As you probably know, I’ve been involved with YEAH (Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities) for many years and try to help them out in any way I can. I’ve volunteered for SGRRC and TNTRC multiple years and can say from experience that it’s AWESOME. It’s easily the most rewarding volunteer work I’ve ever done and it honestly changed my life forever. Unfortunately I can’t spare the time off from work to volunteer for them this year, but that doesn’t mean YOU can’t! I strongly STRONGLY encourage you to checkout their volunteer form and see if any of the positions interest you. Remember, you DON’T have to be a musician or even musically-inclined to help out! There are plenty of non-musical needs as well. You get free lunch every day, a cool t-shirt, and most importantly the good feeling of helping foster the love of music and the arts in some of coolest kids you will ever meet.
So what are you waiting for?!?! Go sign up now! Click here for Tennessee Teens Rock & Roll Camp, or here for Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp.
Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger/Benefit show in M’boro
January 26, 2010
I’m not quite sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief, or still be worried about the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. I haven’t really had a chance to fully think the outcome through yet. But the news is: the merger is on, but with special provisions mandated by the government to prevent a full-on monopoly on the entire live music business. Basically, AEG Live will get to use Ticketmaster’s software, and Ticketmaster’s Paciolan ticketing and software services unit will be sold to a division of Comcast or another possible buyer. I guess the biggest worry here was that the merger would go on unchecked and that did NOT happen, so I guess we can all sigh a breath of relief… for the time being. More details at Business Insider.
There’s a pretty cool fundraiser/benefit show happening in Murfreesboro this Thursday 1/28/2010 for YEAH. (If you’re unfamiliar with YEAH, which stands for Youth Education through Arts & Humanities, please click on the flier to visit their website and learn more about their AWESOME program.) The show lineup is Shoot The Mountain, Hammertorch, and How I Became the Bomb, and there will also be Yazoo and New Belgium beers! (The beer part is a big deal because normally this space is alcohol-free because it’s an all-ages venue/hangout.) It’s obviously an 18+ event, and your attendance will help out one of the best local causes I can think of.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of local electronic/8-bit wizard Matt Pusti. We went to MTSU together and he was mostly responsible for my introduction to electronic music in general. Before that, I thought drum machines were evil and anything not made by a “real” instrument was terrible. I recently mentioned his newer, more experimental endeavor DAAS and was quite glad to see him getting back to producing that genre of electronic music. (His material before Makeup & Vanity Set sounded much more like the DAAS material.) His Makeup & Vanity Set project has been somewhat idle for a couple years, but that has just changed with the release of his new Jambox EP on Bandcamp. GO GET IT NOW FOR NOTHING MORE THAN YOUR EMAIL. This is apparently just a taste of the goodness to come on his next full-length, due out later this year. I will probably do an interview with him as my first “official” interview on here… one of more to come.
steve cross loves music and science 