This weekend we have an incredible show. And You Will Know Us From The Trail Of Dead (aka Trail of Dead) stopped by to talk to us about their tour, their new album, and what fans can expect this year from them. It was a great interview and we want to thank Jason for sitting down with us. If there’s one album to buy this year, “The Century of Self” is that album. The artwork alone on throughout the album is unbelievable and is done by founding member Conrad Keely. Very talented!

We also got a chance to sit down with Anarbor and Breathe Carolina who spoke about the recent controversy surrounding a post by Senses Fail Lead Singer Buddy Neilsen. It was the first time Breathe Carolina had a chance to respond to the post and they were eager to tell their side of the story.

Thanks again for your continued support. We’re growing so fast and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of all of you. We’ve got some great things coming up so keep checking back!

What a week this has been. We had such a great time covering Noisepop Music Festival and want to thank all those that took the time to come onto the show or have made arrangements to come onto the show later on. We had an opportunity to speak with Portugal. The Man, Les Savy Fav, and the Mae Shi during the Festival. We’ll be putting those interviews together and broadcasting on Sunday March 8th at 9pm PST on blogtalkradio.com. You’ll hear the newest from all of these Artists as well as some of the bands that played this year’s Noisepop.

We’re excited that we’ll be sitting down very soon with such Music Industry leaders as Fat Mike of NoFx and Fat Wreck Chords, Cory Brown of Absolutely Kosher Records, and Greg Werckman of Ipecac Records. All of these guys have been a major player in the music industry for a number of years and we’re excited to be able to have the opportunity to talk to them on our show.

Like I said, we had a great time covering the shows and want to thank everyone from Tell All Your Friends PR for helping us line up interviews and get into the shows we wanted to cover.

Tonight we’re covering the Stephen Malkmus (Pavement) show at Great American Music Hall. Some other highlights from this week include shows with Thao Nguyen at Swedish American Hall, The Matches playing a matinee show at Bottom of the Hill, and Kool Keith at Mezzanine. We’ll be sitting down to talk with Portugal. The Man, From Monument To Masses, Les Savy Fav, and The Mae Shi. We’ll also be sitting down with Noisepop Co-Founder Jordan Kurland and Noisepop Marketing Director Chris Applegren about this year’s Festival and the upcoming Treasure Island Music Festival.

It’s a big show this week so stay tuned for more information about when the show will air. As always, if you’d like to be a contributor go to our Contact page and shoot us an email.

This week Ticketmaster and Live Nation announced that they were going to merge thus paving the way for ticket prices to increase. And while the move risks scrutiny from the Security and Exchange Commission, it’ll likely clear with no problem.

Ticketmaster is no stranger to controversy. In the 90’s Pearl Jam sued Ticketmaster for their high fees. The result was Pearly Jam canceling their tour. Of course four years later they went back to dealing with Ticketmaster. Why? Because there’s really no one else that has the resources that Ticketmaster has. Even more reason why the merger is bad news for you the consumer.

In this current economy there couldn’t have come worse news for people wanting to go out as a way to distract them from the worries at home. Currently the average Ticketmaster fee is over $8 per ticket. That may go up with the merger of the two power houses.

So what’s a person to do? Stop going to any show that is run by Ticketmaster or Live Nation. Start supporting the local bands in your city at the local pub, bar, or club. You’ll find that you’ll have a better time and it’ll be much more affordable. Stop supporting these crooks. The only message they listen to is the message you send to their pocket books. There are so many amazing bands out there and venues that use alternative ticket sites like Ticketweb or inticketing.com. These sites are independently run and provide lower fees for fans.

Take it from a former Promoter, support your local music scene and tell Ticketmaster and Live Nation to fuck off.

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1. Painting 2. Studying 3. Making contacts, attending art events. 4.
Finding commissions. 5. Entering contests 6. Creating a website 7.
Contacting your clientele 8. Updating your blog (check!)

It’s easy to feel like you aren’t making progress because there’s so much to do. Here is the critical concept of this whole approach; DON’T MOVE ONE PIECE TOO MANY SPACES BEFORE WORKING ON SOMETHING ELSE! In the past I spent months painting but neglected other critical pieces, often because they weren’t “fun.” While one piece was racing across the board other pieces were dormant for months at a time.

The second row of pieces represent things that are related to the first row but can’t begin moving forward until the other pieces have made room for them. For example, after studying and taking classes, I’ll not only improve, but eventually get to the point where I could begin teaching a beginner. I can only do that if I move my learning piece a few spaces across the board.

If you sometimes get overwhelmed or frustrated with the numerous facets of being an artist, create a list of your personal checkers and begin moving them across the board.

Bio: James Lane is an artist living in Sacramento, California.

And as technology continues to bring new venues and applications to bring the music to the masses, the more the Record Industry is going to have to embrace and explot it to make money. Especially in these tormultuous times they need to find a way to help their bottom line without alienating the fans that help make the industry great.

Webpro News ran a great little article about how Pandora is in an increased decline and now a year later we see this is not really true. Pandora is still just as popular, maybe even more so, and the RIAA has no idea how to stop it. Their idea has always been sue, sue, sue! But as they’ve found that’s only increasing the bitter taste in the fans that could easily drive the music industry in an upward swing if they would just find more ways to make money rather than sticking to a very dated business model.

We live in a digital age and there are ways that bands, publishers, producers, and managers can all get their fair share without destroying the relationship between the fans and the bands. It’s called getting their heads out of their asses. Step 1) Find crowbar! Step 2) Insert said bar in ass! Step 3) Pull! I’m available on weekends to assist if need be.

This week we talked to West Indian Girl on blogtalkradio.com and spun tracks from BOAT, Black Milk, Far, and West Indian Girl. Sorry we ran out of time this week. The interview went a little long. The interview went really well though, and I want to thank Rob and Amy for sitting down with me to talk about what’s going on in the world of West Indian Girl. We’re going to set up an interview with Mark, their drummer to talk about some of the Flight of the Conchords stuff he’s been working on. Should be a pretty interesting conversation.

As I said, last night was a lot of fun. I ran into some great folks last night including Jim Greer who pointed me out for having a Crudo shirt (he plays bass in the band). We’ll likely pull him into the studio and talk to him about what he’s been doing. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out his other project the Rondo Brothers. They’re going to be playing Bottom of the Hill this Friday (2/6/09) night. You can come by and buy me a drink.

This Sunday we’re going to be expanding the show to an hour long. We’ll have The Frail in studio to talk about their 2009 plans and a very special announcement from San Francisco Radio Icon St. John will announce where he’s going now that he’s left Wild 94.9. It’s going to be a great show. Don’t miss it. I’ll try not to fuck it up too bad.