[atlantaprog] Re: It's raining on prog-nite...! :-P

Good thinking, Bill. A few comments (by this point, you'd expect no 
less from me?? right??!!)

>If we are going to put up an online prog resource as
>has been suggested, we should tie it directly in with
>our group.

Absolutely.

>That said, we really do need then to create an
>identity for ourselves.  And really soon!

Some of you creative thinkers out there start throwing ideas around. 
I'll compile them and we can vote for them online. Let's have a 
moniker picked out by the Jan meeting, OK?

>As far as an online resource is concerned, it
>shouldn't be too hard to put together.  The big
>question is who would host it?  Sean Tonar is
>associated with Progressive Ears.  Maybe he has an
>idea or two.  Sean, who is PE's host...Earthlink,
>maybe?

I can host it as part of my gnosisarts.org domain if no one else 
comes forward. The URL would be something like 
www.gnosisarts.org/atlantaprog. I can even HELP build it, but I don't 
want to be the main one in charge of building or maintaining it 
because I'm simply too busy (you'd never guess from the amount of 
e-mailing I do on this list!). I would rather see it hosted as an 
adjunct to Progressive Ears - for example 
www.progressiveears.com/atlanta. Heck, PE could eventually have 
similar regional resource sections for the whole country- or even the 
world! Think how great it would be for a touring prog band to have 
one-stop access to local info anywhere they were going.

>And do we just stick with Metro Atlanta?  What about
>the SE region in general?  Get bands from surrounding
>states to gig here and vice versa?

I say Atlanta-focused with regional inclusion. It would be too hard 
to do justice to the full SE region since we're all mostly in 
Atlanta. But I don't want to ignore rest of the region

>To address the issue of the "older" versus "younger"
>prog audience.  So far, what has been proposed caters
>to one at the expense of the other.  If we go for a
>place that serves alcohol and is a smoking environment
>(not to mention late hours), we will alienate the
>majority of the "older" audiences.  But, if we opt for
>a venue that has none of these things, we then
>alienate "younger" and potentially new fans.

Why can't we do both? Steve Harris was right when he said that the 
clubs would NOT give us weekend nights until we've proven we can 
draw. I've still got my fingers crossed for Eyedrum (the best of both 
worlds)

>  If we were to do a real "prog-nite", I think we need to
>showcase three (3) bands at a time.  OK, at least two
>if you want them to have long sets.

I'm thinking two bands and one smaller act. I know a couple of people 
doing Frippy guitar-&-looper music. I also know of some local 
synthesists, a glass harp player, a violinist, a couple of 
guitar-craft type ensembles, etc. all of whom would be appealing to 
the prog crowd, and whose set-up logistics would be rather easy to 
manage

>For the sake of logistics, it needs to be at one venue
>and not split up for different audiences, though the
>venue can be at different locations per event if so
>desired (but personally I think we should stick with
>one location for continuity's sake).

As I mentioned, I don't see a problem with multiple venues... as long 
as they were appropriate for the music.

>We make use of the internet to advertise/promote these
>events...send emails to folks utilizing the
>participating band(s) mainling lists reminding them of
>the shows.  Advance notice is the key.  The more
>notice a potential audience member has, the more
>likely they can make plans around it (arranging
>babysitter, errands, etc.)  Have the following month's
>lineup set in advance would be good as well, for then
>we could announce it and drum it up at the previous
>prog-nite in between sets.  If we get any radio spots,
>then the DJ can also announce and promote these shows
>repeatedly.  Advertising in the Creative Loafing
>wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

All good ideas. Before we could afford advertising though, we'd have 
to start making some $! That's were a good media person would come 
in. A write-up in Creative Loafing or the AJC doesn't cost a thing, 
and is 100 times more valuable than any ad you could buy!

>I would venture to say if all goes well, after about a
>year (i.e, a dozen or so "prog-nites") we should have
>gotten a good saturation point of local attention to
>plan a local festival with at least a semi-known band
>headlining.  And give them plenty of advance warning.
>This first festival should be small (one day event,
>five to six bands), and besides the headliner, should
>have a big regional/out of town band and the rest made
>up of local bands.  If we break even on this, we can
>expand to two days and more bands (and bigger names
>headlining) the next year.  We of course continue the
>local "prog-nites".

Agreed on the festival timing... BUT we would need a good year to 
really plan a festival RIGHT (NEARfest starts announcing next years 
bands within a month or two after the current NEARfest ends!), so I'm 
for going on and getting the ball rolling ASAP.

>Oh yeah, continually rotate the roster of the
>"prog-nite" bands to ensure everyone gets to "come off
>the bench" and play a bit! ;-)

Absolutely. See my comments above. We should be careful to make sure 
a specific night includes a diverse line-up. We don't want a whole 
night of Rush influenced bands for instance, or else folks won't get 
the whole diversity of the prog experience.

>At every "prog-nite", even bands who aren't playing
>can promote their music by having a merchandise table
>set up with their CDs for sale and stuff.  Even better
>if they have a free sampler CD/tape to give away.
>
>That comes to something I suggested at the meeting...
>making our presence felt at the other prog festivals.
>If one of us were going to be going to these anyway,
>we can purchase a merchant's table and promote SE (and
>especially Metro Atlanta) prog music.

Merchandise tables are a big necessity! I'm sorry I forgot to mention 
your comments in my report. One thing we'll need to talk about is how 
we pay for those sorts of things... maybe we make it a "real" 
organization with dues, etc. or maybe ask for contributions towards 
specific expenses, or just take a cut of any merchandise sold at the 
tables... all questions for later.

>Another thought that sprang up was this:  in the
>future, getting our foot in the door with larger
>events like the Atlantis Music Conference or even the
>smaller stages at Music Midtown.

All VERY good ideas. We should get moving on Atlantis and Music 
Midtown TODAY! Would you be able to get that ball rolling, Bill?

Lots of good talk floating around. Some consensus, some dissension, 
but all positive. This biggest thing we need are people willing to 
move beyond brainstorming and start taking action!

AWG

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