Newzrag #29
BIG HEAVY WORLD NEWZRAG #29 April 4, 2002
The news of www.bigheavyworld.com & Vermont's Music
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OVX VIDEO GRANT = LOCAL BANDS ON FILM
NEW VERMONTMUSICSHOP.COM: 300 VERMONT CDS
VERMONT MUSIC LIBRARY PROJECT LAUNCHED
NEW FREE MP3 TRAX
APRIL 12 HIGH SCHOOL BAND ROCKOUT
UPCOMING 242 MAIN SHOWS
BHW COMPILATIONS MOVING ALONG
MAY 5 = BUZZ HOMEBREW HIGH SCHOOL BAND SEARCH
EARPOLLUTION REVIEWS 242.01
PROPS TO PETER FLYNN
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OVX VIDEO GRANT = LOCAL BANDS ON FILM
Thanks to a grant from OVX (http://www.ovx.org) and help from Small Dog Electronics (http://www.smalldog.com), Big Heavy's new Casket Crew video posse is packing heat... in the form of a Canon GL-1 MiniDV video camera and Final Cut Pro editing software. Plan is for the crew (Ari Bolles, Audra Conant, Liz Hart, Ananda Moore, Ryan Stanis, and Kate Wheeler, all from CVU High School), to pull together at least a dozen segments this year of interviews and live footage of local bands to stream from the Big Heavy World site and run on Adelphia Channel 15 (http://www.vermontcam.org), AND tape anti-tobacco public service announcements with the bands that will run on UPN (http://www.wbtv.com) and 99.9 The Buzz (http://www.999thebuzz.com). Some music and media vets have been hanging with them to get them up to speed, like Dawn from Small Dog, Julia from QUEEN TANGERINE / Zola Turn (http://www.queentangerine.com), JENNI JOHNSON (http://www.jennijohnson.net), and (my sweetie) Victoria from Vermont Public Radio (http://www.vpr.net). Thanks from the crew to everybody involved in making this happen - it's a blast for us and hopefully it will be good fun for you when the videos get broadcast.
NEW VERMONTMUSICSHOP.COM: 300 VERMONT CDS IN ONE PLACE... MAKE IT STOP!!!
The brand-spanking(ouch)-NEW vermontmusicshop.com (http://www.vermontmusicshop.com) is now LIVE and outtacontrol... we put the 'trodes to it this month and it has twitched itself into a beautiful creature. Find about 300 VERMONT-MADE CD titles there, search by artist, title, or genre, find the obscure compilations you didn't know your favorite old-school or new-school Vermont band was on, and glom a birds-eye view of a huge collection of Vermont's music culture. All the in-print Big Heavy World local compilation releases are there in one place and there's even a brand-new gay/lesbian genre thanks to a suggestion from our friends at Pride Vermont (http://www.pridevermont.org). The whole thing, top to bottom, everything about it - was made possible by the amazing programmers at Scully Interactive (http://www.scullyinteractive.com) who created it from scratch in sponsorship. We bow to Russ Scully and crew for allowing us to present the store and everything it represents - Vermont artists, independent and talented as hell, brought together in one place where anybody in the world can find them and experience the music for themselves. VERMONT BANDS: If you've got a CD released and it isn't in the shop, contact store manager Dave Donegan at musicshop@bigheavyworld.net, (802) 865-1141.
VERMONT MUSIC LIBRARY PROJECT LAUNCHED
Funny that it's taken this long to mention it, but Big Heavy World holds what *could* be one of the state's most extensive libraries of Vermont-made music. A pigpile of people have come through the office to skim it, plenty of film and videomakers have found tunes for their productions, etc. So after way too long, and only with the help of St. Michael's intern Janell Ciemiecki, we've made something like a card catalog of it at http://www.bigheavyworld.com/library_collection.html. Nearly 400 albums, 3600+ songs; check it out. And know that if you've got the need or interest to come hang out in the "lounge" and give any of it a spin, the door's open; just call us at (802) 865-1140 to make sure we'll be here and set an evening appointment (215 College Street, upstairs from Pure Pop in downtown Burlington). With future funding (um, we hope...) we'll gather all the Vermont-made vinyl, cassettes, and CDs we can scour up, keep 'em safe for history's sake, and put them where anybody can come enjoy. If you've got Vermont-made music that you'd like to contribute or want to make a donation so we can buy more of it, contact Jim at (802) 865-1140, redshift@bigheavyworld.net. If you *happen* to work for a business or organization that is interested in lending support to us as we try to build a searchable interactive database of it all and create a statewide "meta-library" with interactive content accessible from other libraries, please contact us too. We love a challenge and want anybody involved who has as much enthusiasm for it as we do!
NEW FREE MP3 TRAX
Ari's been busting and reports that there's fresh new free CD-quality MP3 downloads in the MP3 Showcase: Grab trax from BLIND LUCK MUSIC, BATTLING SEIZURE ROBOTS, FLAT STANLEY, CONCENTRIC, THE BAZOOKAS, and more. It's at http://www.bigheavyworld.com/mp3.html.
