Hey Harrisonburg!
Mi dispiace for the delay in entries, but missing planes from Paris will do that to you! ...However, that's a story for another time.
The matter at hand is much more funky and much less expensive:
Midnight Spaghetti is celebrating their 5th anniversary in the 'Burg and I am so jealous that you can go and I can't!
On Saturday, February 9, Blame it on the Train Productions is bringing you Midnight Spaghetti's 5th birthday party at The Bag starting at 10pm. You can expect the typical Midnight Spaghetti shennanigans and more surprises than ever including plastic helmets, party hats, trophies, Midnight Spaghetti temporary tattoos, balloons, Spaghettifest 5 DVDs and a good time!
Unfortunately my time is up here in Florence, so you will have to hang tight for more. Until then, party on my party people.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Some delicious Cool-Aid...
This past weekend, JMU's student-run station, WXJM, hosted the annual "COOLAID" benefit event. Though I unfortunately could not be in attendance thanks to the big lake in my way, over one hundred others were, despite the nasty Virginia weather you've been having, and the day was a success. WXJM raised over $700 and bands including Valkyrie, Ankou, Special Moments, Linda Drapper and Voyces among others performed for the good cause.
Money raised could potentially help fund MACRoCK, the Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference which is tentatively planned for later this spring. MACRoCK is a festival showcase for independent artists, like all your favorites featured on WXJM.
Those running the event put in over 12 hours the day of the event and many more in preparation, so kudos to their hard work!
Fill me in on all the juicy details! yummm...Post a comment!
Money raised could potentially help fund MACRoCK, the Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference which is tentatively planned for later this spring. MACRoCK is a festival showcase for independent artists, like all your favorites featured on WXJM.
Those running the event put in over 12 hours the day of the event and many more in preparation, so kudos to their hard work!
Fill me in on all the juicy details! yummm...Post a comment!
Monday, January 21, 2008
ROCK
Ciao tutti!
I may be in Italy, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to keep you entertained over there in the 'Burg. Check out some of the sweet events your locally-run Blame it on the Train Productions is bringing your way:
-On Friday January 25: Murphy's Kids, Blatant Vibe, and Secret Ninja Death Squad are playing at Casey's Bar at the Holiday Inn at 9pm (And don't worry youngin's! If you are under 21, you can still get in.) Look out for those Blame it on the Train rep's on the Commons January 24 and 25.
-Get your fabulous on with a TBA Rap Show with DJ Mark Maskell in early February.
-On February 9: Our favorite midnight snack Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings are coming to the Bag. More shennanigans still TBA.
-And keep your eyes peeled for more events happening February 15, 20 and March 19 or keep checking at the BIOTT website for the good word.
Of course, it is essential to remember the mission of Blame it on the Train is to keep raising money for great causes, so help them out! Last December they raised $5,000 for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure and are hoping to keep the tradition going.
Got any ideas for acts you'd like to see at JMU? Leave a comment or vote in the poll on this page.
Stay fly.
I may be in Italy, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to keep you entertained over there in the 'Burg. Check out some of the sweet events your locally-run Blame it on the Train Productions is bringing your way:
-On Friday January 25: Murphy's Kids, Blatant Vibe, and Secret Ninja Death Squad are playing at Casey's Bar at the Holiday Inn at 9pm (And don't worry youngin's! If you are under 21, you can still get in.) Look out for those Blame it on the Train rep's on the Commons January 24 and 25.
-Get your fabulous on with a TBA Rap Show with DJ Mark Maskell in early February.
-On February 9: Our favorite midnight snack Midnight Spaghetti and the Chocolate G-Strings are coming to the Bag. More shennanigans still TBA.
-And keep your eyes peeled for more events happening February 15, 20 and March 19 or keep checking at the BIOTT website for the good word.
Of course, it is essential to remember the mission of Blame it on the Train is to keep raising money for great causes, so help them out! Last December they raised $5,000 for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure and are hoping to keep the tradition going.
Got any ideas for acts you'd like to see at JMU? Leave a comment or vote in the poll on this page.
Stay fly.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I love COOL-AID!
Check it out all my party people:
Your favorite college station for independent jams is bringing you COOL-AID...but this kind is much more refreshing than the drink with the big pitcher for a mascot.
COOL-AID is a benefit show and art fair supporting MACRoCk: the Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference. (Also coming to JMU, TBA)
Soooo, on Saturday, January 19th at the Festival Ballroom there is going to be a FREE art fair (that means no excuses) from 12-5 and the show starts at 5pm. It's $6 to get in or $5 with a canned food donation to see bands including Aggrocrag, Valkyrie and many, many more. Once again WXJM is hooking you up with ways to rock out while giving back, so clear the date!
