The scene is....

[Al Quandt]

What can FWM.com do to better the scene? Honest ideas...

[QWETTY]

crush the HxC movement and make way for better music.

movement?

put out a FWM.com presents CD... like X102 did for so long. <-- this would be awesome. we could have votes for what songs/bands to include.

[martymieux8266]

crush the HxC movement and make way for better music.

the majority of what's available and what's supported in the local scene is in fact the hardcore scene. when i'm in town i go to a lot of shows, not for the music, but usually to see friends-- and of course partially for some of the bands.
i'm upset that like 75% of fort wayne's music scene is hardcore, being away for school now, down in bloomington, i love the scene here. here they have every genre imaginable, and plenty of places to play-- mostly for the 21+ crowd.. but i love rhino's.

[echosauce1]

I don't agree that 75% of the scene is hardcore. Maybe in a certain age bracket it is, but not overall. This is off the subject of the post of course though so I digress.

I think fwm is doing all they can be expected to do out of their own pocket without public support.

[jewlee138]

Great thread idea.

Some things I would like to see from Fortwaynemusic.com:

Represent what local music is really comprised of - hip-hop, electronic, jazz, indie, folk, acoustic, hardcore, etc. etc. There is a broader local spectrum than what is often represented.

Keep an ear our for newcomers. Fortwaynemusic.com should be THE place to be to learn about new bands or groups less established in the mainstream as well as THE place to find out when & where local music is happening in the community.

If you don't have the time or budget to do shows or a series (like the old FWM.com showcases) then maintain a presence at local shows so people know who the "masterminds" behind FWM.com are & that they really do support local music & the local scene.

Don't miss out on marketing opportunities that fit with your mission. Partnering for BOTB, Whammy awards, local concert series, advertising in Whatzup, FWReader, etc. Many of these have been done, but should be continued & new opportunities should actively be pursued.

Remember, the message boards are great, but it's Fortwaynemusic.com not Fortwaynemessageboards.com. I'm not sure of the time or costs involved in streaming music, local music storefront, etc. but it would be great to get back to "the roots" and play local music again...in some fashion.

Reach outside of any "buddy system" (for lack of better words) and welcome those that may not be as well-versed in the local scene. I'm as guilty as the next person, but I can remember when I first moved here & started posting on the boards. Most of the threads contained so many inside jokes unrelated to music I had no clue what the hell was going on. I lived here 3 months and knew all about Anderson's mom, but it took close to 2 years before I heard about Mojo Dub, Graverobber or Left Lane Cruiser.

[Al Quandt]

Great thread idea.

Some things I would like to see from Fortwaynemusic.com:

Represent what local music is really comprised of - hip-hop, electronic, jazz, indie, folk, acoustic, hardcore, etc. etc. There is a broader local spectrum than what is often represented.

We have never discriminated, or leaned to a certain style of music. I do think we could try harder to capture more genres interest, but we have never turned anyone away. It may seem that way sometime due to conversations on the boards between users and their tastes.

With Hip Hop though, many of us have tried to get involved and it turned out to be a very ugly situation that I never plan to revisit. If Hip Hop folk want to be involved with us, we have no problem, but until they (certain groups not all of them) come to us without distancing themselves or acting like we cant understand them and all that jazz, well I am not going to go out of my way to cater to that attitude because it only promotes the attitude.

Keep an ear our for newcomers. Fortwaynemusic.com should be THE place to be to learn about new bands or groups less established in the mainstream as well as THE place to find out when & where local music is happening in the community.

That is a very good idea. We have had a hard time keeping writers due to the fact that it is volunteer work. I may have to start writing everything myself. (And we all know my grammar and spelling sucks so lets hope for a better solution)

If you don't have the time or budget to do shows or a series (like the old FWM.com showcases) then maintain a presence at local shows so people know who the "masterminds" behind FWM.com are & that they really do support local music & the local scene.

