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• Some notes on the CU music scene

Champaign-Urbana is a pretty great town when it comes to music. There are lots of venues, some of which are even equipped with people in charge who actually like original music and want to support it. There are plenty of warm bodies in the area (and lots more when students are in town), which is great once you can figure out how to get them to pay attention (though you might go mad trying). There are lots of great musicians and bands from pretty much every genre. It’s great to see a band like Headlights getting national (and international) exposure and tour dates, and it’s nice knowing that members of bands like Hum and the Moon Seven Times are around town plotting reunions in the backs of their heads. Yet, for all of the good, this scene sure has plenty of puzzling elements.

Why don’t members of bands go out to see and support other bands? I don’t want to get into a “back in my day” tirade (because I hate that shit, and I’m not that old so there are many, many more “back in my day” eras predating my own), but I remember going to lots of shows in my early days where almost the entire crowd was made up of local musicians. Temple of Low Men was an amazing band that had lots of fans, but I think other musicians loved them the most because they were able to recognize just how sick each of those guys was on his instrument and how complex the songs were. It is often talked about that crowds have dwindled in recent years. Well, maybe the number of non-musician show attendees has stayed the same and all the musicians just stopped giving a shit about supporting anyone else (alright, it’s not just that, but I’m trying to illustrate a point here). It would be nice to see this trend fade away. For one thing, you can always do some networking at a show, but really, why not support people trying to do the same thing as you? Oh, and if you’re on a multi-band bill, watch the other bands. At least feign interest for a couple of songs. It’s especially annoying when you’re loading all of your gear out and/or are being incredibly loud when another band is trying to perform. Being courteous seems to have gone out of style with shoulder pads and slap bracelets.

Stop expecting everything to happen for you with no effort. If you’re serious about wanting to do something, put a little time in. I think a lot of people would be shocked to find out how much of a difference just a little bit of effort can make. A quick press release sent to the right folks can get you a little write-up, and some well-placed flyers can help remind people about the show. Get an e-mail list going, and use it wisely (for show or merch info, not to ask people to vote for you in some stupid contest — put that on your Web page ’cause the only people who are going to do that for you check your page regularly). Make up a Facebook event and send around invites. Put the show on your MySpace page, and for fuck’s sake, fill out the whole show listing with the city, state and ZIP code. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but it apparently hasn’t been enough. If you don’t include the ZIP, the show won’t show up when people search for local shows (which is one of the few cool features about MySpace, under “Music” and then “Shows”). A few extra seconds might mean several more people seeing your listing. Do this for your out of town shows too. Bookmark the USPS ZIP code lookup page. These are all easy things that can help, but by all means, be creative. Lorenzo Goetz used to have matchbooks with the band logo on the outside and show dates on the inside. That was a fantastic idea. Try new things: Have quirky merch, give away free burned CD singles, do whatever you have to in order to hook new fans. But if you aren’t taking the initiative and doing any work, don’t act surprised and start bitching when no one comes out to your show.

Speaking of press, though, you have gotten a bit of a raw deal when it comes to local press. The News Gazette doesn't seem to know that there are bands playing at any venues other than the Virginia or Krannert. And that's not for lack of trying, as several bands regularly try for coverage. It's possible that the people at the NG are too busy falling over themselves trying to make sure that they don't present any kind of information that wouldn't be considered "conservative" and that all of the columnists that actually get a picture next to their columns are old, white men. It's probably hard work in a fairly diverse place like CU, so don't hold them not writing up your show against them too much. They were busy.

The buzz is only as good as the level of enthusiasm in its writers, and it's hard to find students who even give a shit enough to find anything out about local music, much less a few who want to devote any time to it. But, at least it tries and is fairly open to submissions. In today's fast paced, I-can't-be-bothered-to-pick-up-a-physical-copy-of-anything world, blogs are probably the best place to try.

Oh, and give 107.1 a go, too. You're probably screwed, but occasionally a local band will get some serious airplay. WEFT has a sizeable local collection (and is always looking for more), but it's pretty rare to hear local songs outside of Champaign Local 901 (Mondays at 11 p.m.) or during the live show, WEFT Sessions (Mondays at 10 p.m.). But something's better than nothing.

I'd like to think that this place isn't as divided and pissy as I often see. There is so much potential floating around here and it's sad to see so many people wasting their time bitching and whining. My main reason for hope in all of this is Ward Gollings. This is one of the nicest guys you're ever likely to meet and he has been dealing with bands for years and still seems to love it. I'm not sure I've ever heard one bad word said about the guy. He's still willing to give anyone a try. He's a great example. He's not a jaded has-been or one of those crotchety older musicians who have mostly legitimate gripes but can't be bothered to do anything to help. He's the real deal. The real deal in shorts and black socks. And he'd hate me for saying this, but I still think the Ward 7" with "Boom" and "Mustang" on it is one of the best CU releases ever. You can find it at Parasol Records.

More of a life lesson than anything, I guess: stop talking shit. Sometimes I feel like I'm still in high school. Unhappy that you weren't booked on a show or that a band left after their set and didn't stick around to watch the other acts? Say something to that person or band. That person or band might not have even realized they were doing anything bothersome. The number of feuds bouncing around that are built on simple misunderstanding is somewhat embarrassing. Also know that most people who try to act like they know the most really don't know fuck-all. The number of people who still think that Seth Fein and I have any sort of business relationship (which hasn't been the case since somewhere around Pygmalion #1, and even then we just did our own stuff) is hilarious.

I realize that I'm not really breaking any new ground here (why start now, amirite? Hey-o!), but what the hell. Most of this stuff I'm sure I've fallen victim to myself (hell, I was crazy enough at one point to think that I was going to be a famous singer/songwriter), but I avoided a lot of pitfalls thanks to guys like Ward, Larry Gates, and Brandon T. Washington.

One note for the next person to take this job:

Don't ever feel bad about not covering a show if not one person involved with the show bothered to let you know about it. It's impossible to know about everything all the time, and if a group of people including band members for each band, promoters, club employees, etc. manages to not include ONE person who manages to pass on a quick note (and this is usually the case), they shouldn't get to bitch about it. I mean, they will anyway. You just shouldn't feel bad.

It has been an interesting few years of writing about the same things over and over. Hopefully I didn't offend anyone too much (well, Larry the Cable Guy fans might still be salty). Thanks to Brian McGovern for inspiring my mug shot , and thanks to my tens of readers, especially my mom, who has gone through Lord knows how many ink cartridges printing this crap up. See you around.

--Mike Ingram would love to hear from you at forgottenwords@gmail.com, but you can stop not sending him your show info.

Check out next week’s issue to read the second half. Mike Ingram would love to hear from you at forgottenwords@gmail.com, but you can stop not sending him your show info.