? Mercury in Coke?
Obama really didn't make clear what "change" meant. I would "hope" that Obama would force a recall of poisonous foods. But maybe the "change"
is that there will be more poisonous foods, not less. http://www.iatp.org
Good guys: Catawissa Bottling. Bad Guys: ADM, Coke, Obama.
Massive tax hike on tobacco coming? - Obama is planning on funding a Big Government program with massive tax hikes on Tobacco.
The massive tax hikes
vary depending on what type of tobacco. What are the proposed new taxes on loose cigarette tobacco? $23 dollars a pound. Again, TWENTY - THREE DOLLARS A
POUND of NEW TAXES on loose cigarette tobacco. I buy loose cigarette tobacco - it costs me $12.99 plus tax here in York. The current tax
on loose tobacco is about a buck. Now, you know Custom Blends is out of business after this passes (if it does pass). Custom Blends sells
high quality tobacco without additives. It's hard to argue that tobacco is healthy (perhaps if smokers are said to be "self-medicating"
pharmaceuticals which are also very dangerous would be the alternative), but loose tobacco sold without additives is the healthiest.
Any loose tobacco, whether all natural and healthiest like Custom Blends, or cheap like Criss Cross, which makes no specific claims about additives,
is certainly better for you health than manufactured cigs like Marlboro (no doubt a tasty cig) or Camel.
Documents indicate cigarette companies add ammonia to cigarettes to freebase nicotine,
which gives the user a more intense nicotine "kick" after lighting up.
Now taxes on cigs would be going up to a buck a pack from about 40 cents, but the taxes on the most healthy tobacco
are going up a ridiculous amount. Why? Does Obama really want people switching from healthy natural loose tobacco to ammonia laden
manufactured cigs? Maybe, as a smoker, he wants people like myself to re-experience the joys of freebasing nicotine?
More likely, Philip Morris and Reynolds are behind this one. A tiny, tiny share of the cigarette market has switched to RYO/MYO.
They want that market back, and in the process they'll put many many indie tobacco manufacturers out of business. Win win for everyone
right Obama? People who want to save money see a pound of tobacco go from $13 bucks to $35 bucks. (This is raising taxes on people
making under $250,000 btw) So, the poorest get screwed by Obama. And Big Tobacco wins over Indie Tobacco. Is that the change people hoped for?
I hope that this cheap tobacco costs 3 times as much? You don't have to really listen to debates. The Democrats will always take your money.
Loose tobacco costs less because it's a pain in the ass to ryo/mko. The product is not as consistent. Oh well, Democrats are in charge now
"In addition, the roll-your-own tobacco segment will see its federal excise tax rate increase 2400 percent,
from approximately $1 per pound to more than $24 per pound of tobacco, Tully said in a statement."
Good Guys: Custom Blends, Criss Cross, Indie Tobacco Bad Guys: Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, Obama, Democrats.
It looks like OBAMA wants us to smoke ammonia to freebase nicotine and to drink Coke with Mercury. Add the hyperinflation that's right around
the corner and we're taking about THE SHITTIEST PRESIDENT EVER. Hey, I gave him a break for a week or so, but it looks like he's bringing
the Hellscape.
4:00 am Saturday 1/31 Halestorm - Just saw em at Tourist Inn. Here's my expectation for them.
They should top the active rock charts when the album comes out sometime this year.
It's on Atlantic. They've been in LA for over a year, working with people, top level
songwriters, etc etc. I've obviously known all that for a while. But I just heard the
results. So I can say they'll top the active rock charts. I can't tell you about how
top 40 progammers think. But there certainly will be strong songs on the next Halestorm
album that would react with a top 40 audience. Liz Hale most certainly is a rock star.
If people care about fantastic rock singing, they'll like Liz Hale. And there are lots
of hits. Lots of hits. The record comes out this year - soon maybe even March? I think the first single drops
in the next month. If I'm gonna guess, based on what I've seen, I think they're very solid
to go very very big. In a lot of ways it's actually better than anything you've ever seen before in your life.
In some ways, Liz Hale is the best ever. I think it's the TMI factor, impacting strongly to the Northeast of
Middletown. Taylor Swift, Priscilla Ahn, Liz Hale. I have more on this, but not maps and charts at this time.
Innerpartysystem / Erica Bossler. The TMI radiation settled in Western Berks County, or at least the good
female singer radiation settled in western Berks County. Whatever, Halestorm's looking super strong.
Halestorm is playing at Bourbon Street in York tonight Saturday. That's like a mere feet from where
the Articles of Confederation were signed, back in the day.
8:00 pm Monday 1/19 A show in Harrisburg to see -
Frightened Rabbit is playing at ABC Brew in Harrisburg
on Tuesday Jan 27. It's a free show. Frightened Rabbit is top quality indie from Scotland, apparently they're
about to explode! If I was in Harrisburg, I'd see it.
1:00 pm Thursday 1/15 Dr. Dog / Amoeba - I got an email from Amoeba in California asking to hype
their video from an in store that Dr. Dog did there a while back. Here it is.
*********************
Hi PA Rocks
I have some news about Dr. Dog that I think your readers would enjoy.
Dr. Dog visited Amoeba Records earlier this year and gave an amazing performance.
This performance plus an interview is now available to view on our website.
Also, here is the link of the embedded performance:
It would rock if you could post this link on your site for all his fans to check out.
I look forward to your response!
Paul
Amoeba Music
Online Team
*************************
I want to encourage people who have something to hype PA related that is really really good to hit me up.
If I can talk about the best PA stuff and not have to think about it at all, I'm all for it.
Dr. Dog is a really good band from Philly. Their latest album, Fate, is currently on the CIMS chart at 56
and at 11 on the vinyl chart. Back in August around when the album came out it was at 5 on the CIMS chart.
The CIMS chart is a good chart to look at. It's similar to the Billboard album chart, in that it's a chart of
album sales, but the CIMS chart tracks the sales at cool indie stores, so theres a lot of cool music on the
CIMS chart and the crappy billboard stuff is there but mixed in with the cool stuff. Here's the current
top 10 CIMS.
CIMS TOP 10 for 1/14/09
1 GOURDS HAYMAKER! YEP ROC
2 FLEET FOXES FLEET FOXES SUB POP
3 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION DOMINO
4 KINGS OF LEON ONLY BY THE NIGHT SBME/RCA
5 BYRNE/ENO EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS WILL H TODOMUNDO/OPAL
6 TV ON THE RADIO DEAR SCIENCE UMGD/INTERSCOPE
7 GLASVEGAS GLASVEGAS SBME/COLUMBIA
8 MGMT ORACULAR SPECTACULAR SBME/COLUMBIA
9 BON IVER FOR EMMA FOREVER AGO JAGJAGUWAR
10 YOUNG,NEIL SUGAR MOUNTAIN-LIVE AT CANTERB WEA/REPRISE
Other random Dr. Dog. Dr. Dog played in Harrisburg at Dragonfly a while back. If I can recall
correctly, the late Bravetheday (good band) opened. Dr. Dog on a tour back in 2006 played Tasty World in Athens, GA. I noticed this
when I was in Athens with The Underwater. I was explaining my theory about "good venues"
"Tasty World is a good venue, because Dr. Dog is playing there. Dr. Dog is a good band from Philly.
Other good bands play here. You want to play in good venues. You should be happy to be playing at Tasty World.
You want to play here again." I bought a Tasty World t-shirt. They haven't played there since, although
they've played Atlanta or the Atlanta suburbs numerous times since.
9:00 am Friday 12/12
I tt Holmes a coupla hours ago. Brandon recommended that I tt Holmes before I
write about Dan Thomas leaving The Underwater. Haven't tt dt for a while.
It's a good move on dt's part. The UW is failing. Jessica is being blamed for dt's
quitting. Oh well. I remember back at the Halloween party back in 2006 at the Dell
Jessica was there, so was Brett Spivey. Jessica had no idea who Brett Spivey was.
Jessica was going around telling everyone that she dated Brandon Boyd. The one guy
who could call her on that was there - Brett Spivey. I freaked out. I caused quite
a scene. I wanted her gone right then. I hope Ad Rock is having a big laugh about all
of this. Ad Rock, of the McGathy camp (In de Goot?) was the one who brought Jessica to
us. We were playing in Albany that night, a decent show, a radio show, opening for Dropping
Daylight. I think Ad Rock or McGathy hooked it up. He drove up from NYC to Albany with Jessica.
He told us, and I remember this "Don't take Jessica's money" I didn't. Everyone else just loved
it. It was Sept 2006 when Jessica was introduced to the band by McGathy (Ad Rock). Ad Rock
was the Day to Day guy at that time, and The Underwater was managed by McGathy at that time.
By November, we're looking at Jessica telling the UW that Ad Rock sucks and McGathy sucks.
By the end of November, the UW is no longer managed by McGathy. I was sitting in the van
outside the McCathy offices when Morty mostly fucked that up. Oh, you think touring
with Trapt and Shinedown is gay. Skip ahead to today. Back even 2 years ago. The Underwater
has a totally different lineup than 2 years ago. Now dt is gone - final show with dt somewhere
in Tulsa. Matt Wright from the Feds! Holmes is singing! Indonesia! I talked to Holmes a few hours ago.
SPINAL TAP. Read your own bio. Fix your Amazon Forces page. It's been like that for months.
Back in the day, it would not have been like that for months. Whatever, INDONESIA!!! That band from Indonesia
is actually good, but... SPINAL TAP. You fucked up Europe. Europe was strong in 2003. Visions.
Top 10 radio is Graz, Austria. Not massive, but some indication that someone somewhere liked you on a marketable
scale. I don't know this for a fact, but if Chad Kroeger had an ass licker, at some point, that dude would get
a record contract, and that band would open for Nickelback. And now where I put a word in for no reason. Daughtry.
And the typing after the word I put in for no reason. Anyway soon comes the ble. I'm up in Maine, Bran's in
Cali, and if Bran is telling the truth, ble will be solid, noteworthy. Right now, I'm busting my ass for ble.
You'll hear more about ble here and elsewhere soon.
