My Brother's Band-Project Three

The words have become dreaded to me. “My brother’s band,” words that could take the legitimacy away from the pre-famous Beatles. Seeing Banana Phonetic over and over again, and being more blown away every time by the mixtures of hair raising, face melting sounds, I struggle with the fact that I struggled to get my friends to come see them perform. To me Banana Phonetic is Banana Phonetic. To my friends who haven’t seen, Banana Phonetic is my brother’s band.

I went to Brooklyn New York on Saturday November 20th with my girlfriend Jess and my friend Bubba. Jess knew and had seen Banana Phonetic multiple times before, and Bubba had never seen or met them. We got to Brooklyn around three in the afternoon and met up with Tom, Akhil , Doty, Andy, and about fifteen other friends at a German beer hall. With Brooklyn being the hipster capital of America, or at least the east coast, the beer hall was filled with flannel shirts and fluorescent Ray Bans. The hall was a nice democratic bar with twenty foot long wooden tables allowing people to converse with a number of people at the same time, some of which people had never met. The next three and a half hours consisted of many liter filled mugs of delicious German beer, old friends catching up, and new friends getting to know each other. Along with the buzz from the German beer, talking with Tom and the other band members you could feel another type of buzz around them. They knew the Trash Bar was going to be full later that night, and they were pumped. After spending the afternoon drinking and joking, the band had to go get while everyone raged on.



The pervious time I had been to the Trash Bar there was happy hour from eight to nine in which certain beer and mixed drinks were completely free. The previous time I had been to the Trash Bar, the happy hour killed me. I warned Jess and Bubba about the happy hour and we decided to take a break from seven to eight. We stopped at a dimly lit bar across the street where the was a band playing some decent live music in the back. We sat at the bar, ordered two beers each because they were two for one, and relaxed. I couldn’t help myself from talking about Banana Phonetic’s show we were waiting to see. Jess went along with me hyping up the performance, but I couldn’t tell if Bubba was just entertaining our excitement or was actually excited himself.

Happy hour came and after Bubba order rum and coke and Jess ordered vodka and cranberry, I decided it might be smart to just order a beer. For the next hour the bar filled up with people pounding free drinks, trying to get as many in as possible with some people even double-fisting. By the end of the happy hour I started getting tired drunk. All I wanted to do was sit and the first band was coming on so I went into the back of the bar where the stage room was and sat down. Bubba and Jess came in after. The first band was two men between thirty and thirty-five and I’m being generous when I say they were absolutely horrendous. They were trying to be some kind of Irish folk-tale styled acoustic hard rock band, and it was worse than laughable. I looked to my right and Bubba was scared at this point. Scared that he was going to have to sit through my brother’s shitty band and then tell me he liked them. My ears couldn’t take the misery anymore so I went back to the main bar. I spent the next two and a half hours out there talking and drinking with friends kind of dragging to the end of the night. Playing last is where you want to be as a band, and the bar wanted Banana Phonetic to play last because out of the one hundred people in the bar, eighty were there for them; but I couldn’t sit there and drink anymore, I needed them to go on.




It was midnight and it was finally time. We had been through hours at a German beer hall, waiting for happy hour, happy hour, and three long hours of post happy hour and we finally got to enjoy some original, real music. Tom motioned for me to grab him a beer, which he usually does every time I see them, so I grabbed two beers from the bar and gave him one. He took a throat clearing swig and he was ready to go. At that moment all of the tiredness I had felt the past few hours was gone. You could feel the energy between the crowd and the stage. This is what everyone came to see, what everyone raged for all day, and they rocked per usual.


Seeing Banana Phonetic play is more of an overall experience than just listening to music. A scene infused by alcohol and drugs and the love for music. Looking around at the other people in the crowd rock their loose bodies along with you and the flow of the music; seeing Tom and Doty make eye contact followed by matching head nods saying to each other, “hell yeah.”; seeing Andy and Akhil feed off of the crowd; and ending every show with a Phish-esque jam making your body move in ways you didn’t understand, always leaving you wanting more. As I cheered I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was Bubba. I leaned over and he said, “They’re not your brother’s band anymore.”




Here are a few samples from Banana Phonetic.

