Acoustic Americana Music Guide, April 16 to 30 (and beyond) – UPDATE
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PLEASE support the Guide so that it can continue! The topmost News Feature, just below, tells how. Time is almost gone for a MAJOR decision to be made on the future of the Guide.
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Tied to the Tracks
ACOUSTIC AMERICANA
MUSIC GUIDE & NEWS
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APRIL 16 to 30 short edition – news features only;
Complete edition has detailed events through the end of April (and beyond, through 2010)
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APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH, and includes Cowboy Poetry Week, officially designated in both the U.S. and Canada.
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FRESH NEWS FEATURES:
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1) WE REALLY NEED YOU – SUPPORT THE GUIDE! (GET DVDs / CDs IN RETURN)
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The Guide could be in its final month of comprehensive editions. Our detailed reporting – on all the live acoustic music performances and artist workshops in the Los Angeles region, and festivals and notable acoustic and artist events everywhere – stuff that you can’t find anywhere else – may fade into the Valhalla of vanished legends.
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This edition was finished last night – actually Friday morning at 5:30 am, after working on it all day and evening and through the night Thursday. This is a lot of work and it requires a lot of time and effort. (If you print out the complete current edition, it’s 215 pages long.)
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We need you. Really, really, need you. More to the point, we need a little of your money. We’ll give you cool stuff RIGHT NOW in return. And we’ll even give you chances to receive great tickets to shows ALL SUMMER – IF we’re still doing this. You can read the whole urgent appeal at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/03/support-guide-and-get-some-great-dvds.html
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Here, we’ll keep it simple: The Guide must ask you, NOW, UIRGENTLY, for your financial support. We’ve been doing this for more than seven years, through thick and thin, through two very serious eye surgeries (with two more to come), and it’s grown and grown – to keep track of, and tell you about, all the amazing live music that’s out there. As a result, it’s come to require sooooo much time that we just can’t do it for free any more.
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RIGHT NOW, we are offering some GREAT thank-you gifts in return for your support – we have CDs and DVDs we can send you, while they last.
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We can and will continue to bring you the Guide, and even EXPAND to a full-feature website (see News Feature #2) – IF we have your help.
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SEND US A CHECK FOR $25, and we’ll send you a professionally-produced concert DVD and a CD, OR 3 CDs (either option, your choice) PLUS another bonus! The complete list of “thank-you” gifts you can choose is at
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http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/03/support-guide-and-get-some-great-dvds.html
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WRITE YOUR $25 CHECK TO “TIED TO THE TRACKS” AND MAIL IT TODAY TO:
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Tied to the Tracks
PO Box 5427
Pasadena CA 91117-5427
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Then email us at tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com and put “Guide support” in the subject line – tell us what DVD / CD choices you want – confirm your selections before they’re gone. (Whatever happens, you’ll get GREAT STUFF in return for your support!)
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Truth is, unless we get sufficient support from you, our readers, we just can’t do this any more. It is our intention to keep publishing the Guide, and to make it even better – THANK YOU for your help to do that! (We simply cannot do it without you!)
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2) GUIDE IS MOVING TO ACOUSTICMUSIC.NET – WHAT WE DO WHEN WE GET THERE DEPENDS ON YOU…
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The long-sought goal to move the Guide to a full-feature website can be realized, at last (okay, it would take a few weeks to get it all done). There are SO MANY acoustic music concerts, club gigs, festivals, workshops, acoustic music radio shows, and MORE, and describing all of that for you (as we work hard to do) just overwhelms many people with the Guide’s current format. Even though we’ve separated each day’s radio & TV listings and given each of them their own url, the live shows you can go see are enough to fill well over 100 pages each week (!)
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In addition to the need to make everything MUCH more user-friendly – and rapidly accessible to find specific events and days – we have long wanted to do even more.
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“More” WHAT, you ask? We have HUNDREDS of hours of performance-interviews, recorded live, from the “TIED TO THE TRACKS” Radio Show Library and concerts recorded live. We get requests all the time to hear favorites again. So far, we haven’t had a way to do that. Moving to a full-function website will make FAR MORE available to you!
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Plus, we get offers from venues large and small, all the time, to GIVE-AWAY TICKETS to great shows – to you, our readers. We have done some of that (to see Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and others) but it isn’t easy to do that kind of thing without a real website. We can essentially take-over at AcousticMusic.net – not quite a coup, because what’s on that site will still be available there and accessible from a new full-function directory. We’ll be able to update the site with LOTS MORE, including exciting new graphics and news of more Folk-Americana / Acoustic Americana / Acoustic Renaissance and other acoustic music – more than you can find anywhere else! (Yes, we already DO more of that than anybody else, each week in our “plain Jane” presentation of the Guide… so maybe you should think of what we can do on the new site as all that on steroids, PLUS photos PLUS hours of archived performance-interviews as dowloadabe audio from the huge radio show library PLUS concert ticket give-aways.