6:00 pm Saturday 11/22
I was talking to ex Ron Paul people today. I'm one of em. Well, we're not ex Ron Paul people.
Ron Paul wasn't on the ballot in November. There was a McCain and a Bob Barr and somewhat Obama.
Every one of us is up for grabs. Closing Guantanamo is a good start. If I'm reading my news right,
there seems like an "all-star" cabinet forming. A smart move for someone like Obama's lack of experience.
Oh, and consider just ending the war on drugs. Legalize it. You don't have to make a big deal about it if
you don't want. Just be like, oh, yeah, we're not enforcing that law any more. McCain was very weak in PA
where Ron Paul was strong in the primaries. Ron Paul was very strong around here. He should be President.
Some say that he may run again. He'd be way old, but, I'm always with Ron Paul 100%.
There does seem to be some sort of free-floating desire for change. Some article on cmj about death cab in
the last coupla days. I'm not prepared to be President right now, but I'd be a good President. I might've actually
read the NYT article about "first black harvard law review" I was in Law School at the same time he was.
I was at Boston University, he was at Harvard. I read the NYT back then. I might've even thought "he's gonna be President"
when I read that. So, there's a ton in Obama's bio that does scare the shit out of me, and actually, the whole
"natural born" thing might end up tripping him up. But, hey he really is a lot like me and people I know from back in the day.
Heres another thing? Who is a Maverick? McCain? Palin? I like Palin. But who is the real! Maverick! Mark Cuban of course.
Getting fucked by the SEC. Chris Cox should be strung up. And the Fed, end the Fed!!! The dream team is Ron Paul Sarah Palin Mark Cuban.
Sarah Palin and Mark Cuban getting tutored by Ron Paul. I was massively impressed by Mark Cuban on message boards way before the IPO
of broadcast.com (which btw my dad got in on, made a tiny shitload of cash on) I was into his thing, I started webmusicvideo.com in 1999.
He was the leader in the "radio and tv on the internet" thing. I wrote "Mark Cuban for President" somewhere on a message board 10 years ago.
He said "audit the FED" on a newish website he's bankrolling, and viola, the SEC is up his ass for no reason at all. So far, I see
no reason why Mark Cuban will ever start being a pussy. He's fighting the good fight. I'm thinking about a Palin/Cuban 08' or 12'
bumpersticker. And Ron Paul can be Sec of Treasury. Palin isn't a neocon, she's a Patriot. She praised Ron Paul in video back in
February. She probably didn't even like McCain. The media is trying to make her look as bad as they can because she's so strong,
is conservative, and is not bilderberg vetted. Palin + Cuban. Cuban would spend between 50% and 75% of his fortune to make that shit
happen. The strong victory for freedom. I will get aboard that. And, a little more serioulsly, if Cuban ever sets anything up,
I'll want to get onboard that, like, I will go to that place and live in that place and spend all of my time on that. I'd do the same
for Palin, but that's not an original thought on my part. Mark Cuban is actually more like me, and Obama is more like the strivers that
I knew in Law School. I didn't really hate the people I went to law school with, but I didn't really hang out with them much. I remember
one girl who left after the first semester. I shoulda done something and I didn't. And I did go out on a date with another girl.
The date didn't go well, but whatever the girl was hot, I think she was from Colorado, and I'm sure that he's a partner in a big law firm
by now. Beautiful, impressive girl. The other girl, I shoulda been more agressive with. Oh well. Back then, I remember some dude in one
of my classes saying that he thought I was "smart" which I did appreciate because he always talked in class and came across really well.
But I didn't go to classes much. Good rock scene in Boston. I went to the Rat a lot. I got an A in Jurisprudence. I was happy about that,
because a lot of my courses um not so good. My Jurisprudence prof knew Anita Hill and this was when the hearings were going on.
Anyway, most of the kids I went to Law School with shouldn't be president. Obama is probably like them but a little "better". But, he could
do ok, he could do great or he could do shitty. Hey is "closing Guantamomo Bay" one of the things that "the liberal wing" wants? If it is,
great, because that's something I like, and he can please everybody while simply pleasing me, which is likely a winning strategy.
10:00 pm Thursday 11/20 Cool Toys For Tots Show -
WQXA 105.7 The X and Rogue Stork Entertainment present the 11th annual US=20
Marine Corps Toys For Tots benefit concert at Shakey's Sports Bar,
312 Mill St, Hershey, PA.
Saturday, December 6th is slated for the 2008 multi band concert to
benefit the US Marine Corps Toys For Tots program. This year's event will
be held at Shakey's Sports Bar, 312 Mill Street in Hershey. The show is for
ALL ages ( 21 to drink ) and will run from 3pm - 1:30 am. Doors open
at 2pm.
Admission is $5.00 or a new unwrapped toy of equal or greater value.
US Marines will be on site collecting toys. Personalities from WQXA 105.7
The X will announce bands and the station has generously donated the event's on
air advertising. This 2008 concert event is sponsored by Members 1st
Federal Credit Union, Shakey's Sports Bar and WQXA 105.7 The X. The show is also
supported by Reliable Backline, PA Musician Magazine, Absolute Graphics and
Hbgonline.com. The Toys For Tots program supports children up to age 14. Please remember
the older kids when doing your shopping.
This years event is again on a Saturday so no school or work the next day.
Don't miss this once a year opportunity to catch all of these great bands
under one roof on the same day, great company, food and drinks while helping
to make a happy holiday season possible for our area's underprivileged children.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributes
their time and services to this event. All go out of their way to help make
the benefit a success. Many don't realize that the bands who donate their
performances typically have regular shows that night, often hours away yet
they are loyal to the cause and willingly make the sacrifice.
For more information call Rogue Stork Entertainment at 717-919-0930 or
email storky265@aol.com.
Line Up:
3 - Sugarcoat
4 - Adrian Blitzer
5 - Emilys Toy Box
6 - Asking Andy
7 - Friction Broadcast
8 - Coast Is Clear
9 - Random Allies
10 - Real Be Easys ( NY )
11 - Mustang
12 to 1:30 - The Impact Band
Bands and times are subject to change.
7:00 pm Saturday 11/15 Music in York Tonight - I recommend the Bad Flirt / Pariah Piranha show at Smalls.
The Mint is earlier, at Harp and Fiddle. Go to see the Mint and see Pariah Piranha and then
Bad Flirt. The coolest place is The Depot. I'm pretty sure that on this night the bands
at Smalls are stronger at Smalls. myspace.com/ badflirt, pariahpiranha, silentresolve, renderrock,
canto6, themintonline.
Deerhoof - Listen to Fresh Born
11:30 pm Tuesday 11/4 Obama wins - Oh well. It shouldn't effect me at all. Things have been shitty and
will continue to be shitty. Whoever is the President really shouldn't effect that. Typically,
the people in the middle, people who don't have firmly held political convictions, get tired
of the party in power over time. The economy typically guides that. If the economy was great, McCain
would've won. The economy wasn't great, it was pretty mediocre, and in certain respects, fairly bad.
That put McCain at a disadvantage. So, he lost. If McCain won, he probably would've lost in 4 years
unless the economy substantially improved. But Obama won. In 4, 8 or 12 years, the people in the middle
without clear political convictions will get tired of Obama and the Democrats and will vote for the Republicans.
And over and over again. That's fine. Doesn't effect me - shitty, will remain so. I enjoy politics like others enjoy
sports (and I enjoy sports as well). It's hard to really participate in sports. It's hard to imagine detailed scenarios
about how being a, let's say, Phillies fan will effect in any concrete way the outcome of a game. Yes, homefield advantage,
etc., but, you know, you don't necessarily get into debates with people about how the Phillies are better hoping that
they will like the Phillies and that would make the Phillies win. Politics are in large part about that, and I like to
participate in that. So, you know you get to be a "fan", and you support your candidate, and you attack the other candidate,
because it's fun to do so. I liked Ron Paul. I still like Ron Paul. Ron Paul won't be President, but in my opinion he
really could've made things better, even possibly for me. I'm a Republican, but I really didn't like McCain. He was a total
dickhead to Ron Paul. Ron Paul got around 20% in South Central PA. Did he speak at the Republican Convention? Nope. He got
a decent amount of delegates to the convention, did they get to vote for Ron Paul? Most didn't. Would McCain have made things better?
Nope. I think that Obama will make things slightly worse than McCain would've. Based on Obama's connections (and these are
very real and very scary connections people) there is a small chance of the hellscape scenario. There are some potential
upsides to Obama. Fewer wars for Israel? There's a good chance of that, but that's not certainly guaranteed. Anyway, I missed this
one - I was wrong in 1996 too. "Wishful Thinking" I think is the term for it. I still like Sarah Palin. There is a chance that
she's not entirely beholden to the Federal Reserve and the bankers. Anyway, I was wrong, Obama won. And even though I think his
policies will be bad for the US, and there's a chance he might have secret policies that will destroy America, he really doesn't seem to be a bad
guy at all, I don't recoil from him, don't reach for the remote. I'd recommend that he cut down on the bold faced lying. That's what
got Bill Clinton in trouble. And no Waco.
Election Day - Polls look good for Obama. In 2004, 37% of the electorate was
Dems, 37% was Reps, and the remainder was indies. In 2000, there were slightly more D's than
R's, maybe 2% or 3%. Pollsters seem to be calling 5%, 10%, 15% more D's than R's this
time around. Often they won't even mention the partisan breakdown. Is that relevant? Who knows?
Another thing to consider is the "Bradley Effect" Basically, the Bradley Effect is a skewing
of polls toward the black candidate. The Bradley Effect is caused by people who don't like
the black candidate for whatever reason - too Communist, too Muslim, too mysterious, never actually
accomplished anything noteworthy ever - lying
to pollsters. The DRSE media describes the Bradley Effect as racists lying to pollsters. Actually, the
way it works isn't racists lying to pollsters, it's people who don't want to be considered racists lying to
pollsters. The more you hear things like "the only reason people won't vote for Obama is they're racist" from
the DRSE media, the larger the Bradley Effect will be. If people hear over and over on TV that the only reason
the won't vote for a Communist Muslim who is black is because they're racist, they'll tell pollsters (and some
friends) that they're voting for the black Communist Muslim. They don't want other people to think they're a
racist. But they'll vote for the guy who isn't a Communist Muslim. In terms of a prediction, I'm aware that
the polls say Obama, but my gut feeling says that over 50% of the voters were able to hear enough about Obama
despite the DRSM media. I expect a large Bradley Effect and a McCain victory.