Multimedia: This Land and We Choose the Moon

"This Land" and "We Choose the Moon" are both pretty advanced multimedia projects with a lot of information. They both use photos, videos, audio, and writing to tell a story. They both give you options as to what you want to look at and listen to or not look at and listen to. The stories they are each telling build up until they reach their climax at then end.

I am unsure if it was the actual story or the use of multimedia that made me like "This Land" a lot more. I thought it was a very captivating story of a journey just like "We Choose the Moon," but the personal part of it made me enjoy it more. You feel like you know the story teller, compared to the journey to the moon where you feel a connection to the ship. The fact that you had to watch the videos of the spaceship flying through space every time got a little old as well.

This Land was awesome in terms of multimedia because when you clicked on each day, you were first shown where they were geographically with a bird's eye map view, and then there was a photo from that part of the trip; along with a written summary and audio in the background. It just had everything you need to feel like you were there.

Multimedia

The New York Times article and the student article are two examples of the use of multimedia in journalism. The New York Times article is a story about the kidnapping of two journalists by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Student project is an awareness project about the post civil war in Sierra Leone, with the people there making a shift from diamonds to agriculture.

The multimedia aspect in the New York Times article is complimentary videos including one of the kidnapees' telling his story with graphics helping to illustrate it. These videos go along with detailed articles telling the same story. If you don't want to read the whole article the videos give you a good summary about what happened, and if you do read the article they help you paint a picture geographically. In the article videos that the Taliban made the kidnapees' watch are talked about, and in the videos they are actually shown. The best part about the videos was that they showed a computer generated version of where they were in Pakistan down to the exact roads. They are amazingly produced.

The Student project is a combination of articles and videos on the same page. Martin Ricard recorded the videos himself and uses them together with writing to tell his story about the rise of agriculture in Sierra Leone. First you read an article and then watch a video, and then you read another article to finish the story.

Both multimedia projects are nicely done. The only criticism I have is that for the student project you have to read and watch everything to get the full story (if that's a bad thing). The New York Times article allows you to watch the video and then go into the article for details you wish to know more about. If you have time to sit down and enjoy a full article like either of these then this isn't a problem; but the New York Times one gives you some options.

Never Disrespect the Garden.

This video is a commercial put out by the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have a series of commercials featuring their mascot "the bear" in which he teaches fans "Boston Bruins Hockey rules." My personal favorite is the one where a Bruins fan is on a date with a Canadians fan (the Bruins' division rival). When he buys her a beer, the bear looks down on him with disgust and knocks his beer out of his hands. Then the rule comes onto the screen reading "never date within the division."

The most recent commercial from the hockey rules series came about because a drunk girl kicked a hole in the bathroom of the TD Garden. The video of this vandalism came out a few days earlier on Barstoolsports.com. The commercial showed the Bear fixing the kicked in hole when someone walks into the bathroom, and then on the screen it says "never disrespect the garden."

This video is genius. It was first posted on the Boston Bruins website, and then it took off from there to other sites like Barstoolsports.com. This is definitely journalism. It shows a lot about the world of video blog journalism because you can be a Bruins fan and not understand the video when you sign onto the Bruins website; but if you are the type of person who reads video blog sites like Barstool, then this video can be great entertainment.

History of Daylight Savings

Post ancient civilizations Benjamin Franklin was not the first to propose Daylight Savings Time, but he was the first to get people thinking about it. He proposed in an anonymous letter that people wake up earlier so that so many candles weren't wasted.

Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, and then later by Englishman William Willett who was appalled by all of the people in London who slept through a summer day.

Germany was the first to use Daylight Savings Time to conserve coal during World War 1. The United States starting using it in 1918.

Today some people argue that we don't need daylight savings anymore. The Candy companies have a different perspective:

"Everyone from factory owners to retailers embraced the change. Even the candy lobby supported the new system, figuring the extra hour of sunlight meant it would be safer for kids to go trick-or-treating on Halloween."

One of the main arguments people use to back up Daylight Savings Time is to make better use of the daylight because this leads to saving energy. This is from the California Energy Commission:

In general, energy use and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes is directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up. Bedtime for most of us is late evening through the year. When we go to bed, we turn off the lights and TV."

