After 15 years, it's over!!!

God damn is getting cold out!!! I hope this light snow their calling for Wed. Night is a false alarm. Would be a damn shame to have the biggest club night of the year, foiled by the white stuff.

So much “on my mind” lately I don’t know where to start.

Let me start out by mentioning after 15 years of having a pager, I’m getting rid of it. Yes time to move into the modern day of technology. My new contact number will be 649-1330. Please make a note of the change, as my pager (231-7019) will be shut off any day now. Maybe I’ll keep the pager to look at as a reminder of what use to be.

Next I’d like to talk about My Space. I can’t believe the amount of people that must do nothing but hang on that website. To some I think it’s an addiction. I’ve seen some of the stupidest post like “Can’t sleep so I thought I’d post a message”. WTF!!! Maybe you can’t sleep because you’re on the computer leaving stupid messages!!!! Is it just me or are the ‘Bulletins” getting out of hand too. Now it seems you have to surf through endless pages of worthless shit just to see if you missed anything of importance. Lately it seems nothing is of importance in the bulletin area. I also wonder why people take the time to fill out and post those stupid fuckin’ surveys. You know the ones I’m talking about. Your favorite color, did you sleep with any of your Top 8, what color was your shit this morning, when was the last time you scratched your ass, etc. Stupid questions for stupid people. Also I’d like to point out that I could care less if you are deemed to have bad luck for the rest of your life for not sending out a message to all your “friends”. The same message you want me to send out to all my “friends” so I will not have the bad luck curse you just gave to me. If the new owners of My Space were smart they would put a cap on the amount of “transaction” (bulletins, comments, etc.) that one profile could post in a month. Go over the set amount and you pay.

I guess this stuff ticks me off because the usefulness of My Space for promotions is going into the toilet with each passing month. My Space is a very effective promotional tool when used properly. Let me define “properly”. When you are posting an image to someone’s “comments” section make sure it’s no larger than 300 pixels wide. That’s plenty big enough for a flyer or “thanks for the add” photo. Nothing like looking at a comments area and having it “blown out” because some ass wipe wanted a full size pic with their post. Also when posting a show flyer, be sure to include some type at the bottom so people that can’t read all the details in the flyer can see what it’s about. If your really on top of your game, link the flyer to your band’s website, not you’re My Space page. Many bands have personal pages along the band page. So when one show comes up I get about 4 emails for the same event. One from the band, the drummer, the singer, the bass player, etc. To me that’s overkill plus most band members have the same friends as in their band page. Finally what does your page look like? Some of the My Space pages I can’t even read because they have it so fucked up with contrasting colors, background images and anything else they can think of to make the worst looking (but in their mind it’s cool) web page. I have some more stuff but I’ll save it for a later article.

I just started adding the December dates to the Events Calendar and notice a “conflict of interest” for me. On Dec 9th I will be at the Bastard on Wheels DVD Release Party at Dragonfly. However playing next door at the Hardware Bar is Kristen and The Noise. Kristen was the former singer of Tin Pan Alley a few years back. In fact it was watching Kristen at Wanda’s over 6 years ago, that I had the idea for Harrisburg Online pop into my head. TPA was blasting a killer set of covers and closed the night with “Guerilla Radio”. Kristen belted that song and left goose bumps on my arms with her performance. Unfortunately less than 20 people showed up to check out the band. It was that night that I started to work on a concept that would be able to “show” and tell people what they were missing. Yes Harrisburg Online was born!!! I got a digital camera, learned how to build a web site, encode video for the web and the rest is history. I think one of our first accomplishments was building the TPA following thru our photos, videos and write-ups. I haven’t spoke to Kristen in years since she left TPA after becoming pregnant. I would like to just stop over to say hi and see how things are going with her. Plus she used to have a smokin’ body.

The Bastard on Wheels DVD Release Party Dec 9th at Dragonfly is going to be a HUGE event. 100’s of tickets have already been sold and the remaining tickets are going fast. 8 killer bands, Boobs and FREE BEER what more could you want? I should also mention all the FREE giveaways that will be handed out during the night too. A trip to Las Vegas to see Social Distortion, an autographed Misfits guitar, Motley Crew tickets and so much more. This is one event you don’t want to miss!!! Click here for more info and to purchase your advance tickets before they are all gone!!!!

Band/club news will be back on the site. During the redesign I left this out by mistake and have gotten many emails wanting it back. Hope to have it up by Thanksgiving. So if you have a member change, dropping a CD or any other newsworthy items, be sure to send it to me: info@hbgonline.com

Finally, I’d like to thank the bands that are using us for promotions. I said it before and I’ll say it again that no other media can offer the amount of exposure for the money than what we can do for you. I had a band email me that they had to increase their band website bandwidth because of the amount of increased traffic they received from advertising on HBGOnline. Another had over 150 visitors sent in a few days from a link on our site. Others have gotten gigs because of their presence on our pages. It’s a no brainer!!! 1000’s of people come to HBGOnline.com each week to check things out. Venue owners, A&R reps, labels and other industry folks are just a few that come here to see what going on in Central PA. Do you want to stand out? (Again that should be a no brainer.) If you want to up your stakes, hit me up with an email to jimo@hbgonline.com

I want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday weekend!!! Be sure to check our Events Calendar and Message Board to see what’s going on. If you are heading out, show your support and see a live band.

Lator Gators - BigJim