2:00 am Monday 11/3 Obama "Endorsements" - Ok, so these aren't all official endorsements. Our enemies are too smart
to outright say "we endorse Obama" but they are various statements pointing to who they want to win.
3:00 am Thursday 10/30 Pat Garrett to Appear at York "Road to Victory" Rally with Governor Palin -
Country singer/songwriter Pat Garrett of Lofton Creek Records is scheduled to perform Friday,
October 31 at the "Road to Victory" Rally with Governor Sarah Palin in York, PA.
The free event is scheduled to be held at the York Expo Center, 334 Carlisle Avenue.
Garrett's set, which will run about 15 minutes, is scheduled to begin at approximately 2:00pm.
Garrett, a native of Pennsylvania, was invited to perform his hit song, "Moose Shootin' Mama" inspired by Palin,
the Republican vice-presidential candidate. The song, released to radio on September 15, was quickly
circulated through the McCain-Palin campaign, and has since aired both nationally and internationally,
and has been covered by Fox News, ABC News, and the Wall Street Journal.
Garrett has performed at several events during the campaign, including a rally in Nasvhille, TN
last week along with singer Aaron Tippin. He was scheduled to perform earlier this week in Quakertown,
where Senator John McCain and Governor Palin were both slated to appear, but the event was
cancelled due to inclimate weather.
Tickets are available at Adams County Republican Committee HQ, 112 York St
Gettysburg; York Victory Center, 2210 E Market Street; McCain/Victory State HQ
112 State Street, Harrisburg; Carlisle Victory Office, 14 N Hanover Street; and the
Lancaster GOP/Victory Office, 902 Columbia Avenue.
3:00 am Thursday 10/30 Phillies - Phillies win World Series for the first time since 1980, when Republican nominee
Ronald Reagan came back from behind in the polls to win the Presidency.
Stock in Porsche -
"Porsche, VW's biggest shareholder, stands to pocket a quick €6billion (£4.7billion) profit from the short-selling."
Any other stock - stock that looks crazy cheap to you. Rite-Aid is at 50 cents a share. Apple is at $104 - the 52 week high is $202.
GM is at $6-7 - the 52 week high is $39. Ford is around $2, it's 52 week high is $9. I'm not saying these are good ones, but there's a basic
principle of buy low, sell high. Another thing that people often miss is that a stock that goes up might go down again. If I recommend
a specific stock, it's with the idea that you're gonna watch the price of the stock and take a nice gain when a nice gain is available.
I don't recommend watching the price double, not selling, and watching the price tumble below what you paid. Rite Aid is a good example.
Rite Aid traded under $2 and around $2 during much of 2002. To me, I thought @$2 was a good time to buy. And Rite Aid hit $6 in 2003
and again in 2006. From mid 2003 to mid 2007, it never fell below $3. So, you had plenty of opportunity to cash in nice 50%-150% profit if
you had chosen to buy Rite Aid around 2. Rite Aid is trading at 50 cents right now. Honestly, I think it'll hit 75 cents sometime. That's
a 50% profit. It could go to $1.00 or $1.50. Or it could be delisted, or a reverse split in order to stay listed.
But a 50% profit is a decent profit.
3:00 am Sunday 10/26 Politics -
Well, I guess I'm a racist, at least that's what I'm hearing. Apparently, if you don't want
to vote for a Communist, you're a racist. Sweet. I voted for Jesse Jackson in 1998 in
the New York Democratic Primary when I was going to Hobart College. But I guess I'm a racist.
Jesse Jackson was one of the main buds of Martin Luther King, Jr. Barack Hussein Obama is
endorsed (or half endorsed) by almost every enemy the United States of America has.
For 2 years, I was going to Law School at Boston University when Barack Hussein Obama was going
to Law School at Harvard. (He was across the river from me, he started in 1988, I started in 1989)
I learned in the first week that I did not like at all the leftism
that was being pushed at the school I went to. And I was still a Democrat, then. I thought about quitting.
I'm not a quitter, so I finished up, got the degree, got the licence to practice in PA.
But, I'm telling you here, I was a Democrat at that time, and the ideas that they were pushing,
Communist ideas, were just unacceptable to me, even then.
Boston's a great town in a lot of ways. I saw a ton of great shows there. Didn't go to class much.
I was doing Law School in Boston at Boston University the same time as Obama was doing Law School at Harvard.
Boston University is not as good a Law School as Harvard. Joe Biden went to Syracuse Law School. Boston University
definitely has a better Law School than Syracuse does. That makes me smarter than Joe Biden. And I don't use face
tape, or have hair plugs.
But it's cool, there's no reason why a Communist like Obama shouldn't run. I mean, he's good at debating.
What bothers me is the media. I watch a lot of South Park. Let's call the media "donkey raping shit eaters".
There ya go. The donkey raping shit eaters are not trying at all to try to determine the truth about Obama.
Is Obama qualified to be President? Is he really a natural born American Citizen? The donkey raping shit eaters
don't care. They care about how much Palin's clothes cost.
You know that Ayers and Dohrn were prepared to kill 25,000,000 (that's 25 million) American citizens if they didn't get
the proper attitutes after the re-education camps they had planned? That's what Communism is about people.
From Youtube - Ayers' Weathermen planned "re-education", genocide.
Honestly, I don't like McCain all that much. Ron Paul is my choice, I've been for Ron Paul for years. But he's not on the ballot.
But I don't want this country to be taken over by Communists.
7:00 pm Thursday 10/23 Obama Campaign - Pittsburgh -
McCain supporter robbed, assaulted -
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review "He continued to kick and punch her repeatedly and said
he would teach her a lesson for supporting John McCain," said police Chief Nate Harper.
Pan.a.ce.a signs with Susquehanna Entertainment -
I'm just gonna quote from the press release.
"Susquehanna Entertainment is proud to announce its newest management client, Pan.a.ce.a."
"Pan.a.ce.a, a melodic, hard rock band based in Bloomsburg, PA, is a staple of the Northeast PA club scene.
Their most recent album, All Or Nothing, will be re-released on the Susquehanna Entertainment label with
the single “I Never” going to radio in January. The band has already sold several thousand copies of their two previous CDs,
and a new album is slated for a June 2009 release. As with their earlier work, this recording will be
produced by Bret Alexander (member/producer of The Badlees) who has produced and recorded many other area bands,
including Breaking Benjamin's first CD which led to their major label deal."
"The group is searching for an additional guitar player; and it has not yet been determined if their current bass player, Ed Glazenski,
will be able to stay with the band. Anyone interested in auditioning for the band as a second guitarist or
bass player should contact Susquehanna Entertainment as soon as possible."
"Susquehanna Entertainment is an artist management and independent record company owned by Terry Selders.
Mr. Selders is best known as the manager of The Badlees throughout the 1990’s, releasing that band’s CDs independently
until they signed with Polydor/A&M in 1995, and then overseeing their career through two major label
releases and several national tours. He left the business in 2000 to deal with family issues,
but returned to launch his new label with The Central-PA Christmas Compilation in 2004. Then earlier this year,
he re-entered management by signing the Giants Of Despair, a virtual super-group of Central PA-based professional musicians.
Several album projects as well as a book about the Central and Northeast PA music scene are in the works for next year.
Terry is also a contributing writer for Guitar Edge magazine and freelances for Cherry Lane and Hal Leonard music publishing companies."
This should be good for Pan.a.ce.a. Terry is top notch.
12:30 am Thursday 10/16 South Central PA at CMJ Music Marathon -
3 acts (that I've been able to identify) either from South Central PA or with roots here are playing the CMJ Music Marathon
next week.
Menya - One of the singers of Menya is Cedar Cliff HS grad Angie Stipe, who I've mentioned
before. She played a bunch of shows at Gullifty's last year, mostly last summer, and opened for The Underwater Acoustic at Doc
Holliday's. She's going to NYU and Menya is a NYU band. Getting a bunch of nice press including Robert Christgau and Blender.
They definitely have listened to Peaches. Good professional stuff from U21's.
They're playing Lit Lounge 93 2nd Ave btwn 5th & 6th Sts, New York, NY
Tuesday Oct. 21, 8:45 PM.
Nathaniel Hoho and the Click Clack Boom - Way back in Feb 2005, Grant Wilson,
who plays with Nathaniel Hoho and the Click Clack Boom played a show at Gullifty's with Hierosonic - back when I was booking
Thursday's there. Has toured the East Coast from Georgia to Massachusetts. Local press, airplay for singles "Nightmares" and "Sir William"
throughout the Northeast and LA. Hoho was highly recommended by Alex Smith of The Tamboureens. Alex has his finger on the pulse.
Indie rock / folk. Good stuff. They're relocating from York to NYC soon. They're apparently playing 2 shows. On Tuesday 21, they're playing with Louis XIV at Terminal 5. That one
doesn't appear to be listed on the cmj.com site, but I'm guessing they play around 7 pm. Their other show is at Charleston
on Wednesday Oct. 22, 8:00 PM.
The Shackeltons - Many consider The Shackeltons the top "buzz band" currently in
South Central PA. Recent press in Rolling Stone, Spin. (I've mentioned them before)
They played Gullifty's a few months to a year ago (I didn't have anything to do with booking that one).
They're apparently playing 3 shows at CMJ. Tuesday the 21st at Fat Baby 11pm (that's the one on the cmj.com site), Tuesday 21st 1pm at
Piano's, Wednesday 22nd 11pm with Oxford Collapse. Indie Rock.
Rebecca Miller moves to LA - Rebecca Miller (ex of Bravetheday) is moving out to LA soon.
