Latest News
Randee DeMartino (a former Atlanta based music
publicist) passed away on Nov 27, 2003 after a nine
year battle with cancer. In lieu of flowers at her
funeral ceremony, the family has established the
Randee DeMartino Memorial Fund. Funds donated will be
used to pay the outstanding medical bills Randee
incurred before her passing. Any extra donations made
to the fund will be distributed to the various
organizations that assisted Randee during her
struggle.
Donations can be made in two ways:
1. Make checks payable to the "Randee DeMartino
Memorial Fund" and send them to:
Randee DeMartino Memorial Fund
c/o Mark Augustyn
1113 Creekdale Dr
Clarkston, GA, 30021
2. Stop by any local Wachovia branch office and tell
the teller you would like to make a donation to the
fund. Please be sure to have the spelling correct and
tell the teller the fund has been set up as a business
account.
Want to sell tickets for your next show or next event? Ticket Alternative has just launched in Atlanta, and is providing a cheaper way to buy and sell tickets. Unlike Ticketmaster, Ticketweb, and Music Today, Ticket Alternative allows venues, promoters and bands to sell tickets to their events at no cost to themselves. This also means that local bands looking to sell advance tickets for their shows now have a solution, previously not available. Interested venues, promoters and bands should contact www.ticketalternative.com
As of December 2nd, 2003 MP3.com is no more. CNET Networks INC has announced its acquisition of the struggling company and will shortly unveil yet another paid download service. MP3.com was a haven for indie bands and provided one of the most effective ways for unsigned bands to get the word out about themselves using a variety of methods including radio stations, paid promo, and links to other related artists. Over the last year we have seen the steady disappearance and downsizing of a variety of sites that were essential for unsigned and up-and-coming bands to promote themselves including rollingstone.com's mp3 service, localmusic.com, tonos.com, garageband.com, iuma.com and demodiaries.com
STAR SEARCH, the hit TV show on CBS, is looking for adult singers (ages 15 &
33). The winning prize is $100,000 and exposure to a prime-time national
audience of millions. We are holding scheduled auditions for highly
recommended singers/performers in:
Atlanta on Saturday 11/15 At Sheraton Midtown Colony Square
We are inviting both male & female performers to sing 2 cover songs over a
Karaoke-style (no vocal) track. They must supply the songs on cd format.
Original songs are acceptable, but not encouraged. All styles including
pop, rock, r&b, country, blues, classics, standards, etc. will be welcomed.
Performers may also accompany themselves with an acoustic guitar. To
schedule an audition or for more information, please contact:
Peter Cohen
Talent Producer
323-860-3908-off
310-600-1935-cel
[email protected]
Atlanta singer Van Hunt, who landed a deal with Capitol Records, will have his self-titled debut out on January 27th, 2004. Hunt wrote, arranged and produced all 12 tracks on the record, which he dedicates "to the pimps, ho's and hustlers for whom I strive to provide background music." Nice. He is doing two showcases in town this week: Thursday the 13th at Apache Cafe and Saturday the 15th at Smith's Olde Bar.
Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead is going solo - sort of. His score to the British documentary Bodysong is coming out in the United States on February 24th, 2004. The film is described as an "ambitious documentary about the experience of being human, from life until death," and it recently won a British Independent Film Award. The score is a multi-layered collection of acoustic and electronic music that features contributions from the Emperor String Quartet and Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood. Plans are under way for the U.S. release of the film. www.bodysong.com.
Maverick Records has dropped The Rising. The band struggled with their first release Cradle which reacted poorly at radio and received only marginal reviews. The band suffered through several delays of their full length release Future Unknown and a cancelled tour before the label just called it a day. No word yet whether the record will get picked up by any other label, but given the fact that it's already over 2 years old, it seems unlikely it will ever see the light of day.
