It’s nice to be appreciated.
Just before we went to press, we received a wonderful letter from Timothy White, the editor of Billboard Magazine (it’s published in its entirety in the “Letters To The Editor” section this month). Thank you Tim, for the kind words, and thanks to all of our readers who have made the past ten years a gratifying experience for me and the staff of OffBeat.
We’re going to continue to celebrate OffBeat’s “Decade” throughout this year by presenting some special concerts at various venues around New Orleans. Our first official OffBeat 10th Anniversary Concert will be at the original Tipitina’s Uptown on September 18, with a show featuring the one and only Funky Meters. This will be their first return to Tip’s uptown location in over a year, and tickets will go in a hurry. Some lucky readers who decide to subscribe to OffBeat (you’ll get a free CD when you subscribe and our snazzy glossy cover edition too) will receive two free tickets to this show as well as VIP status at the private OffBeat Anniversary Party at Tip’s that evening.
New subscribers can also get tickets to the Galactic CD Release Party on September 19th on the Cajun Queen. These tickets will be in short supply, so subscribe now to get a chance to get those tickets!
New subscribers can also opt to get a chance to win tickets to the upcoming Endfest (featuring Cowboy Mouth, Better Than Ezra and many more) presented by 106.7 The End at Marconi Meadows on September 27th (see page 36).
In order to be eligible to win a chance to get these tickets we must receive in our office the form on page 11 of this month’s issue at least five days prior to the date of the event. You can mail it or you can walk it up to our office, but we gotta have it at least five days before the event. Or if you want to subscribe with a credit card, call our office at 504-522-5533 no later than five days before the event and mention the event you prefer. You must be a new subscriber to OffBeat to qualify to win a set of tickets. Please, only one event per subscriber! Winners will be selected at random. Employees and relatives of OffBeat staff are not eligible to win.
The winner of OffBeat’s previous subscription contest is going on Commodore Cruise’s Zydeco Cruise from November 14 through 21. That lucky winner is Steven Tonnini of Flushing, New York. Congrats, Mr. Tonnini, save your dance shoes for that cruise, you’re gonna need them with Geno Delafose aboard!
The brand-new edition of TimeOut New Orleans is now on newsstands. Several OffBeat staffers helped prepare editorial for this “offbeat” visitors’ guide to the city and surrounds. TimeOut publishes the authoritative weekly entertainment magazines for London and New York (in fact, the original OffBeat was modeled after London’s TimeOut) and now produces annual visitor guides for cities around the world, including London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, Prague, Brussels, Berlin, Florence, Dublin, Miami, San Francisco, New York and Sydney. We were pleased to hear that New Orleans was considered by TimeOut UK as one of the top entertainment cities (we’ve always known that!), and OffBeat was honored to serve as TimeOut’s liaison in New Orleans. It’s really a great guide to the city and is available for $14.95 at local bookstores.
Loyola University’s College of Music will present a Music Symposium on October 5-6 to identify and explore issues that are relevant to the creation of the university’s music business program, which is still in development. The program was announced under the tenure of the previous dean of the School of Music, David Swanzy, and hopefully will be brought to fruition by its current new dean, Edward Kvet. OffBeat has long been a proponent of music business education for this community. We’re glad to see continuing development and fresh enthusiasm in this direction from Loyola.
We also understand from Ellis Marsalis, of the UNO Jazz Studies Program, that the program has received funding to develop a state of the art recording studio at that university.
Look for some changes in the next few months to OffBeat’s award-winning website (www.offbeat.com). Our new New Media Consultant is Greg Hardison, developer of many locally popular music sites (including www.satchmo.com) and national music sites as well. Greg brings a broad perspective and new ideas to OffBeat and we welcome him aboard. Naturally, if any readers have suggestions on what they’d like to see on the site, we welcome them. Contact us at [email protected] with your suggestions.
A new music website is making waves: www.louisianaradio.com is the brainchild of Pineville, Louisiana natives R. Reese Fuller and Shamus T. Fuller and will begin broadcasting the “full gamut of Louisiana’s musical styles over the internet, using RealNetwork’s RealAudio audio streaming technology” in September. The broadcasts will continue 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and will consist of live interviews, Louisiana-produced radio shows that currently don’t have national or international network distribution, and in-studio produced shows featuring Louisiana artists.
Finally, to follow up on last month’s column on the MIDEM show coming to New Orleans: it ain’t going to happen anytime soon. MIDEM stays in Miami, at least for the next three years, according to Bernie Cyrus of the Louisiana Music Commission.