We can afford that. The problem is that everyone that was handling the majority of the workload on the shows are gone. Myself, Ando, and Jericho (and you recently and briefly) were the strong force when it came to events. While I am still involved here, I don’t live there anymore. I am actively in pursuit of a job back home so that I can move in the next few months. I am actually planning events from here in FL the best I can.

So when I get back you can expect the events to continue.

Don't miss out on marketing opportunities that fit with your mission. Partnering for BOTB, Whammy awards, local concert series, advertising in Whatzup, FWReader, etc. Many of these have been done, but should be continued & new opportunities should actively be pursued.

I totally agree. I am already in talks with Whatzup about the Whammy's. I need to talk to Jericho and Doug to make sure that we are still involved in the BOTB.

Remember, the message boards are great, but it's Fortwaynemusic.com not Fortwaynemessageboards.com. I'm not sure of the time or costs involved in streaming music, local music storefront, etc. but it would be great to get back to "the roots" and play local music again...in some fashion.

It doesn’t really cost anything but man hours. I will see what I can do about a solution to the music, maybe I will throw up a temp. music player on the front page. We have always talked about a storefront, but it gets mixed reviews, and many of the users on here don't support the idea.

Reach outside of any "buddy system" (for lack of better words) and welcome those that may not be as well-versed in the local scene. I'm as guilty as the next person, but I can remember when I first moved here & started posting on the boards. Most of the threads contained so many inside jokes unrelated to music I had no clue what the hell was going on. I lived here 3 months and knew all about Anderson's mom, but it took close to 2 years before I heard about Mojo Dub, Graverobber or Left Lane Cruiser.

yeah I never really thought about that, but I do remember when I moved back from Orlando in 03 and first signed up here, it was pretty difficult to figure out what was going on and it was pretty clicky.


Thank you for the honest and lengthy request Julie. I will see what i can do about some of it now, and I meet with Wallace on the 16th when I am visiting town and we hopefully can hammer out a lot of these issues.

[Al Quandt]

put out a FWM.com presents CD... like X102 did for so long. <-- this would be awesome. we could have votes for what songs/bands to include.

We could do that and have talk about that in the past but I think it always conflicted with Jericho being involved with x102 at the same time. I will bring it up in my meeting with Wallace next week. That would bee a torch I would like to carry on.

[Al Quandt]

crush the HxC movement and make way for better music.

the majority of what's available and what's supported in the local scene is in fact the hardcore scene. when i'm in town i go to a lot of shows, not for the music, but usually to see friends-- and of course partially for some of the bands.
i'm upset that like 75% of fort wayne's music scene is hardcore, being away for school now, down in bloomington, i love the scene here. here they have every genre imaginable, and plenty of places to play-- mostly for the 21+ crowd.. but i love rhino's.

The all ages scene in Fort Wayne is 75% hardcore. The bar (non cover) band scene is much different. If the only place you go is Legends then yeah you will get an ear full of hardcore and hard rock.

There is a wide variety of music going on in Fort Wayne, blues, funk, rockabilly, and more. You just need to venture out more.

[martymieux8266]

crush the HxC movement and make way for better music.

the majority of what's available and what's supported in the local scene is in fact the hardcore scene. when i'm in town i go to a lot of shows, not for the music, but usually to see friends-- and of course partially for some of the bands.
i'm upset that like 75% of fort wayne's music scene is hardcore, being away for school now, down in bloomington, i love the scene here. here they have every genre imaginable, and plenty of places to play-- mostly for the 21+ crowd.. but i love rhino's.

The all ages scene in Fort Wayne is 75% hardcore. The bar (non cover) band scene is much different. If the only place you go is Legends then yeah you will get an ear full of hardcore and hard rock.

There is a wide variety of music going on in Fort Wayne, blues, funk, rockabilly, and more. You just need to venture out more.

i'm 18, and so i can't.

[Al Quandt]

i'm 18, and so i can't.

well that explains that. I am hoping to get more all ages events going, like i used to for Sunset in 04.

