Dear AWG and all: i AGREE COMPLETELY. Oops, hit the caps lock. Get a festival going. Progzilla. Jan - Feb are bad for weather but good for not having to buck holidays. >From: Allen Welty-Green >Reply-To: atlantaprog@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >To: atlantaprog@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [atlantaprog] Re: Last night's meeting. >Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 11:04:35 -0500 >>>I agree with Harold... we've got essentially TWO separate tasks ahead >of us... the first is to reach out and find new audiences. The second >is to motivate the existing audience to come out and see new bands. A >number of the ideas we've talked about address onlyone or the other >of these issues... for instance, the rock club approachis a good way >to reach out to a new, younger audience, but won't do much to get the >older folks to come out... >>We do need to gig together. Howdo we make that happen? >>The eXtreem (formerly Gwinnett Underground) seems to be happening >lately. How have the audiences been? Anyone care to report back? >>As far as the other initiatives... would it hurt anything to proceed? >A festival, for instance? If some of us are willing to do the work >and line up the sponsorships and book the bands, what harm would be >done? It could be a high-profile galvanizing thing for the scene. Of >course I agree that we can't expect it to happen right away. We do >need to take the time to build up an audience before we can expect a >festival to be successful. >>There are so many issues on the table right now. I'm starting to >think that we should divide up and have different people focus on >different things. Anyone want to step forward? I personally will keep >moving forward on the monthly prog-night concept, but I don't have >any traditional club connections, so my focus will be on alternative >venues. I also will continue long-range planning for a festival with >the others who have shown interest. And I will continue to coordinate >the listserv and the monthly meetings. >>We need: >Someone to build club connections and push ahead with the club >prog-night concept. >Someone to take initiative on radio... college, commercial, wrfg, >whatever (I'll share my recent discussions with wrfg lately with >anyone who wants to pursue that angle) >Someone to build and maintain an atlanta prog website/BBS/online directory >Someone to build media connections >>We also need outreach to other local artsy musicians, prog or not >>And lastly, we need a name for this group! >>AWG >>>I really have to agree with the below comments about starting small.We >>more or less agreed at the last meeting that we need to gig together, >>support each other's shows and pool our audience/fan base. Karma Lingo is >>playing tomorrow night at the eXtreem, and our band is playing there in >>January (the 23rd) along with Cobweb Strange. There's 3 of our bands right >>there, and we should start doing this more often. :-) If we arebilled >>together regularly, we can build a big enough fan base between usto >>sustain a regular thing at a local club. Steve from Variety suggested 9 >>Lives rather than the east Atlanta clubs. >>How about it? >>>>>I still think that this is a backwards approach. What we are >>>essnetially doing is hoping that a big festival like that will attract >>>people to Atlanta for prog, etc. We build up this festival and hpoe >>>that people will come from hundreds of miles around to see it. I'm >>>telling you right now I don't think it will happen. I think that >>>instead of using a big show to gain an audience, I think that we should >>>build up a local audience and THEN do a festival. You don't start a >>>band, get signed the next week, and then hope everyone in the world is >>>going to run out and buy it. Esp. with a new act since the label will >>>only spend pocket change to promote it. You develop your fan base >>>locally, and slowly grow it over time. Word of mouth starts getting >>>around (hopefully) you attract a label and get signed, and then hope to >>>hell that the same thing happens but on a national level. >>>>>>Start small and grow. Besides, what good would having a big festival do>>>for us here? If people DID come, and came from neighboring states, even >>>other countries, that will be great for Atlanta for that 1 weekend. 2 >>>days a year does not a "scene" make! A month after the festival when >>>one of us is playing a show, people from N.C, Tenn., Fla. &Switzerland >>>aren't gonna come to see us play. >>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- the new MSN 8[1] and get 2 months FREE* --- Links --- 1 http://g.msn.com/8HMHEN/2015