ceci's Blog

I would pay big money to see the Whippettes back up Putnam on a song...

Sneaking in under the wire, I like "The Orchard" by Fire on Fire.

Cool. Keep the suggestions coming. Antwaid and camjones - you nailed several on my wish list too.

Portland bands booked as of 1/5 include: Sidecar Radio (1/17); Putnam Smith and Lovewhip (1/22); Sly-Chi (1/23); Samuel James (2/15). Lots of opportunites. Regional bands = Fear Nuttin Band (Springfield, MA 1/17); Firewater Band (MA 1/17); Jordan Valentine (Boston 1/17); Lovewhip (call them Boston, call them our own - whichever you prefer, 1/17).

Bands being added all the time - web site coming; blog currently blogging at http://www.portcitymusichall.blogspot.com/ (just added good Sidecar Radio & Fear Nuttin video...).

Thx for the link heads-up - our current staff of 3 (not counting newly hired bar/security/wait staff) is logging in the miles elsewhere. Probably time to take it down anyway - it has served its purpose. Kudos go to Lapchick Creative for for their work on that campaign.

Great list excitable one - I think we'll be seeing you a lot...

Here's what we've got confirmed so far (January shows are now on sale + DTB. The rest should be put on sale this week (holiday notwithstanding.)

1/17: Fear Nuttin' Band and Sidecar Radio, 1/22 SonicBids Showcase: Putnam Smith, The Firewater Band, Jordan Valentine & the Sunday Saints, lovewhip; 1/23 Zen Tricksters and Sly-Chi; 1/29 Collie Buddz; 2/6 Derek Trucks Band; 2/15 Johnny Winter and Samuel James; 2/19 Jazz Mandolin Project; 3/12 Duncan Sheik; 3/13 OK Go with Longwave and Oppenheimer; 3/20 Assembly of Dust.

More getting confirmed all the time. Our web site is imminent...be patient! But tickets are now available at www.portcitymusichall.com and all Bull Moose locations.

I've recently closed shop on my freelance publicity business (to take on fulltime w/Port City Music Hall). I've had to turn down several potential clients since in the greater Portland area. Is there anyone out there qualified to pick up the slack?

There's a need for mostly event-driven publicity, i.e. CD releases and concert promo. You need to be: a decent writer (familiar w/press releases and all their various forms), have a good e-mail list of print, radio, online and other press contacts, be personable enough to call up all the previous and pitch stories to them, and, basically, love music & the arts. These skills lend themselves to any genre etc.

If someone has experience, please get in touch w/me and I'll send some clients your way. There's not enough work so far to quit your day job, but there sure is opportunity to build a great business as the music scene here thrives and grows.
ceci@portcitymusichall.com

(No experience? Port City Music Hall will be offering internships where I will be training people in all the above, then setting them loose into the community....more on this later)

my 2 cents as a music publicist and dj - When researching a band, I really like and most often utilize the shorthand offered by myspace. Instant tracks by the artist - handpicked by them or their management to represent them, usually very up-to-date tour schedule - band members listed, their choices for influences, quick and short bio - sometimes just their standard bio - sometimes a little looser and more entertaining. All this on one page.

I find band web site music players to be widely diverse and unreliable. Sometimes they don't even have one - sometimes my Mac won't play it and sometimes it plays annoying brief clips over and over. MySpace music player rocks (except for the past week when it's been skipping...)

However, I feel the band web-site is needed too. When I'm researching a band I 1) Google band name and click on band website link that comes up. 2) go immediately to links/contact page and click on their myspace page. 3) listen to tracks and check out all the above on Myspace page. Only then do I go back to the web site to check into "news" section and get into the archive of articles, press clips, longer bios, CD listings and to download photos, etc.

(If you're still with me, I'm going to keep going....) I also like the fact that a lot of small indie bands from around the country have found me and contacted me thru my Myspace page. And, when I find a band i like, I spend some time poaching their friends list. Learn a lot about small pockets of activity around the country.

Summary: Both are necessary. I think services like Myspace allow band web sited to become more static - simple news updates on the home page can give regular visitors something to look at - and a blog linked of all web presences can give people their fix of gossip, etc. One central thing to update.