She "will be pursuing session and commercial work,
and of course, some kind of a solo career." (from her emailer) She should do well out there. There are a ton of quality
PA females who moved out to LA. There are probably more quality females from this area in LA than still in PA. I've mentioned
all that before - not going to do the list again. Anyway, Bravetheday's final show is coming up soon. From the emailer
"Saturday, October 25th - Brave the Day Farewell Show at Der
Maennerchor - Doors open at 8pm, music til 11pm, and event will wrap
up at midnight. This is going to be a very special night, and I
sincerely encourage you to come. My very generous band mates have
agreed to donate their take from the show to my moving expenses.
There is a lot of love in Brave the Day, and I am so grateful for
their support. The door will be a suggested $5 donation. More info.
for this special night to come."
12:30 am Monday 10/13 Obama - Kenya + Islam + Indonesian + Soetoro + Berg Lawsuit + Terrorists + Rev. Wright -
Reading another article
- about how
hate filled all Republicans are because they mention Obama's full name, which, apparently,
is Barack Hussein Obama. The writer of this article seems to think
"the emphasis on his middle name is an implication that Obama, who is a Christian, is Muslim".
I thought that the middle name was used because of Saddam Hussein of Iraq, who, if memory
serves, was one of our biggest enemies. Obama, as well, is very similar to Osama.
I guess both those guys are/were Muslims, but they certainly were the 2 worst enemies of the good ol
USA recently. I mean, if your name was, oh, Barack Manson Hatler, you would expect that the supporters
of your opponent would mention that. And it wouldn't be racist or anti-Muslim to do so.
Why is Barack named "Barack Hussein Obama" anyway? We know very little that can be verified factually about
the Democratic Nominee (whatever his real name actually is - let's call him DemNom). We know that DemNom
claims to be born in Hawaii. Others believe that he was born in Kenya, where his Muslim father was from.
If he was born in Kenya, he would be ineligible to be President of the USA (but not Kenya), so there's
quite an incentive for DemNom to lie about this as he has about many other things. Among those who
believe that DemNom was born in Kenya include DemNom's grandmother, who was at the hospital, in Kenya, where
he was born, and some of his half-brothers and half-sisters. His grandmother, half-brothers and half-sisters
are all Muslims. In the Muslim religion, your religion, when you are born, is the religion of your father.
In DemNom's case, again, that religion is Muslim, and that means DemNom was a Muslim at birth. Anyway,
DemNom was either born in Hawaii, or born in Kenya because the airline wouldn't let DemNom's mom fly and
DemNom's mom scooted back to Hawaii a couple days after Obama was born. Either way, DemNom's dad #1 (Obama)
went back to Kenya a couple years after DemNom was born.
A few years after that, DemNom's mom married DemNom dad #1 (Soetoro). He, too, was a Muslim. For 4 or so years, DemNom,
DemNom's mom and DemNom dad #2 lived in Indonesia. DemNom went to school there. Although it is extremely hard
to get any actual records about DemNom, people were able to get some of his school records.
When DemNom was in Indonesia, his name was Barry Soetoro, he was a Muslim (Islam) and he was an Indonesian citizen.
Here's the picture of the school record stating such.
A question I've never seen answered at all is how DemNom's name got changed back
from Soetoro to Obama. DemNom's mom and dad #1 didn't get married again.
Now all this DemNom being born in Kenya (maybe), becoming a citizen of Indonesia, and a bunch of other
stuff has led to a lawsuit right here in good ol' Pennsylvania, stating basically that DemNom is
not eligible for the Presidency. The Philip J. Berg, who filed the suit, is a Democrat, a former member
of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee. Not a Republican. Basically, Philip Berg wants DemNom to
prove he's a "natural born" US Citizen, and wants DemNom to provide 1) a "vault" version Birth Certificate;
2) a certified copy of DemNom's Certification of Citizenship; and 3) a certified copy of DemNom's Oath of
Allegience. DemNom is resisting this.
Here's the link to the legal filings.
DemNom clearly has something to hide.
You, I assume by now, have heard about Obama (calling DemNom Obama again) palling around with Terrorists.
Ayers and Dohrn were very famous back in the day. The Weathermen / Weather Underground were very famous.
They set off a bomb in the Pentagon. They set off a bomb in the US Capitol. They killed at least one cop (in San
Francisco). Back in 1972, bombing the Pentagon was big news. Here's "WANTED BY FBI" with Ayers and Dohrn.
Obama is either lying about his awareness of Ayers' terrorist activities (almost certainly the case), or was dangerously uninformed
about major points of recent US History. It's possible, although unlikely, because Obama isn't really an American. He might have been living in
Indonesia at the time, learning about Indonesian history.
Back in the day, we used to expect the media to tell us these things. The fact that the Democratic Nominee might not be eligible is
a huge story. But, now, we know better. The media's job is to get Obama elected. If someone wants to point out the fact that
Obama definitely was a Muslim for 2 separate, provable reasons, the media simply will say Obama "is a Christian" and say that
anyone who questions that is racist. Ok, Obama converted to Christianity at some point. I believe that was in his 20's.
I'd have to assume that prior to his conversion to Christianity, he was still a Muslim. Palin's version of Christianity has
been a subject discussed by the media. How about Obama's version of Christianity? Remember Rev. Wright? He's the guy who
married Barack and Michelle. He's also the guy that said "God damn America" (sounds like Ayers and Dohrn). Basically, the history
of Obama's religion goes something like this 1) was Muslim for 20 or so years - 2) converted to Christianity and went to
Trinity Church run by Rev. "God damn America" Wright - 3) Obama repudiates Wright this year.
I might write about Tony Rezko, Raila Odinga, ACORN, etc. later. But by now, you should know that
Obama is a terrorist loving, America hating, ex or secret Muslim who may or may not even be eligible to be President.
He's quite inexperienced, which is probably one of the best things about him, because his inexperience would
limit his ability to destroy America quickly. He's a good speaker with a nice, deep voice though, and Gotham is a good font.
4:00 am Thursday 9/25 Dapper.net - I ran across this web app called dapper.net. Basically, one of the things
that it can do is read and analyze web sites like
myspace, rip the content from those websites, and allow you to post the content in a number of different forms and a number of different
places. It seems to be a good thing for show dates that you're posting already on myspace. Your webguy can just set up one
of these widgets and put it up on your dotcom.
Deuce Gibb - Deuce has a bunch of new things to report. He's
joined The Lookies as guitarist (still with the Martini Bros). I've mentioned The Lookies before, ex Team Shorty, legendary Rummager on drums, etc.,
Seeing them again is on the list. They've got a single coming out fairly soon on Zodiac Records - King Loser / Undercover Rock.
The one show that he wanted to mention is October 12 at Naylor Wine Cellars, a benefit for Cruz Mead, Mike Mead's (Martini Bros) son.
Deuce is playing that day with the Martini Bros, The Lookies, and an Easy Mickey reunion. Also appearing
Hexbelt, Lovehaters, Waitin On A Train, God Bless Our Mobile Home, Headcase.
Rides by Russ Amusements, Victory Lane Motorsports Inc. Nascars. Sound by Kenny Dunlap. Raffles & Chinese Auction.
Catering by Mr. Bills Quality Seafood Brock's Catering. BYOB. www.4cruz.com for more details.
DBMCF - Dewey Beach Fest is this weekend. Those who have been there
know that it's beachy party fun. Many of the usual suspects from South Central PA will be there. The Underwater, The Jellybricks,
April Skies, Dan Kibler, An Early Ending, some of the top new bands from the area, The Tamboureens (if you're there, catch them if
you like 64 Beatlesque stuff - Be My Umbrella is quite notable), Kingsfoil, some of the strongest
regional acts, Jealousy Curve, Ike, Crash Motive, and likely a handful of top quality acts who haven't played DBMCF before.
York Bike Night - York Bike Night is Friday - a lot of music all over the place.
Martini Bros at Cherry Lane. Chuggernaut, CCL, The Underwater at White Rose.
Torn Apart, Falling From Heights Unheard Of, Facing the Giants, Sudden Ascent at Club 19. Disorderly Conduct at Wheelie Bar.
Warhawk, Walkure at The Depot. Among other things. Saturday has Dana Alexandra at Harp and Fiddle.
7:00 pm Friday 9/19 Pat Garrett on Fox News Tonight -
"Be sure to watch Pat Garrett on Fox News tonight, Friday, September 19. He will be interviewed
about his new song "Moose Shootin' Mama". His segment will be aired during the 10PM show EST.
In addition, he will be featured on Fox's "The Last Word", a live segment airing at 11:00PM.
Garrett was recently signed to a record deal with Lofton Creek Records in Nashville.
The song is being played by country stations across the nation.
The song, written about Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin,
is currently #4 of the Top Five Downloads in the country format.
For more information, email suzy@patgarrett.com
To download the song, go to www.patgarrett.com."
More good stuff from the Pat Garrett camp. In other, not quite so recent news (heck, I'll just
copy and paste from that email.
"What do country singer/songwriter Pat Garrett and the UK's hottest punk rock group the
Arctic Monkeys have in common? The song "Bad Woman", written and released by Garrett in 1969,
covered and released by the Arctic Monkeys in December 2007.
The Pennsylvania native has been closely associated with country music, sharing the stage
with many country legends including Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and George Jones, to name a few.
Garrett's song "Old Timers" was cut by grammy award winner ('Joy to the World") Hoyte Axton.
He's had six songs on the Billboard charts.. And he's even helped country superstar Taylor Swift get her start.
But Garrett cut his teeth in rock n' roll. In 1969 he was part of a group called
Pat Farrell & The Believers, named by Diamond Record president Joe Kolsky in New York City.
The young rock group, which included Keith Fister on drums, Russ Hix on rhythm guitar
(and later Tim Heiniman on keyboards), Keith Van Etten on guitar, and Garrett on bass,
then called Pat Farrell, recorded a number of self-penned tunes, including
the song "Bad Woman", at a studio in Reading, PA with Clay Barclay and Pat Farraro.
In 1998, Erik Lindgren, who owns a boutique record label called Arf Arf Records,
which features regional bands, put out a compilation CD featuring the songs of
Pat Farrell and the Believers. The CD was distributed through the internet.