Michael Downing, a teacher at Tufts University and the author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time," says messing with the clock doesn’t really save energy. “Daylight saving is still a boon to purveyors of barbecue grills, sports and recreation equipment and the petroleum industry, as gasoline consumption increases every time we increase the length of the daylight saving period,” Downing tells MNN. “Give Americans an extra hour of after-dinner daylight, and they will go to the ballpark or the mall — but they won't walk there.”

For more on the on going controversy here is an interesting article.

The Big Picture-Boston.com

Boston.com's "The Big Picture is a section of their website that tells stories through pictures. One story was about the proposition of legalizing marijuana in the U.S. It started with a paragraph and was followed by thirty-two pictures. This is the paragraph:

With marijuana on the ballot in four U.S. states this November, most prominently California's Proposition 19, which would fully legalize the substance, the legalization of marijuana has become a hot topic of discussion in North America. If pot were to become legal in California, it is unclear how that would affect the ongoing drug wars in neighboring Mexico - whether it would increase, decrease, or have little effect on the widespread violence. What is clear is that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has declared that the federal Justice Department will continue to prosecute those who use or distribute recreational marijuana, regardless of any change to state law. Collected here are photos from the past year of marijuana in the news, for both medicinal and recreational purposes, and some of the legal entanglements involved.

The pictures showed every angle of the issue. The positives of marijuana in happiness and peace; the negatives in death and tragedy in Mexico. They show the struggle between the people who want it legalized, and the people trying to stop that from happening by arresting people and burning tons (literally) of marijuana.

The interesting part of this type of story telling is that the pictures aren't just telling a single story. They let the reader examine the photographs, and then put together a story in their heads. This is an extremely objective type of journalism because the photographs aren't opinionated, they are just photos depicting true events. Photographs don't lie, especially high quality ones like these.

Reid vs. Angle

10:05: The polls just closed in Nevada and this race is ridiculously close. From everything I have seen it is just about a split. Here is a tweet under the hashtag #Nevada:
somethingbanal: Raw exit poll data has #Nevada VERY close. 48-47 split between Reid (D) and Angle (R) #election.

Reported by the Washington Post, right before the polls closed Reid encouraged people to use twitter. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada encouraged people to retweet, text, e-mail and instant message friends to find out if they voted."

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10:33: Apparently the lines for the polls in Spring Creek, Nevada are so long that the polls there aren't estimated to close until 7:45 Nevada time (10:45 Eastern).


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10:55: As of now reports continue to come out that there are still long lines all over the state of Nevada.
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11:10:"Nevada is so close because the two candidates are going against the only ones they can beat. If in either party there was someone other than Harry Reid and Sharron Angle they would win. There are no votes in right now from Nevada, and we'll take a break."-CNN Election Special (Television)

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11:20: All of the polls are officially closed now and votes are being counted. Here is a tweet from the #Nevada hashtag:

AmytheThompson:Numbers released say Reid ahead by 30,000 votes. Those are absentee & early voting numbers. #Election #Nevada

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11:29: Early election polls show that Reid is wining 53% to 43%.
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11:53: According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal 55% of the votes have been counted in Nevada and Reid leads Angle 50% to 45%.

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12:22: with 28% of the precincts reporting Reid is holding on with a 51.5% to 44% lead.
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12:48: Harry Reid was just projected to be re-elected as the Nevada State Senator. He gained 51% of the vote.

The Democrats kept the majority of the seats in the U.S. Senate with big wins in California, and West Virgina.

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1:45: LAS VEGAS (AP) - An Associated Press analysis of preliminary exit poll results shows U.S. Sen. Harry Reid won re-election with overwhelming support from minority voters

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Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear: Live Blogs

The New York Times live blog of "The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear" told a detailed objective story about everything that was going on at the rally, from demographics and crowd information to everything that happened on stage. This blog also updated what was happening every few minutes.

The Guardian live blog was also informative and updated every few minutes, but it was done in a non objective way. It did paint a picture of what was happening, but it was more of comedy article than the New York Times version; facts sprinkled with sarcastic jokes and puns.

The Huffington Post live blog was a video blog of the rally. This blog was most concerned with opinions of the people in the crowd. It did show videos of speeches and things that were going on in the rally, but the main concern was the opinions of the people.

