nTelos Wireless Pavilion concert schedule expands to 24 shows

We’ve been on a bit of winter hiatus for the past few months, so first off, ‘Happy New Year’. It’s back to school for me which means a lot of time sequestered at home unable to keep my finger on the pulse of things around town. I did, however, recently receive a message from someone that I thought bears sharing. This message comes from a Southside bar/restaurant that wants a bit of entertainment during the week.

I work at [redacted].  We have an enclosed smoking lounge that we have live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays.  I am trying to get something going to give new bands or groups around here a place to get some stage time.  I am looking to get 2 bands a week with some following and promote a battle of the bands.  There would not be any payment for those events but we would cover food for the bands that day and have drink specials for the event.  We would offer the winner a paying gig the following month.  The way we would determine who wins would be who brings in the biggest following as well as well as other factors that I would be open to suggestions.  This is all on the drawing board but I think it would be a good way to promote new bands or bands that have had some experience.  Please contact me with any questions, comments or suggestions on how to make this a success.  My manager is eager to do this next month.

Thanks,

H.

My response:

You guys are going to have to pay someone to host the open mic/ battle of the band. The going rate around the Penninsula is about $150 for a midweek event, which usually gets you someone with a PA and an acoustic guitar. If no one shows up to play the host generally has to fill the time himself, and if you’re not willing to make that minimum investment your chances of getting quality talent are slim. And that’s just for a solo guitarist with a bare bones PA. You should probably expect to pay a bit more if you do throw this on Friday, as there is higher demand. If you want a full band it’s usually around $300 a night.

You probably aren’t going to get a band with a ‘following’ to play for free or even dinner. You might be able to get some fresh local kids with no experience hungry for a chance to play, so keep in mind you get what you pay for. The only situations that I have seen where a full band ‘volunteered’ to play week after week turned into a complete disaster that ended after a month.

Asking musicians who have trained for years and paid hundreds of dollars for equipment to both play and advertise or promote for you, for free, is insulting and disrespectful. If your manager feels otherwise, have them contact the proprietors of the following establishments and ask them their experience:

Hampton: Mugsy’s, Goodfellas, Goody’s, Hat Trix
Newport News: Aromas
Smithfield: Jalepenos
VA Beach: Abbey Road
Yorktown: County Grill
Portsmouth: Barrel

If you reconsider I’m willing to introduce you to the right people.

Sincerely,

Mike B.

Now I hope I didn’t come of too strong on the old chap here, but I’m simply sick of restaurant owners trying to take advantage of musicians. Is the starving artist stereotype so powerful that proprietors think we would just sing for our supper? I’m sure that there are naive young kids out there that would play for the exposure, but it would just be a matter of time before they wised up and resented the whole affair. I’m also pretty sure that there’s some other people out there that shouldn’t even be playing music that would be willing to take the gig because they can’t get anyone to pay them to play. Either way, I refuse to be a part of such exploitation.  Now, to be fair, perhaps the manager of the bar in question doesn’t know any better, in which case I mean no offense, but you can’t just think because you’re opening your venue up for an event like this that people will feel so grateful to have their music heard and bring all their friends.

Of the successful open mics I frequent, most people that play there are already patrons of the bar in question or are friends with the emcee. You’ve got to have an emcee. Period. And to have a battle of the bands where you expect people to work to bring in a crowd for nothing is just ridiculous. This is something I would expect the owner of a successful business to know.

How do you all feel about this? Did I miss the point or am I spot on? Let me know in the comments.

Performance schedule
Academy of Rock Music, 1:00 – 1:45
Robbie Snell, 2:00 – 2:45
You, Me and the Bedsheets, 3:00 – 3:45
Godspeed and Good Fortune, 4:00 – 4:45
Holly Would, 5:00 – 5:45
The Vibe, 6:00 – 6:45
Matt Lockhart, 7:00 – 7:45
Iron Sharpens Iron, 8:00 – 8:45
Chasing Arrows, 9:00 – 10:00

Facebook Event Page

Sat. Oct. 24th, Noon. FREE! Denbigh Presbyterian Church, Newport News Playing at my old stopping ground’s outdoor fall festival, weather permitting.