For details on COOL-AID and more, check out http://orgs.jmu.edu/wxjm
Your favorite college station for independent jams is bringing you COOL-AID...but this kind is much more refreshing than the drink with the big pitcher for a mascot.
COOL-AID is a benefit show and art fair supporting MACRoCk: the Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference. (Also coming to JMU, TBA)
Soooo, on Saturday, January 19th at the Festival Ballroom there is going to be a FREE art fair (that means no excuses) from 12-5 and the show starts at 5pm. It's $6 to get in or $5 with a canned food donation to see bands including Aggrocrag, Valkyrie and many, many more. Once again WXJM is hooking you up with ways to rock out while giving back, so clear the date!
For details on COOL-AID and more, check out http://orgs.jmu.edu/wxjm
Monday, January 14, 2008
Split open and melt
Though I may be in Florence and totally submerged in Italian culture and politics, JMU has done a nice job to help keep us informed with recent current events by supplying students here with a library where I found the January 12-18 edition of The Economist, which has an interesting article concerning the continued demise of the major labels.
One of the most striking parts of the article to me was the opening paragraph, which described a 2006 study conducted by recording giant EMI. Teenagers were asked about their music listening and purchase habits and at the end were invited to take some free CDs as a thank you for doing the study.
None of them took any.
At first I thought this was a mean trick by the label to see who would steal the music and who would not, but after a moment of consideration at the final statement, "That was the moment we realized the game was completely up," I understood the point: Youth are not interested in CDs anymore. The market is up, or nearly there. It's all about the digital.
Though, I am still a sucker for a hard-copy CD, apparently the rest of the world is not. More distressing is the fact that unfortunately my opinion doesn't count for much when the millions invested in the industry are taken into account. However, the industry's downward spiral is only a symptom of the greater illness: greed.
As piracy goes up, CD sales go down. As CD demand goes down, CD availability grows smaller. As CD availability grows smaller, clowns like me who still enjoy a good ol' CD and case get tired of scrounging. And as we get tired, the majors loose out on one of their only faithfully remaining revenue sources: the die-hard music-lovers. And all of it could have been avoided if companies had taken the time to plan ahead and prepare for the storm while they had the resources as Tim Renner of Universal Music explained in the Economist article: "...the majors should have acted years ago. "Then they had the money and could have built the competence by buying concert agencies and merchandise companies," he says. Now it may be too late."
Paid-for-download services are increasing and more and more 360-deals are striking all the time, but the industry (as we know it) is on a ticking-clock.
Check out The Economist for more.
One of the most striking parts of the article to me was the opening paragraph, which described a 2006 study conducted by recording giant EMI. Teenagers were asked about their music listening and purchase habits and at the end were invited to take some free CDs as a thank you for doing the study.
None of them took any.
At first I thought this was a mean trick by the label to see who would steal the music and who would not, but after a moment of consideration at the final statement, "That was the moment we realized the game was completely up," I understood the point: Youth are not interested in CDs anymore. The market is up, or nearly there. It's all about the digital.
Though, I am still a sucker for a hard-copy CD, apparently the rest of the world is not. More distressing is the fact that unfortunately my opinion doesn't count for much when the millions invested in the industry are taken into account. However, the industry's downward spiral is only a symptom of the greater illness: greed.
As piracy goes up, CD sales go down. As CD demand goes down, CD availability grows smaller. As CD availability grows smaller, clowns like me who still enjoy a good ol' CD and case get tired of scrounging. And as we get tired, the majors loose out on one of their only faithfully remaining revenue sources: the die-hard music-lovers. And all of it could have been avoided if companies had taken the time to plan ahead and prepare for the storm while they had the resources as Tim Renner of Universal Music explained in the Economist article: "...the majors should have acted years ago. "Then they had the money and could have built the competence by buying concert agencies and merchandise companies," he says. Now it may be too late."
Paid-for-download services are increasing and more and more 360-deals are striking all the time, but the industry (as we know it) is on a ticking-clock.
Check out The Economist for more.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Italia e molto bella!
Ciao blog-readers!
I apologize for the delay in entries, but switching continents will do that to you.