All of these blogs were effective to certain interests of people, and I think the New York Times did the best job conveying the story, but they made one big mistake. They posts on the blog were posted in the form of most recent one at the top, which is fine if you are reading it as it is happening, but it is very difficult to read a blog post event backwards. The Guardians format is the "correct" way I am referring to. Post event the live blog needs to be switched to this format. The Huffington Post gave you the option of reading it both ways.

Other than the format the New York Times conveyed the best story because they left the opinions to the reader. They just told what was happening, with not too much bias.

As far as effectiveness in reading the blog live or post event, I think it is equal. Reading the blog during the event can make you feel like you are part of it, but reading it after gives you a lot more information than a one page story on the event or even a five page Time magazine article. Magazines should think about publishing live blogs of events after the events happen.

Harry Reid For Senator

Democrat Harry Reid is the majority senate leader in Nevada. He is in a dead heat battle right now with Republican Sharron Angle.

A lot of people believe that Harry Reid's influence over congress has kept the nuclear waste treatment from going into the Yukka mountain in Nevada, and if he leaves the United States could put the nuclear waste plant there. This is a big issue because the people of Nevada obviously don't want this nuclear waste in their mountains.

Harry Reid's main issue he is using to get votes is creating jobs. His new transmission line is going to create jobs through construction, and then jobs after it is completed; all while improving clean energy.

"Nevada Senator Harry Reid was joined today by Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, as well as many other top energy officials, to break ground for the ON Line, the first phase of a major north-to-south clean power transmission line. The new transmission line -- extending from Idaho to Nevada -- will create jobs in construction and maintenance, help the renewable energy industry expand in Nevada and improve clean energy transmission capacity in the West."

It is going to be a very close race, and the people of Nevada are more concerned than usual.

“Every time I turn on the radio or television they’re saying vote, vote for Reid. I don’t usually vote, but I feel its so important in this election,” said Lisbeth Hurtado, a 29-year-old Las Vegas resident who had just voted for Mr. Reid at the Fay Herron Elementary School in North Las Vegas. Ms. Hurtado recently lost her job as an administrator for an office supply store, and she said two of her cousins and her sister-in-law recently lost their homes to foreclosure. But, she said, she doesn’t blame Mr. Reid for the local economy. Nevada has the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates in the nation.“You can’t blame just one person for all of this,” she said. “He’s trying to make jobs and better opportunities.”

Project 2

"Randy Moss sounded Sunday like a man who realized he's made a mistake. Instead of running routes for a 6-1 football team that has legitimate Super Bowl potential, he is on a sinking Vikings ship that is 2-5 and taking on water. Moss, meanwhile, still hasn't gotten paid, still doesn't have big numbers, and still doesn't feel respected."

At this point I don't think Randy Moss is worried about getting paid or having big numbers. After spending three and a quarter seasons in such an elite organization and then going to such a poorly run one, he realized why Bill Belichik does what he does. Belichik cares only for one thing, and that is winning; and there isn't another coach in the league that knows how to do that like him.

If Moss was catching bombs from Favre and scoring touchdowns he might not have called out Vikings head coach Brad Childress in a post game press conference, but his admiration for Belichik shown in that same rant says it all. The Patriots organization makes it's players feel like they are part of something. Part of something bigger than themselves, making them sacrifice all individual needs creating a true brotherhood. This brotherhood is the formula Belichik has used the past decade to turn fifty three players into one solid machine. And Moss truly misses this. This is from his post game conference:

"..So I kinda know what type of feeling they have right now in the locker room man and I just want to be able to tell the guys that I miss the hell outa them. Every last helmet in that locker room man...Coach Belichik, he gave me an opportunity to be a part of something special and that's something I really ta..take..take to heart. I actually salute coach Belichik and his team for the success they've had before me, during me,and after me."

Translation: "Damn, I wish I was a part of that win with those guys. Coach Belichik gave me an opportunity to be a part of something special, and that's something I really took for granted. I now realize that coach Belichik is the main reason for the success they have because they are still winning without me, and I miss that success."

