I’ve been building out a big publications database. This is important to have and I’ve spent a lot of time not having one, and really, not even trying to have one – I sent review copies of Dick Tracy Must Die a couple of places I knew directly, and talked about it here, but I wasn’t trying to reach larger media on the whole.

But I do need this database, and more importantly, I need to survey all these publications. So when K said he could give me a list of publication titles I could research and fill out, I said sure! And got to work.

So many of these weekly “alternative” publications are so very much the same. It’s really dreary – it’s the same bar/club/club/bar/bar scene/club scene/party scene/bar/club/club/local-music-festival-that-adversises-with-us/club/bar/bar/club over and over and over again. (Thanks for that, Village Voice Media Group and your dozens of cloned “alternative weeklies.”)

Seriously, at this point, if I see this menu on a paper’s website?

…I can tell you with 98% confidence exactly what’s in it.

And every time I see that menu I wonder whether this is another actual indie they took over – several have been – or whether they moved in and drove an indie out of business. But I also suspect they’re some places an indie wouldn’t’ve been, and it’s better than nothing. Even the worst of them cover some local musicians, and that’s good. I just don’t know.

But every so often – once in a while – you still find something unique, and it’s just a joy. Like Cincinnati City Beat, which last weekend was headlining with J-Rock coverage. (To wit: なんだ？) Or the existence of a Montreal anglophone music and arts weekly, Hour Community. Or my favourite one-off so far, Asheville, North Carolina’s Mountain Xpress, which has coverage of buskers as a continuing feature.

Yeah, buskers. They go out, find a good busker, video them doing some song or other, and put it up on their website with name and location so you can find them yourself.

That’s awesome. And a hell of a lot more “alternative” than anything Voice Media Group might be handing their readers today. We ♥ you, little Mountain Xpress. Stay strong. You are doing it right.

Anyway. I have house concerts coming up! Two I’ve announced! Maybe more I can’t talk about yet ’cause they aren’t confirmed and may not even happen. But I hope they do!

Also, you can still participate in the movie polls if you want. And this weekend, I’ll be doing some instrumental market music Saturday morning in Redmond, at my last market gig of the year. I’ve been warming up the flute again and my embouchure is kinda sad but that may not stop me! I may use it. ph33r me. ph33r my phl4ppy l1p5. XD

So if you’re out there, c’mon by and say hi! And if not, have a good weekend. Got any plans? Share!