Jersey Mike

We do lots of Bluegrass shows at Greenbelt Events.

Hot Buttered Rum, Hackensaw Boys, Cabinet, Hillbilly Gypsies, Mason Porter and lots more.

And lately, we haven’t been seeking it out much. But I met a dude in LA a couple of months ago who told me about CORNMEAL.

Have you heard these guys yet?

Here’s a taste. (And yes, they’re at ABC on July 15 – be there!)

We want to believe.

We want to feel it.

We often need the chemical release that we get from being in a packed, dark, sometimes smokey room listening to five or six people onstage strumming guitars, pounding drums and picking a bassline underneath lyrics that reach the depths of our souls.

And when we find it, we scream it from the rooftops. We evangelize and preach the teachings of the singer downstage-center.

Sometimes it’s a quiet ballad. Sometimes is a loud, chaotic metal song. Other times it’s a standard, 122BPM pop song that surfaced after four records. And this is the thing that ties us all together.

We fight and bicker and debate Republican vs. Democrat ideals.

Riots ensue when a baseball team wins a world series.

Football fans often get into fist fights and barroom brawls when their team loses (or, oddly, wins)

But when we’re all at the club, standing in front of the stage and the house lights go dark and the intro music comes through the speakers and a collective body of people gets that feeling inside our chests akin to opening a present on Christmas day when we were seven years old and the guitarist jams that opening chord and, with that single combination of notes, a ninety minute set of songs moves us and we laugh together and cry together and get angry together and reflect together and get inspired together, that’s what rock and roll is all about. That’s what keeps us working our shitty jobs to earn enough to pay the rent and then travel by car or bus or plane or foot to the next show.

It’s hard to explain, really, what exactly constitutes a successful band. But it starts with honesty.

Genuine, non-imitating, inspired rock. The singer writes some lyrics and the guitar player comes up with a melody and the bass and drums keep the rhythm and then they show us their goods- they want to play for us and we want to listen. They want to tell us what they think and we’ll either agree and embrace them and tell EVERYONE we know about this band…or we’ll turn up our noses and move on to the next record from the next band.

Everyone gets a chance, you see.

Everyone has an opportunity to rock. To tell their story. To audition their music to us. And we always listen. But we don’t always believe it.

But when we do…it’s like no other pasttime that I can write a metaphor for. Sure, lots of people have a favorite baseball team. Many people have a their star writer or columnist. Actors, soap stars, football players…but EVERYONE has a favorite song. That one song that comes on and brightens your day. Makes all of the bullshit seem that much more manageable.

And that’s why we listen. And buy. And share.

Sigh.

It’s called “BCC”, guys. Ever see it? When you put someone’s address in the address line of your email client, you have two other options. One is “CC” (which, if you didn’t know, stands for “Carbon Copy”…as in, you’re sending an exact copy of the email to whoever is in that line) and then there is “BCC”, or, “Blind Carbon Copy” – “Blind” meaning that the recipients of your email do not see the other recipients email addresses.

Look, I really thought that this was 101…shit you learned on your first day. But the number of band emails promoting their shows that I get with a hundred email addresses in the “to” line or just plain “CC’d” is absolutely stunning.

Here’s why you don’t want your email addresses viewable to the recipients on your list:

1. You EARNED those email addresses. And there are still shady promoters and venues out there who would LOVE an extra hundred email addresses without even working for them. Those email addresses should be viewed as your personal client list. And if you were in ANY other business, you wouldn’t share your client list with potential competitors, would you?

2. Those people who gave you their email addresses also gave you their TRUST. An email address is viewed by some people in the same light as their telephone number. Some people simply do not want that information just tossed out there. Ever heard of a thing called “spam”? Yeah, well, that’s what they’re afraid of. And when you irresponsibly leave their email address (and sometimes full name) exposed on your big email about your gig this weekend, you’re violating that trust.

Plain and simple.

One way to avoid ALL of this is to use an inexpensive and simple email list manager. Personally, I’m a fan of Campaign Monitor. But there are dozens of inexpensive choices that do most of the work FOR you…thereby rendering your emails idiot-proof and more effective.

It’s Friday afternoon.

There’s not much happening in Harrisburg this weekend. (Or wherever you may be).

But you’ve got an itch to see a band.

Any band. As long as it’s within about ninety miles and something you dig.

Short of going to every venue in your memories website to check a calendar, there haven’t been many options for a central listing of shows you’d want to see.

Jambase.com is decent…but, like the name says, leans more towards jam bands.

LiveNation.com, obviously, has thousands of shows listed…but they’re all, um, LiveNation’s shows.

And then came Songkick.com which has suddenly made my life incredibly easier.

Here’s how it works: simply create a username and password, enter your home city and email address (for login and hand-selected notification updates) and then download a tiny piece of software which installs itself and then scans your iTunes, Winamp or Windows Media player library.

And here’s where it get’s wicked cool- Songkick syncs your personal calendar with your music library! It finds shows and shows them to you…based on the music you already HAVE.

Don’t care about when or where Nickelback is playing next? (And I hope you don’t…) As long as you don’t have any in your library, Songkick won’t show you where they’re playing.

It’s relatively new; founded in 2007 by three amigos Michele You, Pete Smith and Ian Hogarth; it now boasts over one million shows and festivals.

Think of it as Facebook for live shows. But instead of people you knew in High School blasting updates about their kids at the beach, it’s updates of when Phish, Widespread Panic, The Allman Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show and The Hold Steady are going to be playing near you.

Pretty cool, eh?

But wait…(and, just so we’re clear…I’m NOT getting paid to write this)- with a profile, you can use this service like you would Facebook. Adding friends, private messages and personalized photos.

Something that makes seeing great shows easier? High five to the guys behind Songkick. I’ve found a new favorite Website.

Here’s a little sample of what you’ve missed (or seen) at The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Company every Wednesday night for the past two weeks.

The J Roddy and The Business residency continues this week with support from Adamo Drive and concludes on Wednesday July 1st with support duties going to Perkasie.

The shows are ‘no cover’ and start at 9.

As Mr T. would say, I pity da fool who misses this series.