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Moving the Guide – and what happens with the new presence on the established acousticmusic.net site – will be determined by your financial support. For one thing, we’ll need money to pay the octopus tentacles of the music industry so can we provide the radio show recordings there. And as we discuss in the first News Feature (above), we just can’t continue to spend the many, many, MANY hours required to write the Guide and do it anymore for free.
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3) VENUE DIRECTORY IS UPDATED
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Our “Tied to the Tracks” Acoustic Americana Music Guide’s MASSIVE directory of acoustic-music friendly venues in the Los Angeles region is freshly updated and it’s TWENTY EIGHT PAGES long if you print it out! There are waaaay over 500 acoustic-music-friendly venues in the area (despite the fact that the Los Angeles Times and the LA Weekly routinely do not acknowledge the presence of live acoustic performances here). Bookmark the url because it’s a resource you can use when you hear a venue name and have no clue where it is – or when you want to search for venues in your area, to get booked there or to go hear music.
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It’s at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/04/venue-directory-from-tied-to-tracks_16.html
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4) IPOD VIRTUAL SOUND APP VS. NEW SOUND VS. REALITY
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MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer recently presented it during her broadcast: you can now get a high-tech toilet (for six thousand dollars) that plays sounds of babbling brooks or crashing surf, “to mask the natural human sounds while it’s in use.” She continued, “Or, you can buy an app for your iphone that plays – what else? – the sound of a toilet flushing.” She concluded, “I think I’ll go old school.”
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5) RECORD STORE DAY IS APRIL 17
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International “Record Store Day,” and a chance to remember and support independent record stores, is worth celebrating by all who love music and browsing to discover new music and pausing to recognize and remember tunes not heard for a long time. The stores, across the globe, unite today to celebrate the art of music, and many have great giveaways and promotions, today only, so check with your favorite local record shop.
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One thing special: The “Amoeba Clearance Outlet” comes to the Long Beach Antique Show & Flea Market on Sunday, April 18. Head down to Veterans Stadium for what Los Angeles Magazine calls “The Best Flea Market in L.A.” Look for the Amoeba booth at space C-653 and pick up some great finds in vinyl, CDs and DVDs in all genres at rock bottom prices. Hours are 5:30 am-2 pm, admission is only $5, and parking is free.
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6) PAID SUMMER ARTS INTERNSHIPS FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
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They’re available through Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program; job descriptions will post April 28. Internship positions close as soon as they are filled during the April 28 to May 31 recruitment period. Students should act fast.
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Los Angeles County, through its Arts Commission, has given grants totaling $250,000 to arts organizations throughout Los Angeles County to support paid internships for college undergraduates in summer 2010. Descriptions of and contacts for the internship positions will be posted on the Arts Commission’s Web site on April 28, 2010. Go to www.lacountyarts.org, click on “Internships,” then “2010 Internship Positions.” Interested students should act as soon as positions are posted – there is stiff competition for a limited number of internships. Students apply directly to the organization offering the internship, not the Arts Commission. The organizations will want to move as fast as possible so their interns can start by May 31.
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Interns work for 10 consecutive weeks starting between May 31 and June 11, 2010 and ending between August 6 and August 20, 2010. They are paid $350 per week, for 40 hours a week, and take part in educational and arts networking activities.
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7) INAUGURAL “AMERICANA MUSIC FEST” NEAR L.A. SEEKS PERFORMERS
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The “AMERICANA MUSIC FEST” will take place October 3, sponsored by the Thousand Oaks Kiwanis Charitible Foundation at the beautiful Paramount Ranch near Agoura Hills, in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area. Info, www.americanamusicfestkw.org
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This is the inaugural year for what’s already being called “a wonderful event, with multiple stages of scheduled acts, prestigious contests, and all-day jams under the oak trees and on the wooden boardwalks of the buildings in the movie-set old west town.” Yep, if any of that sounds familiar, it is indded the same site as the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest.
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Organizers ask, “Would you like to have the opportunity to present your music to 1000 kids? We hope to have that many or more at the Americana MusicFest this year. You are invited to take advantage of a fantastic opportunity to show kids that there are a lot more genres and styles of music than what they hear on mainstream radio or download based on Facebook or Twitter buzz.
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“There will be three stages going all day and free-style jamming throughout the park. There will also be an Instrument Petting Zoo to let kids get some hands-on feel, as well as workshops, many with the goal of getting kids interested in learning to play and letting them know where to get lessons.
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“Kids will be invited to attend through targeted advertising and at their schools through the youth groups sponsored by the Kiwanis Club (www.kiwanis.org). Those groups include K-Kids and Terrific Kids (Elementary), Builders Club and KEY Club (Teens), and KEYLeader and Circle K International (University) throughout the Southern California area.
