My YouTube Page

8/20/2008 -- MySpace is where the media goes to find out about you after you've been murdered and implicates you in your own death. Keep that in mind while building your page.

I don't do Lyrics & Deep Thoughts anymore, even though it was the most popular part of the printed Journal. It took too much reading and researching to come up with all the quotes and lyrics, but here's a great one from J.C. Kuhl, who was featured in Style Weekly this week, on negotiating with club bookers: "If you are too weak, they cheat you. If you are too aggressive, they don't want you back."
 

8/13/2008 -- The Richmond Folk Festival is Oct. 10-12. I think VCU is having a 40th birthday celebration in Monroe Park on Oct. 25, and they let band fans pick the bands on the VCU website, which seems like a bad idea because no telling what they'll get. If this is VCU's 40th anniversary, and I attended VCU the first year of its existence, how old....no, never mind. Truth was I applied to and wanted to go to Richmond Professional Institute, aka RPI, but when I got here, it was VCU, having merged with MCV, which was a whole different school. What surprises me is Trani hasn't eaten up VUU by now.
 

8/6/2008 -- Urban jazz saxophonist Plunky has released his 25th album, "Drive It," with 14 songs, including dance, funk, jazz and go-go.

8/4/2008 -- I don't do MySpace! Stop trying to be my friend. Anthony, I don't know who you are, and Paul, you're already my friend in real lifespace. Just email me if you need to talk to me. I know I apparently have a shell of a page, only because if you need to look at someone else's page, you have to register. But if you notice, there's absolutely nothing on it! I don't even know how to get to it now. I've gotten two requests in the past two days. Stop it!

Here's some more hot club gossip: Bleu Bistro prefers bands that play for very little money.

Special Ed and the Shortbus won the 2008 Clifftop Appalachian Festival Neo Traditional Band Competition and Best Original Song.

Kinetic Element is playing the Prog Day festival in Chapel Hill, Aug. 29-31 as part of the preshow at Local 506. Tony D'Amato of Hedley Lamarr is filling in on bass.

7/29/2008 -- No offense to the Bleu Bistro, but they seem to be booking the largest group of bands I never heard of. Are these all from out-of-town or hobbyist bands of guys who normally don't play out but practice in the garage for fun? If it's the former, I wonder what the advantage is of bringing unknown touring, regional bands in (at what expense) compared to local bands, that might actually have friends and family who would come?
 

7/23/2008 -- Dan-O of Adam West has joined The Rats on guitar. Adam West is disbanding.

Finally! Someone has given us some club scoop. The Triple will cancel your show if they get a better offer. Bands playing there get the door, but often fail to receive the promised tab discount.

Rockitz, which books The Camel, tends to be forgetful. Get a "specific contract" as soon as you book something there and keep in touch with David Hudert constantly to make sure he remembers.

Poe's Pub gives you the door as payment, but they also let all the regulars in free. So probably only your friends are paying, and you probably put them on the guest list, so I predict you're going to make bumpass dollars.

Cafe Diem has their favored band roster which is hard to break into.

Ty and Company Expresso in Powhatan has closed.

Babe's is only booking live music on Thursdays.

The manager of Easy Street will pull the plug on your ass if you play too loud (because the acoustics in that place are truly awful...the least little volume blows the top of your head off, but I know how much you are tempted to turn the dial up because the crowd noise is also incredible). Also, checks paid to bands have been known to bounce and it's weeks before the club makes good on it.

Share your club horror stories with me! I love to be the bearer of bad news. I will protect your identity.
 

The complete 11 years of print copies of the Richmond Music Journal are available on microfilm at the State Library of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University library for your researching pleasure.

Spay and neuter your pets, your neighbor's pets, and any animals you can catch and release.
 

rmjournal@mindspring.com
The Richmond Music Journal is owned and operated by
Mariane Matera
since November 1993.