After listening to that press conference you can tell that Moss truly misses being a Patriot. I don't think he's thinking about catches or money, he's simply thinking about what he called "The team." It might be too late now for Moss to start thinking like a Patriot again. For three seasons he kept his mouth shut and was an exemplary Patriot; at the beginning of this year he lost touch with what it meant to be a Patriot in Belichik's system, and that press conference was Moss telling Belichik, "I truly respect you and I'm sorry for breaking your code."

Watchdogs of Democracy

"Information will just all be basically free, so there's no money to be made in journalism," says de Nevers, an 18-year-old from Portland, Ore. "As much as I would like to pursue my love and all that, I like food, too. And I just don't want to sacrifice it all."

That quote right there is why Journalism is so important. Everything is about making money now, and one of the most important things in a democracy (if you call this a democracy) is questioning the rulers. If there is no one there to investigate and question the government, corporations, capitalism, and just anything in general then what is going to happen to democracy? The small amount of democracy that is even left in this country will be gone. There are so many things happening right now with the way the United States is being run that are wrong and need to be questioned; and the fact that people are worried more about making money than doing what is right worries me.

I believe journalism will never die because there will always be people who question and make other people question what is really going on and if it is right. There is a difference between the news reporting we see on a lot of television and radio programs and newspapers, and actual Journalism. The people who believe Journalism is a dying industry might be right, but not in the sense that they are talking about. Journalism is supposed to be objective, and in a sense anti-government and anti-big business. In this sense Journalism is dying, because it is being controlled by these same institutions that it is supposed to be questioning.

I am going to go as far as to say people should be wanting to go into Journalism rather than not because there is no money it in. Journalism needs to be taken back to the people, for the people. The watchdogs of democracy need to regain that title, so that everyone isn't sucked into the money wanting pushed through our society by capitalism. Journalism can't die, or democracy dies.

Commonalities

All four of these stories (Fear and Loathing Outside Worcester, Yankee Fan Meets Pot-Banger Guy, The Unforgettable Fire Turns 25, and Indifference to Authority) tell a story. They all share a personal experience that happened with someone or something. They all give an introduction to set up the story, and they all use a quote from someone or a verbal interaction with someone (Fear and Loathing Outside Worcester being one with himself). This quote in each of the stories serves the same purpose of bringing the story together.

Each story is told from the eyes of the writer. Unlike some first person stories, in these you actually read the story from their eyes. This is a great strategy to get and keep the attention of the reader. Similar to good movies where the audience forgets they are watching a movie, this style of writing makes you feel like you are experiencing something rather than reading something. It brings out feelings and emotions. That's what good writing is supposed to do. Story telling is one of the best tools of learning, and it is an interesting, artistic type of writing.

History of W.E.B. Du Bois Stairwell Murals

This link to a Umass article gives great insight on the murals from the perspective of the artists. It also gives a slide show of fifteen murals in the stairwell. A good mix of history and culture.


http://umass.edu/umhome/news/articles/41972.html

South Hadley Bullying Blog (Masslive)

First of all I need to already disagree with the enactment of the anti-bullying law. The Massachusetts State Legislature is trying to intervene in something that has been part of human nature since the beginning of time. Something people have tried to change time and time again; but frankly, bullying is a part of growing up. I am not saying that it is okay, I am just questioning the motivations of the law. Bullying will never be stopped, so why not stop the "new age" phenomenon of people killing themselves as a solution. This isn't just in South Hadley. This is and has been happening for a few years now. I just feel like more can be done to prevent people from hurting themselves than from preventing the bullying. I am sympathetic to these situations, but to be brutally honest these suicides would not happen like they are now even twenty or thirty years ago. The new age media has something to do with this, because instead of these "victims" finding ways to deal with the bullying (fighting back, talking to their parents, talking to their siblings, talking to their guidance counselors, ETC.) they are willing to give up their lives to get back at their bullies. This big case in South Hadley justifies that statement entirely. So I think this blog and study is looking at the wrong issue. They should be teaching people how to deal with bullying, and not trying to prevent bullying.