Sat. Oct. 24th, 7-9 pm. CD release party!!! (ok….i just told you when and where so you should have it on your calendars by now!)

Fri. Dec. 18, 7 p.m. $15 Kimball Theater, Williamsburg *I’ll be doing something music-related for a Christmas variety show produced by a good bud, the laughing redhead herself, Teresa Roberts Logan!

Thur. Dec. 31st First Night Williamsburg If you haven’t been to this event before, “downtown” Williamsburg opens several of it restaurants and venues for an all-night entertainment festival with a variety of performers. I played at this event last year and had a really nice time. You buy a button to wear (ok…it’s a little nerdy) all night that gets you in to all the concerts. I’ll be playing 3 sets with my friends Billy and Loretta Ricketts this year. Williamsburg will have it up online with the schedule within the next couple of months, so be sure to keep a look out for it!

Thur. Dec. 31stFirst Night Williamsburg If you haven’t been to this event before, “downtown” Williamsburg opens several of it restaurants and venues for an all-night entertainment festival with a variety of performers. I played at this event last year and had a really nice time. You buy a button to wear (ok…it’s a little nerdy) all night that gets you in to all the concerts. I’ll be playing 3 sets with my friends Billy and Loretta Ricketts this year.

Local group City Voices is throwing an EP release party at the Norva this Friday with a number of other local acts and it looks to be one of the greatest local original music shows I’ve seen in years. Six acts from Hampton Roads and Richmond playing home-spun rock? Amazing.

The City Voices quartet seems very driven and almost makes it look too easy, having just formed the band over the past year or so and throwing together their EP in a few months, even finding time to shoot a video. Now they’re headlining the Norva and have managed to bring a handful of their friends with them? Color me impressed, or jealous. Take your pick. Smooth vocals from singer Suzanne Smith and solid playing from guitarist John Davis, bassist TJ Mckinney and drummer Jarrett Stanley. These guys got it good, and this show should be a good milestone in their careers.

Elocine is a one man band fronted by Nelson Ciron as ‘nothing than a way to kill time’ that has resulted in a half dozen or so LPs and EPs. He plays every instrument on the records; I’m not sure how that’s going to translate on stage, but the songwriting is heartfelt and the instrumentation well produced.

Over The Ocean What do you call Christian bands that aren’t? Not the safe top 40 co-opted, church approved pop praise that followed Creed success over the past decade, but the heavier, darker, more introspective bands like Philly’s MeWithoutYou, who put out intelligent music that manages to touch a nerve without sounding preachy. I may be taking things a bit to far after only listening to the one 8 minute track on their myspace, but Over The Ocean might be close to what we’d have if Chris Cornell and James Maynard Keenan had stayed in Sunday school. See, you can be righteous without being pretentious.

The Collector This one here is a treat. Described as tribal pop, The Collector’s influences fun a bit broader than a simple classification like that . The YouTube videos describe frontman Ryan Meadows as Bono’s protege, and while they may sound nothing like U2, The Collector’s songwriting is emotional and driven, changing from acoustic neo-folk to driving rock and post-rock sounds. These guys are talented. If they show up with the full choir as they did in these videos, the Norva is going to be in for a treat.

Chasing Arrows CNU’s own pop rock contemporary. Think Matchbox 20 and Gavin McGraw. Runners up of MTVU’s Best Music on Campus Woodie Award.

View From The Top Pop/punk in the vein of NOFX and Phat Wreck Chords groups. Punk, punk, and more punk.

This should be a solid show. These groups all sound good and this should be a rocking good time. All local, all original. You can’t ask for more than that. Come out and support these guys and gals and show some appreciation for our local scene.

This is four days of music and partying, and includes bowling on Thursday and Hahad’s Lake Saturday. This looks like a blast. You can see the lineup and location of all the bands on the Best Friends Day webpage, and see pics of previous years over on their blog and Flickr stream.