Flash ahead to 2007. Recalls Garrett, "Erik (Lindgren) calls me and says 'I just read
in Rolling Stone that one of the biggest punk rock bands in the world just covered
your song, "Bad Woman". When he told me the name, the Arctic Monkeys, I said '
I guess they won't be playing Billy Bobs in Ft Worth!" Garrett laughs.
The Arctic Monkeys, from the UK, are heralded as one of the first acts to come
to the public attention via the Internet. Their debut album Whatever People Say that I Am, I'm not
remains the fastest-selling debut album for a group.
A clip of the original version, with Garrett on vocals, as well
as the Arctic Monkeys version is on their website at www.arcticmonkeys.com.
To order Pat Farrell & Believers CD call (888) 751 1300."
5:40 am Saturday 9/13 The Underwater - So far it's just rumor, but the rumor has it that Jessica is back.
Wow. The rumor has it that she's living at Dan's house? Can this be true? Oh, how the
mighty have fallen.
Inner Party System - I mentioned them before. The drummer Jared was the drummer
of D'arey October. The manager Steve was the bassist of D'arey October. Also a lot of
Thirteen Over Eight. Bands that I've hyped before. Now they're signed to Island Records.
The first single, Don't Stop, is in the top 50 - looking at All Access - Alternative.
I should mention that http://myspace.com/innerpartysystem can, I guess, be spelled either
Inner Party System
or InnerPartySystem.
It seems like the band likes to spell it InnerPartySystem, and All Access
likes to spell it Inner Party System. It wasn't so long ago (4 years?) that I was encouraging Jared to join The Underwater.
What a mistake for Jared that would have been. The InnerPartySystem album (InnerPartySystem) will be released
on September 30 in the US. Go fucking buy that shit. And D'arey October rules, as does InnerPartySystem.
Halestorm - They're on Atlantic. They're done tracking the new CD. I'm guessing they're not done mixing yet.
Like InnerPartySystem, they rule. Back in the day (Feb 2000) before John Harris thought that ripping people off was
more important than giving a quality product, I had a "night" at MMC, with PA Musician. Halestorm was beloved
by both PA Musician and PA Rocks, and I also picked D'arey October and Cloud Party. So, you know, at MMC, PA Rocks
had one night, ever. Look it up. I picked Halestorm (as did PA Musician), D'arey October, and Cloud Party. 2 out of the 3
bands that I picked, 8 years ago, when they were teenagers, are now signed to majors, and are poised to do very well.
Thank you, thank you very much.
Lauren K - Lauren K was in Stereo Logic back in the day. She was one of my writers as well. She is still young, has an awesome
resume. Currently, she's working for a label in Berlin, Germany (International Deejay Gigolo Records).
She's like the Sarah Palin of Rock. Hire her and win big.
Nectar - Caroline Rothwell is getting married soon. Her and Hardy wanted to do a Nectar reunion. I was talking to her online about
it. It looks like it's not gonna happen, but it might. Who knows? Either way, happiness to Caroline.
Politics - Liking Palin, Obama getting weaker and weaker, more annoying each and every day.
Obama went to a better Law School than me. I went to a better Law School than Biden. Does that mean that I'm less
qualified than Obama, and more qualified than Biden? I don't think that the USA is prepared to vote for an Ex Muslim,
Ex Indonesian Citizen, who used to be called Barry Soetoro. Our first completely mysterious President? Nope.
5:40 am Saturday 8/9
I want to add to the below that there's this band from Maine that I really like called
Full Contact Kitty http://myspace.com/fullcontactkitty.
Nice stuff, aware of the whole new-motorik thing that's starting to bloom.
Deserving of a nice opening slot with the right band in Boston (as well as elsewhere, but I just saw
em and was blown away by em) Anyway, call Full Contact Kitty up on the phone, or whatever, and ask
em to play Boston or New York, of if All Tomorrows Parties likes em, anywhere in the world.
5:30 am Saturday 8/9
This is from Boston, the bands in Boston want to play in PA (that does include Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, and
everywhere else that isn't Philly - of course Philly is desired). It most certainly includes Harrisburg and York.
So you go trade a York spot or a Harrisburg spot for a Boston spot. No shit. Do it. (By the way, this helpfulness
to Onslaught by no means relieves The Underwater of their own unfulfilled trade obligations that they owe to Onslaught.
I'm in Maine a lot now, and I need to trade Maine down to Boston.
*******
Would you like to play in Boston, MA? Onslaught Entertainment, one of Boston's top Independent
Concert Promoters, is looking to set up some show swaps with bands from Boston to PA amd PA to Boston.
If your band is interested please contact them at booking@onslaughtentertainment.com
10:30 pm Wednesday 6/25 Priscilla Ahn - Catch Priscilla Ahn
on The Tonight Show tonight - Wednesday 6/25.
8:30 pm Monday 6/16 Lefsetz - Here's something from
Lefsetz
Mailbag today 6/16/08. I thought
it was really good and useful for bands. It would be "Lessons for Bands" but I didn't
write it.
**********
Bob- One of
the guys playing our punkass little 45 band/3 day/25 movie Deep Blues
Music and Film Festival has this posted on his site. I thought you
might appreciate it. It's a long spiel but mostly right on.
______________
>From a 17 year vet:
How to not get your band booked!
I've
had many many jobs in my life. From removing asbestos to strip club DJ
to pizza delivery to unloading aircraft. But the one thing I've done
and never stopped doing was booking concerts. When I say "job", that
would infer that I get paid to do that "job". Booking concerts very
infrequently pays but I'm addicted to music and have been ever since my
big brother gave me my first record, Destroyer by Kiss. I learned a
long time ago that if I don't book the bands I like...they ain't
coming. Over one thousand concerts and 17 years later of bringing bands
to Memphis, I'd say I know EXACTLY how to get a band booked into any
venue in the world. I didn't say I could get people to show up...I just
said I could get it booked.
I've
been on all sides of the live concert equation. I've been the promoter.
I've been in the local band. I've been in the touring band. I've been
the patron. I've been the sound guy. I've been the bartender. I've been
the door guy. I've been the janitor. I've even been the groupie. So
there isn't an angle I haven't seen.
Now...
You've
got a band. You've got 30-60 minutes of music to play live and you want
to hit the stage. Any stage. Hell, a floor. As long as it's a public
place and you can get away with charging people to hear live music.
Getting a show in your hometown isn't all that difficult. Most venues
know that as long as you're local and especially if it's your first
show, all your band members girlfriends, friends, and family will
probably show up for your first show. I've booked plenty of kids bands
on their first show and they usually draw well with decent bar sales.
If you're worth a shit, they'll continue to come out. If not, those
friends and family will drop like flies to future performances.
Now about playing shows out of town....
Allow me to put things in the venue's point of view. When you're trying to book your band out of town, ask yourself this very very very very very very(x100) important question:
HOW MUCH MONEY WILL THE VENUE MAKE IF WE PLAY THERE??????
Musicians
hate that money actually comes into the equation. I've tried to explain
this to some. In major markets, there are venues that make unproven
bands buy 'x' amount of tickets to get a show. The band in turn then
sells the tickets to their friends, family, whoever. The Milwaukee
Metal Fest survived for years doing this. The response is: "Pay to play
fuckin sucks dude..it's fuckin bullshit." What no one seems to realize
that live music is always a pay to play proposition. It's just that the
venue that has to pay. A mid size music only venue in Memphis usually
has a nut of about $3K to $5K to cover monthly. I will not list the
expenses here but the fact that it's a long list should prove my point.
Almost all of the venues in Memphis that I know of don't take anything
out of the door for the venue itself except to pay the door guy and
sound guy and maybe security if necessary. So that leaves the bar to
cover that monthly nut. Risky business eh?
Truth
be told...if your band isn't on a record label, the best way you're
going to get a gig out of town is to trade shows with some band in
whatever city you're looking to play. MySpace is perfect for this.
However, make sure that the out of town band you're trying to contact
sets up said show for you. Odds are that band already knows people at
the venue and have already played there a few times.
Here's some perspective. The following bands have drawn right at or less than 100 people in Memphis:
Queens
Of The Stone Age (This was after their 2nd major label release with
massive radio airplay complete with commercial spots we bought. The
station gave away 20 tickets....3 of the 20 showed up. )
Morbid Angel
Jeff Buckley
Deicide
Southern Culture On The Skids
There are a ton more, but you get the idea. Why do you think, if these bands can't even break 100 people, you can make it worth the venues time to book you?
Let's
look at a standard email (complete with grammatical errors) that venues
get and I'll explain what's wrong with this email below:
Dear Hi Tone Cafe
I
have some new talent that is looking to break into your area. They have
experience,image and a great alternative rock sound and are going
places(otherwise I wouldn't have pick them up). They sell sold out
shows in their own area of South Carolina and are working on a getting
a Major record deal within these next year. Hope to hear from you soon.
Enclosed
is a little bio with tour dates and distribution info of there new CD
coming out July 25th, 2006 plus afull bio and little info on their new
album.
Souls Harbor is 5 piece Rock
/ Metal / Alternative that hails from BEAUFORT, South Carolina ,Late
last year the band put out their own EP entitled "Burning Souls",
produced by Eric Bass. The EP quickly sparked the attention from
several southeastern radio stations including 98X (Charleston, SC) and
Rock 106.1 (Savannah, GA) . The EP spawned off two singles and the
group moved more than 2,500 units within 90 days.
Signed
to Crash Music in January of this year, the band reunited with producer
Eric Bass for the recording of their first full length album entitled
"Writings On The Wall" hits stores world wide July 25. Look out for a
full US tour,music video as well as more commercial airplay this summer. we already have 1000 pre-orders fye,tower record,best buy,monster,etc world wide.
Played with or Supported: SLAYER,
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, CHEVELLE, CROSSFADE, NON-POINT, FILTER, SEVENDUST,
COLD, STRATA, AUIOVENT, EARSHOT, MASTODON, MUSHROOMHEAD, FIVE SPEED,
FLAW, FIVE BOLT MAIN, ALSTON, ALLELE, TRIGGER POINT, DRYCELL,
REVELATION THEORY.. AND MANY MORE REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ACTS.
