I am blessed. Our area, known as the "Triangle" which consists of Raleign-Durhum-Chapel Hill with many, many communities that were small towns and now big. I understand that we are the biggest market with out a MLB baseball team.
Anyhow, the music scene is out there. You've gotta look for it. Open mics are now abundant, with a few of them close enough to bother driving to. Under thirty minutes.
Seems like there are some very talented bass players from what I'm told, and lots of competition. Guitar players are a "dime a dozen" from what I hear. Also have a bunch of neighborhood bands going on. They play out at their subdivision's ice cream social or whatever.
Many bars have recently added live acts to their draw. Anything ranging from full bands to 2-3 piece groups of varied instruments.
Quite a few wannabe studios downtown(s). We've got the two big U.S, large retail stores, but we do have a growing number of specialty type shops who have yet to really get their momentum going. Alas, most of those place are wicked inconvienient to get to from where I live.
As far as gigging acts local to Raleigh, many bars do the live music thing and we also have 1/2 dozen small music halls. The kind of place where you pay the cover, buy drinks and stand for the show where ever you please, 100-300 "seat" type places ranging from ratty to all stained wood construction. (Very nice, indeed)
A few shopping centers have events, like "Jazz night at Stonehenge" or something like that. Free admission. Fun to watch kids dancing to big band, and sad to know that they'll pretend to not like it when their friends talk about it. :lol:
Seems like it's boomed up in the past couple of years. Very nice to see. Very lively.
Anyhow, what's it like in your area?
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Cincinnati is a hot-spot I think....there is so much talent in this area is retarded.
If I ever got out of the house I'd go see some acts, but I don't have the time right now.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
Minneapolis has a rich and diverse music scene. we also have amazing record stores. there are quite a few recording studios and mastering places. there is a weekly paper that writes all about the local music scene.
I am in bed by 10PM these days so I am the odd geezer out.
I can tell you about sunrises and early birds however.
In central CT its so-so there are a bunch of open mics, and alot of bars that still have band on the weekends. I'm sure there are plenty of 2-3 piece bands out there playing somewhere but I wouldn't know where nor have I ever tried to find them.
We have a few big outdorr/indoor venues only 15-20 mins away if you want to see the big acts, but the mid-range club scene, venues that hold 1-2500 are ew and far between now. The club I used to work at in the 90's was perfect. Big huge room with a huge stage and PA system would hold around 2500 Max and there wasn't a bad view int he house. The booked national, regional and local acts and I saw more shows than I can remember there were just so many.
But that club closed down and the only one close is in Hartford which isn't that far but it's a smaller club and doesn't have the same atmosphere, but now both of the casino's are booking the same acts that were playing at the club I wourked and I'm sure they are paying top dollar.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
City of Richmond has a pretty active music scene in spite of the city government's active war against any type of cultural or artistic activities that aren't held in their white-elephant "arts center," thanks to VCU, U of R and the folks revitalizing the Manchester district.
25 miles south, Petersburg is actively supporting and encouraging their "underground scene," and that city's rapidly leaving a somewhat seamy reputation far behind. Meanwhile, neighboring Colonial Heights has mandated a midnight closing time for any venue that serves alcohol. To the north, Ashland has several good venues and a nice music hall at RMC. The 'burbs are . . . well, the 'burbs . . . strip malls, fern bars and cover bands.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
As best I can tell in the Philly area, there are lots of musicians and bands, but not a lot of places to play. According to the rants on Craigslist, this overload is making it a buyer's market, as many bands will play for free or just the door.
The down economy has reduced the prices for rehearsal space and recording sessions. However, we are very short of bass players.
There are some very nice venues that hold 500-1500, though many don't have seats. Philly itself can draw the major acts, but the secondaries seem to end up in Atlantic City. There are also lots of local bars, but lately they just don't draw as well as they used to, which makes it tough for bands to generate a following.
Our blues band is trying to find gigs for the summer, so we'll see how tough the market really is.
^^^^ They get gigs by Pat Martino, Jimmy Bruno, Sonny Rollins, John Pattitucci, Christian McBride, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, to name a few. And two of those are bass players! :lol: :wink:
Liverpool has a lot of music going on, but a fair amount of it carries no pay (more the original songs crowd, you're more likely to get pay for doing covers). There's a lot of guys (mostly in the late-40s and upwards on that) who are making it tough for younger bands to get play time because they do gigs with a backing track they play guitar and sing over. With reduced overheads for the bars, it's reduced the number of spots for bands to play at. But there's quite a mix of venues for playing rock, folk, jazz,reggae, etc. Not much blues here. Weirdly, when there was a minor blues scene, jazz had died out. Now, there's a vibrant jazz scene and zero blues.
Oh, and a bunch of open mics at various places, too.
The jazz scene is actually excellent - everyone knows each other, but the nights have good variation - latin, funk. standard old time ballads, some trad bands and django cover bands. Basically, if it happened in jazz, there's usually a spot in Liverpool where it's getting played.
Winnipeg has a long history of being a great place for musicians. And hence music fans.
There are a lot of small venues, theaters, bars, coffee houses and other assorted places to play, in most genres.
And a lot of outdoor festival type shows in the summer months. Almost every weekend from May-Sept there is some sort of festival or other multi-act show.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Winnipeg_musicians
http://www.bytes4u.ca/mn/categories/events.html
http://www.uptownmag.com/current/whatsup.aspx
http://www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca/wp/
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
kent...hey, your're my northern neighbor.
I left out Ron Carter. Laz gets gigs by Ron Carter. I'm lucky if I get gigs by Aaron Carter. :shock:
Seriously, if only Mike Walker moved to the Philly/NJ/NYC/MA area, I'd be over there in a shot - between the gigs, his teaching, the Sadowsky and Benedetto stores in NYC, and the lovely city of NYC (I'm in love with that place), it would have everything I could ever need. Bloody awesome area for music. I am so very very highly jealous and fully expect you all to take full advantage, you lucky sods! :lol:
kent...hey, your're my northern neighbor.
Another person who knows that "the red river valley" is more than just an old song! :wink:
Do you ever make your way up to these parts?
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Its mostly hindi music. However, bands all over India are crazy about all kinds of metal esp. death metal. I wonder why they are so angry.
There isn't one :shock: Well, some bars have bands on the weekends but mostly local stuff. Up the road there is a resort town that has some night life in the summer. One bar even has an open jam so I am told. I must check that out once the summer season hits.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Atlanta.
Need I say more? :note2:
Surprisingly, Music City, USA has some pretty big problems when it comes to the local scene. Of course, a large majority of places are focused more on the country side of things. There are a few pretty cool rock clubs. Our show 2 weeks ago was at a place called The Basement, which is where Metallica had a "secret" show right before Bonnaroo in 2008. Our favorite place is The Muse. Exit/In is a famous club around here and has had a lot of big name tours stop there. Those are for original rock bands. The other hat I want to wear eventually is in a cover rock band. From what I've discovered, it's hard to make any money doing that around here. There are a ton of places to play, but there are so many aspiring musicians in this town, they are all willing to play for free, thinking a big producer is going to walk into the bar and sign them up to a contract on the spot (trust me, that ain't gonna happen).
I actually live in a really small town about 30 minutes north of Nashville called White House. My 17 year old is involved in the very local scene and there are some pretty good high school aged bands in town. My son's band is brand new, but they played a show with 2 other local acts recently and got reviewed here http://iammjlol.tumblr.com/post/506746313/6-29pm-04-08-10 My son is the one in the hat playing acoustic guitar and drums (not at the same time obviously).
