The weekend started off with a Millennium Music Conference open mic at ABC and a trip up to a bar on 22 where Janks was supposed to show. In addition to Janks not showing, my visit to the bar made me miss the apparent standout of the night- VulGarrity from Providence, RI- an obvious White Stripes/Modest Mouse incarnate who everyone I spoke with agreed was the cream of the open mic crop.

Friday was jam packed with running to Wray’s to pick up the drum kit for Saturday’s showcases at ABC and a small PA system for our acoustic stage at ABC West and preparing for WXPN’s arrival at The Abbey Bar for David Dyes Funky Friday live broadcast.

I’m going to sidebar here and insert this factual statement: The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company absolutely loves WXPN and WXPN always reciprocates the love ten-fold.

To date, we’ve done a Y-Rock on XPN live broadcast, a Free At Noon with Kaki King and one more Funky Friday Live Broadcast with David Dye. And each event runs smoother (and is certainly better attended) than the last. The production staff- Paul Severin and Jared Styles – combined with Ken Mueller, Wes Bower, Roger LaMay, all of the volunteers (including @mamafitz) combined with David Dye’s musical prowess always, always, always makes for a stellar night. Combine that with a listenership base in Harrisburg who are all too eager to support the station and we had one heluva party on Friday. I was working the satellite bar near the entrance so I was able to watch all of the dance floor antics up close- while feeding happy-hour beers to happy-hour imbibers.

(It’s SO funny- watching these things from the start…in the beginning of the night, you’ve got a couple hundred boys and girls sort of awkwardly standing around…waiting for those pioneers to hit the dancefloor. But give em an hour and three or four beers and it’s a sweaty, funky dance party that rocked through a blistering set by Philly’s The Hustle)

Following a quick dinner, we headed over to the Cathedral Room at Mannerchor to catch Perkasie’s set. I can’t say enough good things about this band. The hooks! The rhythm! The charisma! The genuine-from-the-soul passion each of the seven core members displays is infectious. And even in the cavernous confines of the old Cathedral, Perkasie’s sound lifted the spirits of the near-capacity crowd.

The exhaustion of a fourteen hour day hit me right at the end of their set and we called it a night and decided to get some rest for Saturday’s debauchery-filled shenanigans.

The day started with a 4PM panel I was invited to sit on at the music conference. Harris asked me to take part in a local promoters round table. Although loose and un-formatted, it turned out to be a good time. (And if you’re in a band that wants to play anywhere that’s worth playing in the Harrisburg area, you should have been there.)

The panel consisted of Jonas Hair from Progressive Galleries. Jonas books the Mannerchor and has been hired to handle the booking end of the forthcoming Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center.

Tony Bavaria – co-owner and talent buyer for the still-going-strong all-ages club Championship in Lemoyne was next to Jonas.

Brian Keys- Caesar Entertainment and Gullifty’s promoter was in the middle.

The one and only Jim Fetzer was at the far-right end of the table.

And to my left was JoAnna Kirby- booking agent at Suba/Mangia Qui.

So there you have it- every talent buyer and promoter in the city of Harrisburg who books music nearly every weekend of the year was sitting at a table talking with twenty-five or so band members about booking shows and pet-peeves about the biz.

Saturday night was a bit of a hodge-podge for me. We started out at Suba unknowingly walking into having drinks with Mayoral Candidate Les Ford and his wonderful wife Sheila. Enjoyed the suprisingly-samba-esque sounds of a band called Kagero from Brooklyn.

After a brief visit with some friends on 2nd street, we headed back to the Mannerchor where we got the shock of our lives from who we thought were Hank and Cupcakes but turned out to be Crooked Looks. A dynamic duo of drums and a sequencer, two vocals and a bigger sound than an eight piece swing band. We ran into them later in the night at the Brick Haus and I foolishly asked one of them “So are you Hank or are you Cupcakes?” And he said “oh, no, no…wrong band. They played before us. Good friends of ours, but we’re Crooked Looks.”

After the chit-chat, we got to talking about upcoming shows at ABC- “Ever hear of Biodiesel? I think you guys would fit pretty well with them”

“No, who is it?”

“It’s Clay Parnell from Brothers Past and Johnny Rabb” – and with that, the drummer (Rick, I think) nearly fell over. Apparently, he’s a huge Johnny Rabb fan.

So we decided- then and there- to add them to the bill.

Poetry in motion.

Millennium Music Conference may not be South By Southwest. It sure ain’t CMJ. And it’s completely different than Dewey Beach.

But it really is what you make of it.

Sure, the MMC has it’s critics. But then again, so does the Coachella Festival. And Bonnarroo. And All Good. (No, I’m not comparing any of those to the Millennium Music Conference)

But the fact is- you’ll get out of this whatever you put into it.

Personally, I wanted to see some great bands and meet some good people.

And accomplished both.