Here's a list of things that a venue doesn't give a shit about:
--Who
you've opened or played on a bill with. Unless you played in the town
you're trying to get a gig with whoever's name your dropping, it means
ZILCH! And even if you did, it means little. My band opened for Faith
No More, Corrosion Of Conformity, GG Allin and a slew of others. Would
anyone go see us because of it? No.
--Who
is doing your press or publicity. No commercial radio station is going
to give away free airtime and there is no college radio here. There are
only 2 papers of note here. The Commercial Appeal and The Memphis Flyer.
--Who
produced your record. That's like saying "Emeril Lagasse fixed my
dinner." They didn't do it for free. The biggest producers in the world
will produce your record if you pay them.
--How
well you do in your hometown. Although this is completely meaningless
in whatever town your trying to play, it does matter. For if you ask a
band in whatever town you're trying to play that you're huge at home
and you'll be glad to trade shows with them, they'll be a lot more
interested in helping you get a gig in said town.
--Press
clippings. You wouldn't send out negative reviews would you? Of course
not. No talent buyer looks at press clippings because they all know
what they're going to say. "Oh this band is wonderful. Coldplay watch
out!" or whatever. I'll say this though. If a band ever did send me
multiple press clippings that stated things like.."This is the worst
band to walk the planet" and "I'd rather have a barium enema than
listen to this band" I would at least listen to their stuff and
consider them. Just because that'd be an approach I've never
experienced.
--How good you are. Of
course you think you're good. Your music is probably your life. Guess
what. It's just another fucking band setting up and making racket to
the club staff. Hard to believe isn't it?
To a lesser extent..
--What
you sound like. The only reason the venue cares what you sound like is
because they don't want to mismatch music genres or book the wrong type
of music altogether. Other than that, they don't give a fuck.
Nothing listed above answers the most important questions a talent buyer has:
HOW
MUCH MONEY WILL THE VENUE MAKE IF YOU PLAY HERE? See. Here it is again.
This is the number one priority when it comes to booking shows. Always
always ask yourself that question when approaching a talent buyer
regarding a show. If this pisses you off, then that means you proabably
can't draw.
WHAT DO I GET OUT OF
THIS IF I DO BOOK YOUR BAND? While money is far and away the number one
priority, it is not the only way to skin a cat. If booking your band
will get the talent buyer laid, free drugs, or a FAVOR in some shape
form or fashion, you stand a much better chance.
That's pretty much it. Ask yourself those 2 questions before contacting a talent buyer.
Recently
I took a chance on a band that I didn't know from Adam. All I knew was
that they were from 3 hours away and they had a schtick. I knew they
had no draw but they were asking for an opening slot on a bill that
would've guaranteed that they play in front of over 100 people. This
band could play here every month for a year and not be able to draw 100
people if ever in their lives.
I
liked their schtick and told them I'd put them on the bill but there
was no money available to pay them but they'd have the chance to sell
merch to a crowded house. I could've left the bill alone and not put
them on and still would've had the same crowd. They agreed to play for
free. Once they got there, they were aloof and complained about having
to play for free. Even though I'd told them the deal way in advance, it
didn't matter. I will never book them again nor will I book a band
sight unseen unless someone who's opinion I respect recommends them.
I
would now like to give EVEN more perspective. There's a club in St.
Louis called The Creepy Crawl. I book a lot of the same bands they do.
They have on their website a list of Top 39 Annoying Things That Bands
Do. 23 of these things have happened to me on several occasions. I'm
going to post this list A) because it's hilarious. B) so you can
understand where the venue is coming from. Not all these things apply but most do:
1.
Bands that feel compelled to bang on their drums and guitars in an
annoying display of lack of talent before the doors open. Usually this
occurs when we are trying to talk to someone on the phone or give
instructions to employees. There is a place for this type of behavior,
its called your basement.
Right on
brothers! No one wants to hear you noodle around... NO ONE! Once you
get your gear set up, make sure all your shit works then STOP!
2.
Out of town bands that show up and say "We decided to bring another
band with us, don't worry, they just need gas money and pizza. "
This
only happened to me once that I can remember (I've probably blocked it
out) but the one I do remember resulted in a large brawl between myself
and staff and the worthless band that showed.
3.
Out of town bands that watch you order their pizzas with "the works"
and after they arrive tell you "Oh, we're all vegetarians, can we get
buy-outs instead?"
I make it REAL clear that I don't do buyouts unless you're The Rolling Stones or something.
4. Local bands with managers.
This happens occasionally but I don't sweat it. I just don't book them again.
5.
Local bands that have a girlfriend as their manager (Can you say
annoying pain in the ass?). This usually marks the beginning of the end
for most bands at the Creepy.
This happens too but even less frequently than above. Again I just don't book them.
6.
Bands that bring their own "personal" sound-tech. After seeing him try
to operate the soundboard for 5 minutes the house soundman concludes
that this guy has absolutely no clue how to operate a PA. Accordingly,
the band sounds like total shit.
Most
sound guys don't mind letting a touring sound tech on the board. It's
less work for them and they could care less how the band sounds. They
just don't want him to break the house's shit.
7. Bands that have more roadies than band members.
8.
Bands that spell their names with a strange spelling twist e.g.,
junkeez, katz etc. After meeting the band, however, we are left with
the impression that they didn't intentionally try and spell their name
with a twist but rather they probably just don't know how to spell.
I don't book those bands. Period.
9.
The out of town band that was lucky to get the gig, brought absolutely
nobody, bitched all night long about their time slot, when told they
had 1 song left in their set play 4 more anyway who when being paid out
$50 in gas money asks "Is this the best you can do?"
See my above comments regarding the band from 3 hours away.
10.
Bands that arrive and state that they talked to someone at the club and
were told they get to play 3rd at 10:30 and can play for an hour. When
asked the name of the person they talked to they suddenly forget their
name but are sure they talked to "someone".
11.
Bands who all arrive at the same time but no one is willing to play
first. Subsequently the show doesn't start until 11:30 and everyone has
10 minute sets.
This is so
unbelievably common in Memphis. Because people don't start showing up
here until say 11 pm, no one wants to play first. This is because no
one wants to see the openers. This could be you!
12.
Top 3 signs that the band will bring no one to the show - 1) 2 Weeks
before the show they say "We're gonna pack your place!" - 2) 1 Week
before the show they ask - "What's your capacity?" - 3) Upon arriving
at the gig they ask "So how many people do YOU usually get on a
Wednesday night?"
I've only gotten number 3. I inform them that the bands are the draw not the venue. The usual response is "oh...bummer. "
13. Bands who draw is so bad that even their guests don't show up.
14. Bands who have no guests because they have no friends.
15.
Bands who bring absolutely no one to their first gig and then call back
relentlessly to ask for another show and can't understand why they
haven't gotten asked back. That's fine, we don't have to eat this month
and we really dig watching you guys rock out to our empty club. Bands
who fit this category don't need to bother calling back because the
booking guy will always be away when you call.
The above 3 are basically the same.
16.
Bands who after drawing no one at the end of the night apologize by
saying, "geez, after you booked us we booked ourselves to play at the
Hi-Pointe last night and we told all our friends to go to that show,
that's probably why no one came tonight. BTW, when do you think we can
play here again?" (Note: see above for our response).
17.
Bands who pester you to book their bands "side-project". Side-project
is another name for self-indulgent crap so embarringsly bad they can't
dignify it with a name and gives them a cover why none of their friends
will come see them "perform". (Would you go see your friend masturbate
if they asked you to come watch?). Note to bands: think of your
side-project as a project never to get booked again.
18.
Bands who show up wearing "All Access" laminates around their neck.
(Note to these bands: We honor these laminates for the bathroom and
parking lot areas only.) I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up but
you don't see me walking around wearing a spacesuit at the club. We're
convinced these people are recovering air guitar addicts from the 80's.
19.
Bands who right before their set ask to play without a PA so it won't
be deducted from their pay. (This has actually happened before). Sure,
we'll just ask the sound guy to go home for a 1/2 hour.
20. Bands that want to play in front or the side of the stage.
Usually 19 and 20 coincide.
21.
Bands that suck and then ask if you'll swap them out a shirt. You know,
our shirts actually cost us money and I really doubt anyone at the club
wants to wear your shirt. How about if we swap stickers and call it even?
22.
Band members that ask in a nasally voice for a soda or water before the
doors are open. Usually this occurs when your in the middle of doing
something important like counting down the drawer or talking to a
booking agent on the phone about a future show. You can fucking wait!!!
23.
Parents of bands... this could be a whole top 39 list on its own...
Parents who either a) insist on standing next to the owner all night
and talking his ear off about how great their kids 14 year old band is
(who BTW sound like they had never picked up an instrument in their
lives before they started "playing" that night) b) insist on standing
next to the the soundperson all night and making stupid suggestions on
how to improve the sound of their kids band to the soundperson all
throughout their set c) going to the bar while they wait for their kids
band to play, consuming way too much, and then going to stand next to
the owner and talk his ear off about how he used to jam in a band but
now their kids band is going is going to hit mega-stardom any day now
and... oh right, this is only supposed to be a paragraph.
24.
Bands that leave gear behind. This happens at least several times each
week and then we get the deluge of frantic phone calls in the following
days about have you seen this or that piece of equipment and on the
phone act liike we should know where their stuff is. Its amazing how
something that is so important to them the next day gets so carelessly
left behind the night of the show. We're the Creepy Crawl, not Bob's
Nightclub and Repository of Leftover Band Shit. Keep track of your shit and take it with you when you leave!
25.
Out of town bands that show up at 1:30 in the afternoon while you're
doing work at the club. They then want to hang out with you all day and
ask endlessly annoying questions while you work.
Questions
like: Do we get free beer? Do we get dinner? Do we get a discount on
either? How many guests do we get? See why the club might get irritated?
26.