Twitter News

There were multiple "Twitvids" released this week from Celtic players, including Nate Robinson, that are starting to show everyone the personality the team is going to have this upcoming season. Nate Robinson posts a video in which he says Shaq told him he would give him a prize if he could dunk over him. So what does Nate do? He dunks over Shaq when he's not looking, who proceeds to chase after Robinson in a joking manner. Another video was of Paul Pierce and Nate Robinson trying to figure out "who was a better shooter," by shooting popcorn into the open mouth of the snoring diesel. It looks like this team is going to be relaxed, and they have a very different swagger than previous Celtic teams (in a good way). Shaq might have brought some of this joking with him when he signed a two year deal.

(Videos also on Barstoolsports.com)

Newsworthy-Dantonio will Coach vs. Michigan

Michigan State football head coach Mike Dantonio is making it a point that he is returning for the in state showdown against Michigan on Saturday. Michigan is of course led by high powered Heisman candidate Denard Robinson, and this game is set to be a heavyweight battle.

Dantonio, who suffered a mild heart attack Sept. 19 and underwent surgery, had planned to coach from the press box last Saturday for the Wisconsin game. But a blood clot discovered Thursday during a routine post-operative examination forced him to return to the hospital.

For Michigan State, a game against Michigan is unlike any other on their schedule. He had to return to the hospital after the heart attack because of a blood clot; and despite being released from the hospital Monday, it seems he hasn't lost a step.

"I feel outstanding," Dantonio said. "I was restricted because of the clot, so all day Sunday and all day Monday I watched film. From that standpoint, I've been able to be sort of secluded. I'm back in the office now.

Boardwalk Empire

The new HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" is riveting. From the same people who brought us "The Sopranos" with Martin Scorsese guest directing an episode, it is a look into the 1920's mob scene in Atlantic City, New York, and Chicago controlling alcohol during the prohibition. It got a lot of hype and the first three episodes have lived up to it. We are shown a lot of action, strategy, and a little bit of love. Steve Buscemi plays main character "Nucky Thompson," a mob boss in Atlantic City who is also the mayor with an upcoming election. He tries to continue to keep the cash flowing in from his casinos, his pay-offs from everyone, and his new alcohol business while trying to keep everything quiet for his election. It is an hour of HBO television that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Definitely worth getting into, especially if you like mob or mafia shows or movies.

Q&A Interviewing

The first interview was quick, easy, and surprisingly informative. I thought it wouldn't be as informative, but the key with the first interview is asking the right questions. Because you can't do follow up questions you need to try and cover all the areas you want information on. It helps if the person you're interviewing takes the time to give you some nice long responses.

The second interview was interesting. It was easy to link the previous response to the next question. I went into that interview planning to ask questions about the actual website structure and the last question was about how Jeff enjoyed seeing shows while on the job. Different from the first one because you don't know where the interview is going to end up, it's open-ended. After doing the second one the first style is too closed for the audience to get to know the person you're interviewing. This style is also harder in the sense that you need to be interviewing someone committed to answering your questions or you need to have a longer deadline.

The third interview I did was a phone interview with Jeff. This was my favorite, but the hardest for editing purposes. Because I am friends with Jeff it was such an informal conversation that I had to go back and pick out different parts of the conversation to post. If I didn't know the person I was interviewing I think it would have been a good balance between awkward and comfortable. An in person interview might be a little awkward, but not having to look someone in the eye while you ask or answer questions relaxes both parties.

I think I got pretty good information about MySecretBoston, how Jeff got into writing, and a lot about how he does and enjoys his job. This was a good experience.

Q&A Number Three

"MUSICIANS HANGING WITH MUSICIANS"

This interview with Jeff Wallace was a little different because it was on the phone with him. I used my girlfriends iPhone because there is an application that allows you to record whole conversations and play them back. Instead of rushing and struggling to write everything down I had it on record and I could relax and talk to him a little. The combination of me bring friends with Jeff and me not really talking in formal interview language it was hard to pick out the parts that were worth writing down. So the editing to make it a presentable interview was tougher in this one. I asked the "Banana Phonetic" question because that is my brother's band and Jeff is good friends with all of them, and they played in the festival.


Q:So how did the festival go?

A:A huge success. Through ought the 6 hours 1500 people came. The aftermath of it was really good. People around town have been talking about it and our facebook page has gotten a lot of fans because of it, so overall it was good for MySecretBoston.