Yeah the problem with the young crowd is, as much as they dont want to admit it, they follow the trends and well, that is why there are mostly hardcore shows.

As much as I want to throw all age shows, I am not going to throw one that no one is going to come to because its not "in" or "cool". So it sucks for promoters like myself because I relaly do want to get the music out to younger folk, but I can't go broke doing it.

[martymieux8266]

if you put at least one band on that has a good following, they'll come-- and it'd bring the opportunity of exposure for the rest of the bands.

there are bands from outside of fort wayne who i'd love to see play, but not necessarily a place for them to play. i have friends who run some venues, so i ask if they could look into it- so they listen, and whether or not they like them or not nothing's happened with any of my suggestions other than getting possible available dates, and then my friends in town not being able to put anything together.

[kylek]

The main thing I notice from the scene, is that there is, in fact, no scene.

Sure there are like 40 or so dedicated fans for some bands, but as soon as those bands play, those fans do the "cool" thing and leave. Also, when playing the bar scene, it sucks because 85% of the people are NOT there for the music. They are meerly there to get drunk.

I am pretty sure that there is NOTHING that FWM can do to change or modify the scene, but they can try. The reason for this lack of ability to change is because the majority of the members of FWM are musicians themselves, not the open public because they do not know about it.

The suggestion of a FWM showcase cd is a good idea, but there is one problem. Unless you can get a radio station to promote the idea, there is no outlet for distribution because, once again, the majority of FWM members are musicians and most know the other members music well enough to not want such a cd. The only way that cd would be viable would be if the general public knew about it, and most of the public does not know about FWM

Maybe if FWM can get in cahoots with radio stations in FW and have a FWM all day music showcase this summer at Foellinger Theatre, or someting like that to raise awareness, that would probably be a good starting point.

[Al Quandt]

The suggestion of a FWM showcase cd is a good idea, but there is one problem. Unless you can get a radio station to promote the idea, there is no outlet for distribution because, once again, the majority of FWM members are musicians and most know the other members music well enough to not want such a cd. The only way that cd would be viable would be if the general public knew about it, and most of the public does not know about FWM

Maybe if FWM can get in cahoots with radio stations in FW and have a FWM all day music showcase this summer at Foellinger Theatre, or someting like that to raise awareness, that would probably be a good starting point.

We are and have been in cahoots with the media; radio and print. Actually a good portion of the the public knows about us. Just because it is mainly musicians who use our message boards doesnt mean that the public isnt viewing our site. If you saw the site activity and statistics you would see that the calendar gets a ton of hits each month and always has.

Advertising is not the issue. It is just coming up with ideas. We are short a few of the people that used to put events on so we are somewhat starting from scratch in that area.

[jewlee138]

I have continued to do events all this year, FYI - just with other people's money since I have been broke as hell & distancing myself from "the scene" lately.

OneBelo & Magestik Legend - Feb. (With Proper Productions)

Electronic shows at O' Sullivans - March - May (With V.C)

Calhoun Series Band Showcase - Summer (With YLNI Downtown Dev. Committee)

Maumee Music Fest - July (with Ando, FWM, etc.)

Botanical Conservatory Concert series - July - September (With City of FW)

FWCS School Board Election Committee events - September - Nov. (With City of FW)

Sanoka + Sub-Surface on Tuesday at C-Street (With Richard & M.O.M.S)

I am looking to do another substantial show in March if the weather & finances are in order.

[jewlee138]

@ Al, etc.

I wasn't just referring to hip-hop, since I know a lot of the drama behind that situation, but also the many other genre's thriving in town that don't get a lot of attention on/through the site.

There's a huge electronic scene in town that gets no coverage on here, in Whatzup, in FWReader, StageBanter, the radio, tv, etc. as well as others, I'm sure. FWM.com could make a difference by supporting or promoting performers or bands like that that often fly under the radar.

Something to consider.