So far Italy is great and I'm already scoping out the local music scene here as well as trying to keep up to date on all the happenings of Harrisonburg including COOL AID happening January 19th, tons of Midnight Spaghetti shows, the return of WXJM to the airwaves and the continuation of Blame it on the Train Productions who are hosting Murphy's Kids and Blatant Vibe at Casey's in the Holiday Inn on Friday, January 25th. You can help me out, too by letting me know all the latest in the 'Burg. Leave some comments!
So far the scene here in Italy seems pretty dominated by American music as I have been sitting in a cute bar right beside the Duomo enjoying 2, 50 tea and free wi-fi service all day while listening to such classic songs and artists including Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, Jamariqui, Rihanna, Dave Matthews, and The Stones just to name a few. Last night at another local bar, The Red Garter a cover band was ripping Beatles tunes out all night and previously there was Kareokee at the same bar which consisted of awful renditions of other typical English tunes. However, I've got my ear to the street and have already found a few local live music venues, mostly featuring Jazz which I hope to ambush during my three month stay here in the city of romance, Florence, Italy. Spanish music also seems to be a favorite of the area, especially in the local bar, Salamanca (go figure) and some Italian music comes through on the shuffle occasionally as well.
Due to the thousands of students that migrate to Florence every semester, I can only be hopeful I will be able to dig up some of the best local sounds, however I have already had some success as one of the owners of the bar I'm currently typing away in plays with his brother around the area. I'll keep you updated on that.
At the very least, I have already had the opportunity to speak with various students from all over and even a few Australian journalists about music and have a few new artists to check out on my list. Currently the top artist to download is The Doves, so as soon as I have the opportunity to check them out: I'll let you know ;)
For now, It's off to discover more of Florence! Let's do each other a favor though, and keep in touch. I'm always down to hear about the next big thing.
Ciao!
I apologize for the delay in entries, but switching continents will do that to you.
So far Italy is great and I'm already scoping out the local music scene here as well as trying to keep up to date on all the happenings of Harrisonburg including COOL AID happening January 19th, tons of Midnight Spaghetti shows, the return of WXJM to the airwaves and the continuation of Blame it on the Train Productions who are hosting Murphy's Kids and Blatant Vibe at Casey's in the Holiday Inn on Friday, January 25th. You can help me out, too by letting me know all the latest in the 'Burg. Leave some comments!
So far the scene here in Italy seems pretty dominated by American music as I have been sitting in a cute bar right beside the Duomo enjoying 2, 50 tea and free wi-fi service all day while listening to such classic songs and artists including Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, Jamariqui, Rihanna, Dave Matthews, and The Stones just to name a few. Last night at another local bar, The Red Garter a cover band was ripping Beatles tunes out all night and previously there was Kareokee at the same bar which consisted of awful renditions of other typical English tunes. However, I've got my ear to the street and have already found a few local live music venues, mostly featuring Jazz which I hope to ambush during my three month stay here in the city of romance, Florence, Italy. Spanish music also seems to be a favorite of the area, especially in the local bar, Salamanca (go figure) and some Italian music comes through on the shuffle occasionally as well.
Due to the thousands of students that migrate to Florence every semester, I can only be hopeful I will be able to dig up some of the best local sounds, however I have already had some success as one of the owners of the bar I'm currently typing away in plays with his brother around the area. I'll keep you updated on that.
At the very least, I have already had the opportunity to speak with various students from all over and even a few Australian journalists about music and have a few new artists to check out on my list. Currently the top artist to download is The Doves, so as soon as I have the opportunity to check them out: I'll let you know ;)
For now, It's off to discover more of Florence! Let's do each other a favor though, and keep in touch. I'm always down to hear about the next big thing.
Ciao!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
the dashboard melted, but we still have the RADIO...
Happy new year! Here's hoping 2008 is filled with peace, love and parties, music, friends and fun, and a whole lotta blogs!
I just received a reminder today that Harrisonburg's favorite alternative music station: 88.7FM WXJM, will be back in action starting Monday, January 7th. For those of you in the Harrisonburg area, be sure to get your radio ready and for those of you, like me, who will NOT be local listeners, check this out! No need to be tied to those measly radio waves! Welcome to 2008.
For those of you who don't know much about WXJM, here's a little history:
WXJM began as a question on an SGA annual election ballot in 1984, which asked: “Do you support a student-run, student-organized radio station.” Nearly 100% of voters responded “Yes” and the station was born.
The founders of WXJM went through many steps to create the station heard on 88.7FM today. An available frequency had to be found, a name had to be decided on and an FCC application had to be completed. It was also determined early in the creation stages that WXJM would raise funding for the station through underwriting and sponsorship dollars from local businesses rather than rely on corporate donations as many college stations do.