Q:Did u get everything out of it that you expected to?

A:There's always more. More press would have been nice, but at the same time we are competing with all these other websites so we can't really use them to get the word out. So yes absolutely it was everything we wanted, it was pretty ambitious for a new website and nothing went majorly wrong.

Q:How did banana phonetic do?

A:They are my friends obviously, but now my professional opinion is that they can hang. They hung with bands that make a lot of money doing it and they carried themselves, played an amazing set, and the crowd and other bands loved them; and some of the bands want to do more gigs with them. That's what it's all about: musicians hanging with musicians.

Q:How did u get all the bands?

A:The five bands that I got I've seen them all a bunch of times living in Alston and I said,"what the hell?" Local bands I knew personally. Jeff Robinson is the sax player for Duppy Conquerors, a sweet Marley tribute band that plays every Monday night at a bar in Somerville called precinct (one of my favorite spots, and one night I was having a beer and I asked him, "yo you wanna play a show?" and he said yes. Some were more official, those had performance requirements and can sell out the paradise in Boston, but if the price is right they will always play. Overall, the five bands that I got flowed together perfectly.

Q:Did you write about it?

A:I felt couldn't write a review because it would have been completely biased. I made sure people knew it was a success, but we beat the coverage to death and we didn't want to take it too far.

Q:Are you going to try and do another?

A:Absolutely. Immediately after we set up a meeting to see what we can do to make it bigger and better next year. For us it was a perfection situation, because all we needed to do was promote it and pick the music for the day. None of us really had any experience doing something like this and it went well so we are definitely trying to take it further. I can't wait to see it grow. Going in I was most excited about the bands. I spent days, weeks, months piecing together the lineup and there isn't a single band on there that I wouldn't vouch for. The best compliment I got was from someone in one of the bands who said, "Thank you for bringing all of us together." There was a strong sense of community amongst the bands who played and there were even a lot of people from bands who didn't play just in the crowd checking things out. Everyone was happy to be there.

Q&A Number Two

This second interview with Jeff Wallace from MySecretBoston started as an interview about the actual website in terms of setup and his input, and ended up being about how the website helps him do his job and the process he goes through at shows.


Q:MySecretBoston, the music section specifically, is set up in a cool way with a music playlist, your twitter posts about bands playing, and general music news in the center. Did you have any say in the ideas of the actual set up or do you just fill in the information?

A:I had a lot of say in this. It was basically my page to design. We're changing over to a different multimedia server so expect more music on the site shortly. We also are putting together a video team. Pretty soon I'll be adding another music blog with a rotating cast of writers. We're hoping to make the page into it's own site and the more we can offer in terms of multimedia the better. Yeah I can sit there and write about a band, but I'll always be limited by words. Sometimes people need to simply hear the band for themselves and make their own judgments.

Q:How do the twitter link and the playlist help you do your job?

A:he twitter feed is great for quick updates while I'm at shows. It's also a useful tool to drive traffic to our site. Basically I'll post a teaser and then have a link to a page on the site.

Q:Do any bands know about your name? In other words you are in a great position to publicize and get the word out for bands struggling to make a name for themselves. Have you been approached while out at shows?

A:I've made it a point to get out and meet as many people in the local music community as possible. This isn't limited to musicians either. Bartenders, door people, booking agents, club owners, photographers, promoters, and other writers are very important as well. It's all about who you know and more often than not people are willing to share resources. I'm getting to a point where I show up at a local music club or bar and I feel like I know at least a dozen people in the room, important people too, at least on the local scene. I've been drinking beers with some seriously talented people. I guess that happens when you average 4 to 5 shows per week.


Q:If you are there for an assignment do you make any notes while you are actually there or do you enjoy the show and do write ups when you get home?

A:I very rarely take notes at a show unless I know something is too important to forget. I always bring a notebook just in case, but I think it's important to experience a show just as everyone else in the room does and let your memory decide what's important.

Q:Does it make it harder to enjoy the music as a fan when you are on assignment or is it just as enjoyable?

A:As long as I'm listening to a piece of music I'm always on assignment. Everything I hear is part of a bigger picture and can be put to use at some point. Music is endless.