APRIL 12 HIGH SCHOOL BAND ROCKOUT
The 'Chittenden County Jam Session' brings eight high school bands together for a festival-style rockout: COLD FUSION (Essex H.S.); ONE FISH TWO FISH (Milton H.S.); CONRAD B (Essex H.S.); THE BAZOOKAS (Champlain Valley U.H.S.); WELL IN DEBT (Mt. Mansfield U.H.S.); NO GUARANTEE (Mt. Mansfield); GOD PARTICLE (Rice H.S.); OLD MAN'S FABLE (South Burlington H.S.); and BATTLING SEIZURE ROBOTS (Burlington H.S.). It's in the in the Blue Ribbon Building of the Champlain Valley Exposition, Friday April 12, ALL AGES, doors at 7pm. Tix are $6 at the door or $5 in advance at the schools or the Essex Teen Center. The show's a benefit for the Essex High School Girls' Rugby Team and the Essex Teen Center, sponsored by Sprint/Sprint PCS; The Abbey Group; New England Dairy Promotion Board; Center for Technology - Essex; Racquet's Edge; MacLean Stevens; Vermont Toy and Hobby; Essex High School Fine Arts Department; and Spectrum Finishes. Tons of giveaways and a car raffle. Info: Mike Deweese, mdeweese@ejhs.k12.vt.us.
UPCOMING 242 MAIN SHOWS
SAT 4/6: DYSFUNKSHUN, MY REVENGE, TORSION, SHIPWRECK 7pm, $5, Benefit for Cancer Conspiracy who got their equipment ripped off in NYC. SAT 4/13: GNUTAR, I-7, NO GUARANTEE, BATTLING SEIZURE ROBOTS 8pm, $5. FRI 4/19: POISON THE WELL, AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, FORCE 57, FIGHT BACK 8pm, $8. 242 Main is in the basement of Memorial Auditorium on Main St. in Burlington, 862-2244 for info. All shows are ALL AGES.
BHW COMPILATIONS MOVING ALONG
Big Heavy's two current compilation projects are moving along... with everything else keeping us distracted they've taken longer to get on the rails than we expected, but the steam's been building and we can safely and proudly mention that there's progress. The 'Better Angels' disc has AARON FLINN at the helm and a box full of submissions; the second untitled project has Andy Vick (THE DAKOTA) coordinating it. Profits from both CD's will be benefitting an organization called Childreach (http://www.childreach.org), working in 43 countries to improve life for the world's poorest children. Their approach includes interrelated social areas, from health, learning, livelihood, habitat... they work on community development in a comprehensive way that is deserving of respect for being so insightful. We were introduced to Childreach through their Plan Pakistan, which in part was serving Afghan children refugees in Pakistan. The two CD's are our way of bringing Vermont's love (and music) to the world in a way that underscores our understanding of how deep and complex our planet's problems can be, and how every individual's personal awareness and participation can help make the world a better place. Vermont artists of all genres interested in being a part of the CDs are welcome to send submissions to BHW, c/o CD Projects, P.O. Box 428, Burlington, VT 05402. We are aiming for a September release date and are seeking business sponsorships to cover the manufacturing costs. Contact Aaron at flinnra@aol.com or Andy at bearsnake68@hotmail.com.
MAY 5 = BUZZ HOMEBREW HIGH SCHOOL BAND SEARCH
The annual Advance Music/Buzz Homebrew High School Band Search is coming in fast and low... high school bands have until April 12 to get their music and applications in for a chance to play for a $500 gift certificate at Advance Music, a day of studio time at EMP Studios, a gig at First Night 2002 and a live video by Big Heavy's Casket Crew video posse... The deadline's 5pm 4/12, grab applications from Advance Music at 75 Maple Street in Burlington (as *if* you didn't know where they are), or print one from the web site at http://www.advancemusicvt.com.
EARPOLLUTION.COM REVIEWS 242.01
Thanx to Dan Cullity for his very kind review of Big Heavy's 242.01 comp at http://www.earpollution.com/v2/reviews/reviews-display.asp?var=4023.
PETER FLYNN GETS BIG HEAVY INK
We didn't know him before he came upstairs here to show us his fresh ink, but our new pal Peter Flynn is sportin' our favorite tattoo these days. If you know what we're talking about, you also know he's getting into Big Heavy World shows for free for the rest of his life... ;) Thanks to him for liking what we do, and appreciating our art, so to speak.
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ABOUT US: BHW is Vermont's tech-heavy music cheerleader, promoting local artists through emerging technologies and publishing http://www.bigheavyworld.com, the comprehensive online guide to regional music known as "Burlington's Urban Scene Web Site". We also run an expanding record label with releases from Burlington's alt-rock kiddies Chin Ho! and the techno-core harbingers of doom chainsaws.and.children and something like a billion compilations of Burlington's incredible regional music. Contact us at 802-865-1140, redshift@bigheavyworld.net or P.O. Box 428 Burlington VT 05402. The Big Heavy World Web site is made possible by our generous annual sponsors: WBVT UPN (www.wbvt.com), Magic Hat Brewing Company (www.magichat.net), Chek.com, SoVerNet (www.sover.net), Scully Interactive (www.scullyinteractive.com), and Small Dog Electronics (www.smalldog.com).
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