This choice reflects the greater goals and values of WXJM as a promoter of local and independent businesses as well as bands and musicians. General Manager, Amanda Phillips described the philosophy as a way of giving artists air-time who truly deserve it though it is otherwise unavailable to them on major stations. WXJM distinguishes itself as a station dedicated to enabling students hands-on experience with broadcast communications, production, promotion, and music industry experience as well as an opportunity to share their love of music not only with others involved with the station, but with the entire JMU and greater Harrisonburg community.
“Going to a WXJM show is a great way to meet different people at JMU,” explained Programming Director Sarah Delia. “It’s an awesome way to be exposed to new music and see what other people are doing in the ‘Burg.”
Phillips was excited to talk about the future plans of the station. “It’s cool to put a lot of time and effort into something you love.” She explained, “If you like good music, then WXJM is the right place to go. It’s all good people with a common interest in music…and we’re fun!”
Unlike most genre-based radio stations, WXJM features loud rock, jazz, americana, progressive rock, RPM, urban, free form, world, and talk shows and makes a conscious effort to reach each of those audiences through their live shows as well. Delia emphasized the goal of the station is to expose students to all kinds of music throughout the year and appeal to all audiences as the many genres featured on WXJM do.
That’s what WXJM is all about: opening ears, eyes and minds. In addition to entertaining the JMU campus with various shows and events, and promoting independent music through the airwaves, members of the station also traveled to New York City in October to represent JMU at CMJ, a college music festival featuring many of the bands heard on WXJM.
It’s an exciting time for music as the industry changes with the advances in technology like MySpace.com, making the world an easy place to navigate for under-represented artists.
If you are interested in getting involved with the independent music scene and WXJM, or are just looking for some good music, good people, and a good time, check out the website or post a comment here.
I just received a reminder today that Harrisonburg's favorite alternative music station: 88.7FM WXJM, will be back in action starting Monday, January 7th. For those of you in the Harrisonburg area, be sure to get your radio ready and for those of you, like me, who will NOT be local listeners, check this out! No need to be tied to those measly radio waves! Welcome to 2008.
For those of you who don't know much about WXJM, here's a little history:
WXJM began as a question on an SGA annual election ballot in 1984, which asked: “Do you support a student-run, student-organized radio station.” Nearly 100% of voters responded “Yes” and the station was born.
The founders of WXJM went through many steps to create the station heard on 88.7FM today. An available frequency had to be found, a name had to be decided on and an FCC application had to be completed. It was also determined early in the creation stages that WXJM would raise funding for the station through underwriting and sponsorship dollars from local businesses rather than rely on corporate donations as many college stations do.
This choice reflects the greater goals and values of WXJM as a promoter of local and independent businesses as well as bands and musicians. General Manager, Amanda Phillips described the philosophy as a way of giving artists air-time who truly deserve it though it is otherwise unavailable to them on major stations. WXJM distinguishes itself as a station dedicated to enabling students hands-on experience with broadcast communications, production, promotion, and music industry experience as well as an opportunity to share their love of music not only with others involved with the station, but with the entire JMU and greater Harrisonburg community.
“Going to a WXJM show is a great way to meet different people at JMU,” explained Programming Director Sarah Delia. “It’s an awesome way to be exposed to new music and see what other people are doing in the ‘Burg.”
Phillips was excited to talk about the future plans of the station. “It’s cool to put a lot of time and effort into something you love.” She explained, “If you like good music, then WXJM is the right place to go. It’s all good people with a common interest in music…and we’re fun!”
Unlike most genre-based radio stations, WXJM features loud rock, jazz, americana, progressive rock, RPM, urban, free form, world, and talk shows and makes a conscious effort to reach each of those audiences through their live shows as well. Delia emphasized the goal of the station is to expose students to all kinds of music throughout the year and appeal to all audiences as the many genres featured on WXJM do.
That’s what WXJM is all about: opening ears, eyes and minds. In addition to entertaining the JMU campus with various shows and events, and promoting independent music through the airwaves, members of the station also traveled to New York City in October to represent JMU at CMJ, a college music festival featuring many of the bands heard on WXJM.
It’s an exciting time for music as the industry changes with the advances in technology like MySpace.com, making the world an easy place to navigate for under-represented artists.
If you are interested in getting involved with the independent music scene and WXJM, or are just looking for some good music, good people, and a good time, check out the website or post a comment here.
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