2 more weeks

Where is this year going? Hard to believe we are almost at the end of another Twisted Tuesday run. In a way I’m kind of glad their over, since they take up a lot of my time. On the other hand, my weekly chats and keeping up with what’s going on in the area will be more limited once the shows end. All in all we had a great run this year. Less than a handful of shows lacked the peeps, so that’s not to bad.

I would like to thank all the bands who played the events, the Hardware Bar and staff, Ritt and gang for running the sound, but most importantly I’d like to thank everyone that came out showing support for the shows!!!

We end the series with two shows that are sure to please no matter what your taste in music.

Sept 19th features TT virgins Disingaged, Slow Andy and then The Gorgonites round out the night with their foul mouth humored songs you’ll be singing for about a week, because they’ll be stuck in your head.

Our final show, Sept 26th will be a blast. Grip, another TT virgin, starts off the night. If you went to Grinders you probably saw Grip. After a brief hiatus they are back and will rock the Hardware Bar stage. Our final act for the year will be the blazing guitars of Julian Fist. Sort of fitting since JF was one of the first bands to play Twisted Tuesday over 4 years ago.

So I invite everyone to come out and let’s party the night away while enjoying some of the areas best local music.

Just like years past, we gave a bunch of new bands the opportunity to play Twisted Tuesday. Mixing up the newer bands with the established bands is a great way to increase exposure for a band starting out. After all that’s what Twisted Tuesdays are all about. Networking, gaining exposure and having a great time!!!

Before I forget, I’d like to mention HBGOnline will be going thru some changes over the next few weeks. Since I’ll have more time our listings will be updated, we’ll also be adding a store that will feature unique items just in time for the holiday season. Our personal ads section will be getting new sites added that will blow you away. (if you’re single that is) All areas (music, entertainment, fun stuff, etc) will be getting a good cleaning out. Perhaps the biggest change will be the addition of Featured Articles to the website. These articles will include everything from politics, music and general interest. Of course it will have the HBGOnline slant, so you know they’ll be some good stuff. Fuck the mainstream media!!! We don’t have to kiss any ass!!! One article I’m stoked about will be “Girls with Ink”. Look for that one around the mid October time frame.

We’re always looking for some new staffers for the website. If you’d like to be part of our family be sure to send me an email. Dining, Venue and Band Reviewers we are desperately seeking.

Not to long ago I got a friendly email from our server company stating once again our bandwidth and server storage was increasing. Thus another price increase was in the future. Checking our log files I noticed our video files were screaming off the server and also taking up a lot off space. In the past I’ve tried many times to use My Space for videos. However like everything else on My Space, I kept getting errors and dropped the idea. Then a golden knight by the name of You Tube was tried. I downloaded one video and it worked. Another video and that one worked too. You Tube is amazing and after a few weeks of using, I have yet to get any errors. My Space should take note. Fuck you TOM!!! You Tube’s site is flawless and is the next generation for band promotions. No you can’t load up any gay pictures or leave stupid messages in a friends comment section. You can however upload an unlimited amount of video content. Not only can you upload the videos you can also send out the links to your videos. Plus people that like your video can link to them as well. I haven’t learned everything you could do with You Tube, but when I do get a chance to look thru the site, I’m impressed.

In my opinion video is the ultimate exposure for a band. Not only does it show who you are, it also gives the viewer an opportunity to see you play and hear what you sound like LIVE. For those bands that stand on stage like a 2x4 is tied to your body, this might not be for you. However the other 90%, that actually move around and put on a show should give it a try. I should mention you don’t have to go all out and spend a ton of money on a video. Anyone with a video camera and the software needed to convert your video to a MPEG file can do it. Hell if you want to try a video for promotion and don’t have the stuff, just shoot me an email and I’ll be glad to help you out.

This next item has been a work in progress for about a year. There will be a new music magazine hitting the public around November of this year. The publication has some good backers that should be able to publish a quality piece. The mag will feature PA’s music scene and also have some awesome feature articles. What I like about this publication is the fact there will be an advisory panel made up of some prominent industry peeps to insure the editorial direction. The publication name will be Shinbone. One of their first tasks will be compiling a Who’s Who database. So if you’re in a band and get an email asking questions from Shinbone, be sure to take it serious. Look for more Shinbone updates as they become known.

Well that’s all for now. Don’t forget we have two more weeks left for Twisted Tuesdays. I hope to see a bunch of peeps out!!!

Lator Gators - BigJim