Can a piece of the problem be incorporated into the solution?
Maximum Capacity Owner/Manager Donald Robert thinks so. And based on the response of his recently created Facebook group, A Scene United: Western MA Local Music Network, his assumption is justified.
You see, although Robert utilizes outlets like Facebook to help organize and receive preliminary feedback on his quest to re-invigorate the local scene-scape, he feels equally passionate about social media’s role in its current plight.
“Things like Facebook seem to have taken out the key element of face-to-face interaction amongst each other, and therefore less and less musicians go to each other’s shows,” he explains.
Benjamin Jon, owner of Stillwork Recordings in Holyoke, was one of the 40 musicians/booking agents/studios that attended the first official Network meeting at Maximum Capacity earlier this month.
“The group began from a desire to have a more successful music scene, most notably from a few individuals who were involved when it was thriving,” Jon says. “The solution involves clubs, promoters, bands, fans, media and advertising channels aligning for common interests.”
The next meeting of the Local Music Network is slated for Thursday, Nov. 8 at Max Cap (maximumsportsbar.com) starting at 8 p.m. The meeting is free and open to all.
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Next up, some back-to-back piano-powered offerings. Or should the Crawler say back-to-Bach? Singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata comes to the Iron Horse Oct. 28 in support of her recently released full length Chesapeake, followed by Simone Dinnerstein—whose Bach: A Strange Beauty is the best-selling Sony classical album of all time—at Sweeney Hall at Smith College Oct. 29.
Tix for the former are $17.50 in advance, $20 at the door and available at iheg.com. The deal with Dinnerstein is $32 for the general public, $10 for students and $5 children, with more information available at musicindeerfield.org.
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In other news, Drunk Stuntman frontman Steve Sanderson checked in to report that his band will headline an Oct. 29 fundraiser at the Stone Church in Brattleboro from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Considering that said show is a Halloween bash benefiting local bike shop Lynde Motorsports—recently ravaged by Hurricane Irene—the Stuntmen are appropriately being joined by Terry Flood and the Creepin’ Cadavers for the one-night-only affair.
“You all know [store owner] Stanley Lynde,” Sanderson notes. “He’s the guy that will fix your stuff and charge you half of what he should. When insurance companies don’t help and the government can’t either, it’s back to the way it should always have been—friends and neighbors looking out for each other.”
This show is family-friendly and will include a children’s costume contest, spooky pi?ata and more. Tickets are currently available at Turn It Up in Brattleboro (802-251-6015) and SWIRL in Putney Center (802-387-4347). Suggested donation is $20, and children 16 and under are free.
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Last but not least, and ironically, on the heels of one of the industry’s most vocal anti-marriage proponents—Gene Simmons—declaring his nuptials, one of the industry’s most reliable rock acts/husband-wife teams has called it quits after 27 years.
In a recent statement issued by the band’s representative at Matador Records, indie power couple and Valley residents Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth have separated.
According to the release, Sonic Youth will honor the South American tour dates it has on the books for the month of November. But the band’s plans beyond that are uncertain.
Moore and Gordon have a daughter, Coco, born in 1994, and have amassed a catalog of 16 albums since Sonic Youth’s inception in 1980—the most notable of which, 1994’s Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star, peaked at number 34 on Billboard‘s Hot 200.
Moore has also recently released a solo album called Demolished Thoughts and is scheduled to cross the pond Nov. 27 for a European tour in support of it.”
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, PO Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