Bands who when you tell them they have 1 more song left because they're
running late into their set decide to play a 45 minute opus full of
self-absorbed guitar solos which in the course of playing covers in its
entirety side 2 of Pink Floyds' Dark Side of The Moon.
27.
Bands that pester you constantly to open for a particular touring band
because they swear they worship their musical footprints and are the
heaven endorsed guiding light of their musical lives. On the day of the
show and after you told them sorry but the show was already filled up
they don't even bother to come to the show. However, someone at the
show reports hearing they decided to catch the Story of The Year show
at the Pageant instead.
This happens constantly. A great way not to get booked.
28.
Bands that cancel playing on the day of the show because even though
you've had them booked for 2 months it wasn't until yesterday that
someone in the band decided maybe then was a good time to try and ask
off work.
29. Bands that can't play longer than a 15 minute set.
Actually I'm all for 15 minute sets.
30.
Bands that bitch and beg to play a longer 45-50 minute set. They do
this knowing everyone else only gets a 1/2 hour slot. We finally relent
and rework the whole show to accommodate them and they still wind up
playing the same rush-through-it-because-we're-dipfucks 23 minute set
they play every other night they play. Apparently they live in a
different time dimension than everyone else on the planet. They thank
you profusely at the end of the set for letting them "headline" for
their fans but we make sure they buy us and everyone around us shots at
full price.
31. Bands that give big
lectures on stage about how important it is to support "the scene" but
at the end of their set want to get paid ASAP and don't want to wait
until the other bands get done.
This is a constant around Memphis. I will not pay before the show is over.
32.
Bands that keep asking to let us let them "set up" a show. These
requests usually come from bands that can't even show up on time for
their own gig and no matter how many times you told them what time they
go on their is always one member of the band who doesn't get the
message and totally fucks up the band schedule for the whole night.
However, they have somehow convinced themselves that if we let them
book a whole night this will somehow be the secret to their success.
99.9999% of the time when we actually allow a band to actually do this
it turns into a giant clusterfuck where half the bands they claim will
be playing don't show up and the other half show up bitching about how
they are supposed to be headlining.
33.
Bands that are booked for a show but email every 12 hours to tell you
they have changed their name and to please update your advertising. Call yourself Bobby & the Blowjobs for all we care, pick a name and STICK WITH IT!
34.
Pathetic reasons why bands cancel. Bands that cancel 10 DAYS ahead of
time because they have to go to a funeral! We feel so sad for these
bands. Geez, I didn't know your grandpa was being stored on ice for 10
FUCKING DAYS! Who is he, Walt Disney??? If your going to friggin lie,
try and come up with something half-way believable please.
35.
Shows where the 4 local bands collectively can't outdraw the one out of
town band you threw on the bill for gas money but through their own
initiative and hustle actually manage to outdraw the 4 local bands
(this BS actually happens!) We feel sorry and embarrassed for the out
of town band who usually when getting paid out their gas money ask us
quietly "whats up with the locals, who don't they have anybody come see
them?" and we tell them as loudly as we can "BECAUSE THEY ARE PATHETIC
& RETARDED LOSERS". Invariably (and we do mean invariably) their
has to be the one local band who shoves the out of town band on the way
to the door guy, lives 20 minutes away and brought a negative number of
people, (they sucked so bad they ran off our happy hour crowd early)
ask how much did they make and we tell them zero "BECAUSE THE BAND FROM
1/2 A CONTINENT AWAY OUTDREW YOUR PATHETIC AND RETARDED ASS". Actually we don't say that because we're so pathetically nice, we usually say "
you guys rocked, let us know when you want to play again!".
36 - 38: Bands that don't correctly understand the definition of these terms -
Load-In Time CORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: If a band has a load-in time of say 6:30 from that time
they may attempt to enter the premises and inquire about loading in of
their gear. If they by chance happen to arrive early they can occupy
themselves with other activities to fill in the time, such as: visit
the library, worship at a local church or synagogue or beating up the
homeless guy living in the dumpster.
INCORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: If a band has a load-in time of say 6:30 they arrive at
1:45 in the afternoon and knock incessantly on the back door. Usually
they knock while the owner is in the basement knee-deep in standing
shit working with a plumber to fix a leaking drain pipe. After trudging
all the way upstairs to find 5 snot nosed kids asking if they can
load-in now (and hang out all day!) they are politely told to fuck off
and come back at 6:30.
Promoter CORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: This is a person who actively works to promote a show.
They promote by distributing flyers, plugging the show wherever they
can and try to get as many people as possible to come to the show. If
they have an out of town band booked on the show they take financial
responsibility to ensure they get paid and are taken care of in
whatever way they need. They also take charge in organizing the show
and making sure all the bands know when they are scheduled to play and
how the money works for getting paid.
INCORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: This is a person who after asking repeatedly to put on a
show does the following 1) fails to promote show in any way 2) fails to
communicate any show details like lineup or order of the bands to the
club (or the bands themselves) 3) makes themselves very scarce at the
show , assuming they show up (they sometimes make a pathetic phone call
just before doors to say they've just contracted a rare disease called
pussyitis and to please take care of the out of town band). If they do
show up and when questioned about things like band order, who's taking
care of the bands etc. only respond with a blank stare.
Gas Money: CORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: Gas Money is a term used to designate an amount of money
to get a touring band to their next show. It sometimes includes a
little more than that so they buy themselves some fast-food on their
way or if they are lucky enough to cover a room at a Motel 6. Generally
gas money would be considered anything from $30 to $75 and depends on
how well the show goes.
INCORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: $200 is not gas money. $200 is we're partying all night
on the East Side and getting privates at Roxy's for everyone in the
band.
Touring Band: CORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: This is a band that is engaged on a "tour". They come to
the Creepy Crawl while on their tour and often come from far away
places such as the far corners of the country, Canada, Europe or Asia.
They are on the road for extended periods of time, sometimes for
several months at a time, in a van or bus and experience many new
places along their journey. These bands are always entitled to at least
gas money or more.
INCORRECT UNDERSTANDING: Driving up from Festus does not make you a touring band.
A "Following": CORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: A "following" is a collection of fans that attend the
performances of a particular band. This is what bands try to develop to
get ahead in the business and grow over time and is a measure of their
general popularity. The larger a bands following generally means they will be booked more often and on better nights at the Creepy Crawl
INCORRECT
UNDERSTANDING: A "following" does not mean all the people that attended
The Queens of The Stone Age show you opened for to cover the last
minute cancellation of a contractual local opener counts as your bands
following (perhaps the rush to the bar by the entire club and club
staff when you started playing was an indicator). And, yes, this means
the Jager girls at the club that night probably didn't come to see you
and probably won't be following you to your next show.
Now you get the idea of how cynical and jaded booking concerts can make you.
I
used to be in a band called The Diarrhea Of Anne Frank. We were total
noise. If you put 2 gorillas in a room with some instruments with heavy
effects on them and gave them a really good drummer, that would be us.
We didn't rehearse, we had no songs, we had no structure. We did have a
television that showed unpleasant things like German shit eating films,
Charlie Brown cartoons, graphic scenes of violence, and parts of the
show 'Friends'. The tv usually was smashed before the end of the set.
We didn't have a record out or t-shirts or anything. It was just a
release for us. We had no aspirations.
Yet we managed to play Chicago, Detroit, and the Knitting Factory in New York City.
If
I would've worked harder, we could've played even more shows, but it
was really a glorified vacation. If my crappy band can play the
Knitting Factory, you can too.
Here's how to do it:
--Develop
a draw in your hometown. That means you should play once every month to
6 weeks. Beg your friends to show up. MySpace the shit out of your
show. If the venue can count on you bringing 20-40 people a show, you'd
be amazed at how often people will ask you to play. Remember, once
every month to 6 weeks. Don't just play because someone asks you. The
best drawing bands in town maybe play at home 2 or 3 times a year.
--If
you haven't left your hometown and you don't have a record, your only
hope is to trade shows. Why develop a draw at home? So you can trade
shows with bands out of town. That's another thing. Make sure the band
you're trading shows with has a draw in their hometown. Check that
city's music message boards. Use the shit out of the internet. It's
your only hope.
--Sling that
promoter oil! Actually save up your own money and book big acts (or as
big as you can afford) in the clubs you wanna play. Then stick yourself
on the bill. It's a perfect way to find out if you're worth your salt.
That's how my teenage band got to open for all those bands we played in
front of. I saved my money, booked who I liked into a club and threw my
band on as support. The club loved me for not bugging the shit outta
them for a gig but instead asking for a date and ACTUALLY BRINGING
SOMETHING TO THE TABLE!!! You'd be surprised at how some musicians
think that they shouldn't be accountable. That all they should have to
do is show up and play and expect money, food and beer although they
may or may not have promoted in any way or brought anyone to the show.
I'm sure there'll be some who read this and get their feelings hurt. 17 years can make you callous.
**********
2:30 am Sunday 6/15 Bridges and a Bottle - Bridges and a Bottle is currently searching
for their new bass player, holding weekly auditions. If interested, contact Justin - jsmith@bridgesandabottle.com.
Brave The Day - Brave the Day
is on indefinite hiatus. I saw their last show (or one of) in York. They're still good. Um, here's the email
Rebecca sent to the BTD list about her new project.
"Brave the Day is on a break. You've maybe figured this out by now. I
have started a new musical project that makes me incredibly happy,
hopeful, and excited. So far, our committed members are myself on
guitar/ vocals/ pencil and paper, Natalie McKee on vocals/ viola/ and
soon to be ukulele, and Joe McAnulty on violin/ mandolin/ and
testosterone. We're gunning for the fabulous guitar/banjo skills of
Eli Charleston aka Clinton Daub, but he hasn't officially joined up
yet. No name yet, but we are PISSED that the name Lady Hawk is
already spoken for. (Frowny face) For now, our joke name is Hoof
Hawk. We're a goofy bunch.
What do we sound like?? Melancholy shadowed by hope, beauty and
strength, trees and wind, and lots of laughter. Develop your own less
evasive description of our music at one of the following shows:
June 20th - 8-8:30pm - Whitaker Center Stage 2 - Opening for Slaid
Cleaves (Austin based national singer-songwriter)
June 20th(yep. two in one night) - 9-9:45 pm - Suba - w/ good friend
Eli Charleston."