The Austin Lounge Lizards will amuse us with two of their off-the-wall shows, at 7.30pm and 10.00pm, at the Red Light Cafe (553 Amsterdam Ave, 404 874 7828 www.redlightcafe.com) on November 15th. Their ninth album is called Strange Noises in the Dark, out soon on the Houston-based Blue Corn label. Getting the most attention is a track called 'Why Couldn’t We Blow Up Saddam.' Amen to that. www.austinloungelizards.com
A reminder that Sam Shaber and her band will be at Smith's Olde Bar this Wednesday, November 12th. Read her new column here.
On November 8th, PBS will air Rosanne Cash's recent performance on Austin City Limits. Cash, whose fine new album is Rules Of Travel (Capitol), will then conduct a rare television interview with Larry King on November 11th to talk about her late father Johnny Cash. Larry King Live is on CNN at 9.00pm Eastern Time. She will also perform at the Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute concert at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, along with Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Rodney Crowell and others. The free concert will air on CMT on November 15th.
Something Corporate hits the Roxy on November 19th to plug their album North, which was just released and has already sold a ton or two. We are told that worth the price of admission alone is lead singer and piano player Andrew, who is some sort of Jerry Lee Lewis wannabe and apparently doesn't care much for last names.
A solo acoustic show by Scott Miller will take place at Eddie’s Attic on November 7th with
RB Morris opening. Miller's album Upside Downside is out now on the Sugar Hill label, which is a recommendation in itself.
There is some anticipation regarding Caroline
Herring and her upcoming appearance at Smith's Olde Bar on Tuesday,
November 4th in support of the Wellspring album. More info
at www.carolineherring.com.
Grammy nominee and neo-soul goddess
Meshell Ndegeocello is
hitting the road to drum up business for her new release
Comfort Woman
(Warner Bros). She is
co-headlining
with
Soulive. The
Atlanta date is Thursday, October 30th at Variety Playhouse.
Mason
Jennings will play at Smith's on Friday, November 14th. Last year he
released Century Spring on his own label Architect Records, and he
tours almost constantly. Worth checking out.
Excellent double bill coming up at the Echo Lounge on Tuesday, November
25th:
Damien Jurado and
Rosie
Thomas.The NME describes Jurado as "the
Raymond Carver of
U.S. singer-songwriters" and Thomas is simply amazing.
Howard Tate's record Rediscovered has been nominated
in 3 Grammy Categories. Rediscovered, was written and produced by the legendary talent and Atlanta resident Jerry
Ragovoy, and marks the comeback of Howard after a 30 year absence in the music business. Howard is managed by Atlanta
based Simon Horrocks, who's other artists include The Crazy Anglos and
Blue Epic.
The Bibles will be playing CJ's Landing on Saturday, November 1st, along with Endochine, who are making quite a bit of noise over in Texas and recently did a showcase for major label bigwigs.
On Monday, October 20th, Vinyl (1374 West Peachtree St.) will host the Dynamic Producer Fall Tour, featuring panels for musicians and DJs on industry access and business management, as well as networking with established producers and songwriters. Go to www.dynamicproducer.com for details and registration.
The Cash Brothers are out supporting the superb A Brand New Night (Zoe), appearing at the Red Light Cafe on November 14th. Written and produced entirely by brothers Andrew and Peter, the album is a nice mix of hooks, jangly guitars and melodic harmonies, presented without fuss or unnecessary embellishments. And no, they're not related to Johnny or Rosanne.
The Atlanta City Council is considering changing the laws that allow restaurants and nightclubs to stay open until 4:00 a.m. They now want to shut everyone down at 2:00 a.m. A move like this would seriously hurt the city's music industry that rely on later opening hours for its flourishing music scene. CALL, PROTEST, yell, scream. EMAIL the MAYOR NOW! Save your clubs!! PEOPLE of the night UNITE!
They need to hear not just from bar owners, but from customers and business's as well. Please take the time to e-mail your City Council representative and the Mayor. The link to the Atlanta city council's page is: http://www.atlantaga.gov/citycoul/Ccinfo.htm
If you don't know who your representative is, there is a helpful map and contact info to help you figure it out.
If you live outside the city limits but still enjoy coming to the city from time to time, email Council President Cathy Woolard at: [email protected]
