Jersey Mike

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.