1:30 pm Thursday 5/14 Benefit Saturday -
Saturday March 17 is shaping up to be benefit Saturday.
2 big benefit shows Saturday March 17.
Show 1 is at Shakey's in Hershey. It runs all day and is called
Rockin' for Ronald, to benefit the Ronald McDonald House. It's ALL AGES
and was put together by Teresa and Rich of Rogue Stork. The lineup is
Knotfall (2p), Back in Black (3p), Luv Gods (4p), Emily's Toybox (5p), Random Allies
(6p), Friction Broadcast (7p), Union X (8p), Fith (9p), Adrian Blitzer (10p),
Negative Space (11p), Smooth Like Clyde (12m). Rogue Stork has been doing top notch
benefits for years and years. Their Toys for Tots has become a reliable December tradition.
Emily's Toybox is always good about playing benefits. Having these all day long benefits
works well because bands like Emily's, Back in Black, Luv Gods, can play these benefits during
the day, and also play another show at night. Emily's is playing Croc Rock later that night,
Back in Black is playing The Village.
Show 2 is at Dragonfly in Harrisburg. This one is 5 bands at night and is a benefit for Cystic Fibrosis.
This one was put together by Meg Spittler (Pam Saunders cousin) and Rick Gadd. I'd say that this lineup is the stronger
of the 2 lineups, and am recommending, for those who wish to rock all day and support good causes, to go to this one,
and go to the other one before that. The lineup for this one is the Dead 50's, Big Tubba Mista, Bridges and a Bottle,
Safari So Good and Moto Guzzi.
Lessons for bands - Tip 2 -
When the guy who initiates songwriting becomes the de facto manager and stops writing songs
there is a problem. Either someone else has to be the manager or someone else has to write the
songs.
6:00 am Friday 5/9 My new MP3 player - I like my new MP3 player. It's not an iPod or anything. It's not cool.
But it cost $36.99. Free Shipping. New, not refurbished or anything. The MSI Mega 536.
http://3btech.net/msime5364gbu.html
It's a little glitchy, the buttons sometimes stick or fail to work.
It's got a 4 gig hard drive, which is pretty good for $36.99.
MP3s sound good through a stereo, specs indicate a signal to noise ratio of 90db, which is apparently better than
the iPod.
Transferring from my Windows XP laptop to the 536 is easy.
Hook the mp3 player to the computer via a mini usb cable / usb cable, and the XP computer automatically reads the mp3
player as a removable disc. 98se apparently needs a driver. To transfer files, just copy from one and paste in the other.
If you liked the mp3s on my mp3 player, you'd just have to hook up your computer with my mp3 player and copy and paste.
It can play mp3s on SD cards. These days, 2 gig SD cards go for like $10, so if 4 gigs isn't enough, you can get a few SD cards
and put 2 gigs of music on em and play from the mega 536. I haven't tried that feature yet.
You can hook 2 mega players together, and directly transfer mp3s from
one to another, or between a mega and another player (the mega has "host mode"). I haven't used this feature either.
It also plays video, shows pix, has an FM tuner, typical mp3 player stuff.
All that is fine and good, but it's not why I bought this gadget. I always felt that these gizmos should be able to do recording.
Computers, going back 15+ years, have had sound cards with line ins, and those computers could record 16/44.1 stereo wavs.
Why do most mp3s players lack that ability? This one, the Mega 536, does not lack that ability. It does record stereo
wavs at 16/48 through a line in. That's the bitrate of DATs, the bitrate of the ins on my DV. That's $36.99, new, free shipping,
all accessories (cords, power adapter, etc.), for a 4gig mp3 player
that can record 16/48 stereo wavs through the line in jack. The recording is extremely easy to do. Get one of them cords with stereo mini
3.5 male on one end - plug that into the mega 536 - on the other end of the cord is 2 male RCAs, plug those into line outs from the board.
Turn the mega 536 on. Push the button on the side. You're recording. The quality is good. The s/n is at least 75 db based on looking at the
meters in soundforge. That's $36.99.
Here's an unmodified wav - Moto Guzzi at Smalls a couple of weeks ago.
This little clip will have a -72db and a -3db on it. It also has a microphone, and records mono 16/48. I haven't used it
to record a show yet, so I don't know how the quality is. There are some flaws with this gadget, there is no way to adjust audio levels, or meters,
so you have to guess. And, sometimes it might shut off for no reason. If you're taping multiple bands at a show, you might want to shut it off
after one band and turn it on before the next band, instead of just letting it run throughout. It might have been a battery power issue, I don't know.
I didn't notice any glitches, when it ran, it ran smooth.
You in a band? You recording all your shows? You might as well. If what you want to do is play albums on an mp3 player through a stereo
and do line in recording, this is what you should get.
Lessons for bands - I'm starting a new series called "lessons for bands". I got a lot of em written, but
I'm gonna drib em out, rather than just putting 10 pages on here. Tip 1 - People will stop going to shows when there aren't any new songs.
The Shackeltons - A month or so back, Jersey Mike made the unqualified
statement on a local music message board I think that Chambersburg's The Shackeltons were
unquestionably the hottest buzz band in South Central PA. I had heard the buzz, but I thought at that time that it was too soon to tell.
Well, when you take the preexisting rave reviews from Rolling Stone and Spin, and you add on the new stuff, the SXSW, the New York Times,
WXPN Festival and Bumpershoot, I have to say that Mr. Powers is correct. Others are going to have to have some serious accomplishments
to match where The Shackeltons are right now. They're a good band. Their metacritic.com score is 73. Indie Rock, or "knowingly frazzled rock" with "thick, burly riffs"
according to Jon Pareles of The New York Times. They're playing at Gullifty's on May 31 with The Thrives and Mitch Hood.
As an aside, I should mention that Jersey Mike Powers (who books Appalachian Brewing) is one of the few local music people that I pay attention to. He's often right.
Another is Alex Smith.
Appalachian Brewing / Doughty - As it happens, the same day as The Shackeltons at Gullifty's (Saturday, May 31)
Appalachian Brewing is having their anniversary bash. In previous years they've had free shows from Lake Trout (with Bo Bim)
and The Hold Steady (with The April Skies). This year it's a free show with Mike Doughty (ex Soul Coughing) and Tom Hamilton's American Babies.
Based on that fact that in previous years, the free shows have been packed, I can conclude that people like free shows
with national acts. And based on this, I can conclude that this Abc Brew show will be packed. This show needs no hype from
me.
Other May 31 - Well, there's certainly a lot going on Saturday, May 31. But that's not all. The Underwater has scheduled the first
of their 2 CD release shows at Dragonfly for that night (this is a 21+ one, with other bands tba, the other one scheduled is Sunday June 1, with
Jealousy Curve, Kingsfoil, other bands tba, that's an All Ages one. And, The Tamboureens
are playing at Suba, a short, short, ever so short walk from
Dragonfly, and they're playing early, from 9p to 11p.
7:00 pm Tuesday 4/21
Tomorrow is election day here in PA. There are famous politicians who are running for President on the ballot.
There are other politicians. There are also delegates who aren't too famous
on the ballot. Depending on what Congressional District you're in, you have a bunch of choices of delegates.
Well, here's a handy graphic to tell you which delegates to choose if you feel like voting tomorrow.
In District 17, Russ Diamond is the owner/founder of
Raintree,
so, make sure you vote for him, if you're in that district - Dauphin, Lebanon, Schyulkill, Berks.
Again, if you vote.
5:00 am Tuesday 3/4 The Underwater - The big news for The Underwater is this. They're signed
to Megaforce Records and Forces, the new album, is coming out April 29 in Europe
and May 27 in the US. Megaforce is the label that the new Black Crowes album,
Warpaint, is coming out on. Buy the new Black Crowes record, it's coming out today,
March 4. Yay Megaforce.
Here's a link, a screen shot of the megaforcerecords.com homepage.
I think the Black Crowes are pretty big, or huge, and I really like seeing The Underwater
there on the label page right next to em. Also, I should mention that there are certain technicalities
about saying that The Underwater is "signed to". I think it's a distro deal, maybe? Something having to
do with BLE. And an upstream deal? I think that an analogy could be made where the Black Crowes = Silver Arrow
and The Underwater = BLE. But The Underwater is right there next to the Black Crowes, and to me, that's pretty cool.
And if BLE, which is The Underwater's record label, has this kind of distro deal, that means that if everything goes
well, and The Underwater wants to put out records from bands that are reading this right now, they might very well be able
to do that. Provided everyone thinks the economics would work, and it's in everyones self interest, etc etc.
Think about that one, y'all. It's actually, potentially, pretty big for the Central PA music scene. If The Underwater wants to turn
BLE into a "Fowl Records" type label, where The Underwater is Jimmie's Chicken Shack, BLE has national distro already.
So, you know, it's in the best interest of almost everyone who is reading this to make The Underwater's Forces release
a big one for The Underwater and Megaforce.
If you're a Metallica fan, you should have heard of Megaforce Records. "Kill 'Em All" and "Ride the Lightning"
were first released by Megaforce.
I might tack some more on here later.
5:00 am Tuesday 2/26 Black Mountain - I'm digging Black Mountain. Tyrant.
Underwater news coming soon. I'm working on Album Art for (label)
so there might be an annoucement soon. Black Crowes have an album coming
out soon (hint). But man, I'm digging Black Mountain. Deep Purple in Rock,
Early Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Zeppelin. Mining it spot on. Not 100% on the perfection
in some ways, but, yeah. Black Mountain.
3:00 am Friday 1/25 Julia Othmer - I do want to mention that Julia Othmer (I brought her to Gullifty's
a while ago) just had a song on some ABC TV show. It was called "Big Shots" and the
song was called "hold me" It was apparently right after Gray's Anatomy. I think it was 1/10.
Anyway, more postitive action to Julia Othmer.
5:00 am Tuesday 1/22 End those who control the world