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“To be considered as a performer, please submit a link to your Electronic Press Kit (EPK) and/or web site to judges@AmericanaMusicFestKW.org. Submissions must include samples of your music and preferably videos of recent performances. Selections will be made based upon varieties of genres and styles as well as ability and presentation. Young musicians are especially encouraged to submit and may be scheduled in special performances. Stages will be scheduled based upon the recommendations of a panel of judges who will review all submitted materials. Send your submission early as the number of slots on the three stages will be limited by the time available (the park closes at sundown), and earlier submissions will prevail in cases of equal ability within genre/style.
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“Artists that are scheduled for the stages will receive an honorarium (TBD) to help defray expenses. Musicians and groups not scheduled on the stages may still present their music jam-style around the park. As implied, NO ELECTRIFIED INSTRUMENTS will be permitted!
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“If you would like further information or if you would like to assist with the planning or presentation of this event, please send an inquiry to: info@AmericanaMusicFest.org.
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8) THIS WEEK’S QUOTABLE THOUGHTS…
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Musician Luke Halpin’s favorite quote from the road: “I could never live somewhere where they ENFORCE the speed limit…” – quoted by his music partner Stephanie Bettman, and she adds “Regarding Phoenix.” (We don’t know if it’s safe to ask…)
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“Who breaks the thread, the one who pulls, the one who holds on?” – James Richardson, poet, professor (b. 1950). From Anu Garg’s “A.Word.A.Day.”
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RECENT NEWS FEATURES:
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The April 9 edition’s News Features are available at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/04/acoustic-americana-music-guide-april-9.html
The topics are:
1) URGENT APPEAL: SUPPORT THE GUIDE! (AND GET SOME GREAT DVDs / CDs IN RETURN)
2) GUIDE REACHES AGREEMENT TO MOVE – TO ACOUSTICMUSIC.NET
3) ZOEY’S, VENTURA’S BEST ACOUSTIC VENUE, RELOCATES & GOES LARGE
4) CROSSROADS OF HISTORY APRIL 14, AND CONNECTIONS WITH MUSIC
5) BANSHEE IN THE KITCHEN CHANGING PERSONNEL
6) QUOTABLE THOUGHT…
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The March 27 edition’s News Features are available at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/03/acoustic-americana-music-guide-fresh_27.html
The topics are:
1) URGENT APPEAL FROM THE GUIDE – SUPPORT THE GUIDE, AND GET SOME GREAT DVDs / CDs IN RETURN!
2) FOLKWORKS PRINT EDITION – SPECIAL SUMMER ISSUE
3) CELEBRATE RECORD STORE DAY & GET SPECIAL STUFF, APRIL 17…
4) COFFEE GALLERY – WHAT’S WITH ALL THE NEW PHONE NUMBERS?
5) ALL-STAR LOWEN & NAVARRO TRIBUTE CD HELPS ALS FOUNDATION
6) THOUGHT FOR TODAY…
7) THOUGHT FOR THE AGES…
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The March 20 edition’s News Features are available at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/03/acoustic-americana-music-guide-fresh_20.html
The topics are:
1) SPRING MUSIC FESTIVALS START ON FIRST DAY OF SPRING
2) GUIDE’S RADIO & TV LISTINGS NOW IN SEPARATE PAGES
3) REGISTER TO COMPETE IN THE 50th TOPANGA BANJO-FIDDLE CONTEST
4) ANOTHER HAITI RELIEF BENEFIT SHOW, MARCH 19
5) MICHELE VREELAND RADIO INTERVIEW
6) A THOUGHT FOR ALL THOSE TEA-BAGGERS…
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RECENT GUEST EDITORIALS:
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L.A.-based musician and expert on the subject MICHAEL HERALDA always presents a compelling and informative performance, and his written piece on the Mexica New Year is fascinating, spiritual, and a must-read for cultural literacy. It’s our guest editorial, by Michael, at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/03/aztec-calendars-new-year-time-of-music.html. Michael has done musical and spoken word excerpts from his compelling “Aztec Stories” presentation on radio’s “Tied to the Tracks,” including music on original and traditional Native American instruments.
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Did you see our GUEST EDITORIAL in February 2010 by award-winning musician FREEBO? He wrote an essay on climate change that’s worth a read, and we presented it in the Guide. It’s entertaining and thoughtful, and takes it to the “deniers” in right-wing media. It’s at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/02/climate-change-by-freebo-special-to.html
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Entire contents copyright (c) © 2010, Larry Wines. All rights reserved.
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Updated April 16, 2010; recurring events included through Friday, April 30, with updated listings of many upcoming events through the rest of 2010.
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FIND ALL THAT’S HAPPENING in the current (215 page) edition at
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www.acousticmusic.net
or at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2010/04/acoustic-americana-music-guide-april-16.html
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