Okay, lets try this again; a few days ago I did a post on what I thought was the 2008 Miller Lite/FM 94.9 Independence Jam and it turned out to be a preview of LAST year’s performance… Nice… This time, I did some serious homework so while you may not agree with the opinions expressed here, I tried to get the facts right. We’ll look at the bands, their labels and how much juice they have on MySpace in the form of friends and profile views, just to give you some added empirical data you can use to form your own theories and opinions as to whether or not you want to attend this event. We’ll take a look at the bands in the order they’re listed on The Independence Jam web site and give each a final yea or nay as to whether we would pay money to see them or not.

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***Flogging Molly*** - Sideonedummy Records - Indie label representing about 20 bands including the likes of Goldfinger, Gogol Bordello and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones just to name a few. MySpace friends = 273,141 / Profile Views = 5,225,404

In their own words: “We’re not a traditional band,” explains Dublin born singer/songwriter, Dave King. “We are influenced by traditional music and inspired by it, and we put our own little twist on it.”

For the sake of brevity, Celtic Punk is how I classify this stuff and I’ve always been of fan. Not to mention that Matt Hensley (accordion, vocals, etc.) from the band has a club in Carlsbad about 15 minutes from where I live. Hensley’s Flying Elephant is one of the venues that sadly has been affected by the bullshit legislation about noise in Carlsbad and while they have kick ass live music there, they have to wrap it up by 10PM. I’m sure the noise from the freeway Hensley’s overlooks quiets down at 10PM too… Gimme a fookin’ brreak cantcha?

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Final word - This is a band worth seeing - Yea

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***The Hold Steady*** - Vagrant Records - Indie label representing about 36 bands including the likes of Rocket From the Crypt, Alkaline Trio, Dashboard Confessional, Paul Westerberg (The Replacements), and The Lemonheads. MySpace friends = 29,281 / Profile Views - 650,027

MySpace Quote - “We might get rich. You know, we might get busted.” Okay, that was borrowed from the Steve Miller Band so check them out and glean from it what you will.

The first thing the web geek in me noticed was that their link on the Independence Jam site was not responding. Tsk, tsk… That’s a big no no and somebody needs to take a look at what’s eating that server at theholdsteady.com. Also, Vagrant would do well to actually use their artist’s NAMES in their links instead of just applying them a number. What they’re doing sure doesn’t help their SEO any. As for the music itself… Meh, it just doesn’t do anything for me. The first song on their MySpace player sounded like The Pretenders but the stream died before any vocals kicked in to let me know some dude had replaced Chrissie Hynde. I went to the next tune and started getting whiffs of Jersey wind bag Bruce Springsteen and I immediately lost interest.

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Final Word - I’m not paying to see this band - Nay

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***Cold War Kids*** - Downtown Recordings, Indie label(? They’re tied in with Atlantic Records) representing 13 bands including the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and fellow Independence Jam artist Santogold. MySpace Friends = 114,505 / Profile views = 2,844,113.

This is where I’m probably going to lose friends because I’m getting ready to take a giant shit on what I know is a popular band. I simply don’t get this music or it’s appeal. I can’t stand that whiny voice and that whole Hang Me Out to Dry thing is just SO FUCKING REPETITIVE I could just blow my head off. I know I’m in lonely company on this one but I find the music of Cold War Kids to be tedious and unpleasant. In a word, it SUCKS.

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Final Word - Spend money to see this band? Not on yer fucking life - Nay

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***MGMT*** - Columbia Records - Definitely not Indie. MySpace Friends = 49,353 / Profile Views = 3,232,754

As MGMT is not an independent artist I was just going to glaze over them to save myself some time and energy but unfortunately, this is more music I hate so I have to say something. The single currently being pushed Time to Pretend is just trite, adolescent garbage that’s so sickly sweet it almost put me into a diabetic coma. Just really horrible stuff. I listened to a couple more tracks on MySpace and didn’t hear anything to make me feel different.

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Final Word - I’m not spending my money on this band - Nay

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***The Whigs*** - ATO Records Indie (label formed by Dave Matthews and Michael McDonald) representing the likes of Crowded House, My Morning Jacket and, what? RADIOHEAD? MySpace Friends = 11,716 / Profile Views: 368,505

I like this band, Right Hand on My Heart is actually one of their more down tempo numbers and the rest of their stuff sounds like they could really kill it during a live performance. I want energy from a band more than anything and it sounds like these guys have it. Especially compared to some of the aforementioned…

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Final Word - I’ll take a chance - Yea

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***The Ting Tings*** - Columbia Records - Definitely not Indie. MySpace Friends = 35,540 / Profile Views = 2,305,979

Again, wasn’t going to spend a lot of time on a major label act but I LOVE these two… I was hooked the first time I heard Great DJ and then I checked out a YouTube video where they did a live performance of That’s Not My Name… I totally dug it, It’s like Bizarro World White Stripes. Chicks rock… Worth noting that they don’t even have their own Web site, just a MySpace…

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Final Word - Alone worth the price of admission if they could do that for two hours - Yea

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***Santogold*** - Downtown Recordings, Indie label(? They’re tied in with Atlantic Records) representing 13 bands including the likes of Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and fellow Independence Jam artist Cold War Kids. Profile Views: 2,060,237 MySpace Friends = 44,963

I dig it… Whatever it is, I dig it and would be curious to see it live. Their MySpace is vague as far as band members with the exception of Santi White and Johnny Rodeo being the core of this… creation. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to see them on their own but they look like an added treat at this kind of event.

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Final Word - I’ll take a chance - Yea

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Nortec Collective - Nacional Records - Indie label representing 9 bands you never heard of. MySpace Friends 16,162 Profile Views: 335,055

I’ll have to pass. Modern alternative mariachi is not my thing.

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Final Word - I’m not spending my money on this band - Nay

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According to the above stats, I’m looking at 4 bands (that I care anything about) for $40… So far I’d say that’s not too shabby considering we haven’t even gone over the six local bands appearing on the Casbah stage…

We’ll look at them next time…

I’m taking a guess that a ton of people must have tried to check out the live feed performance last night we were going to do from Dublin Square in The Gaslamp because when i checked the server stats this morning, there was crazy activity. The kind of numbers that can make a server crash if you’re not careful. Hopefully that didn’t happen.

So anyway, apologies to all who were looking to watch us play on their computers yesterday, but not to fear… The only reason we didn’t go ahead with it was because there was a Padres baseball game going on last night Downtown. What does that have to do with the live feed? Easy, let’s just say that when it takes you 45 minutes to park you car, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time left over to do anything but get the sound dialed in and start playing. So that’s what we did…

I’m really disappointed we didn’t at least tape last night’s show because it went over huge. Caroline (a totally smokin hot bar tender who was kind enough to give me a hair tie) told me after the show that never in her three years at the bar had anyone ever called for an encore from any of the bands that played there. Encore? Sheeeit… We had to play THREE of them because every time we tried to end the last set, the whole bar kept chanting, “one more song, one more song!” Somehow, one turned into three and finally we just had to pull the plug to start getting people outta there. That ain’t no shit either.

So, the short end of it is that after last night, they booked us like, 10 more dates starting with TONIGHT. However, I decided we’re going to put off the first live feed until next weekend. We’ll be back at Dublin Square next Saturday (like I said yo, they gave us like 10 more dates) but things are just too hectic Downtown and I need to be in a good head space when I’m getting ready to play. Next Friday, we’re playing The Temecula Wine and Beer Garden and I think the conditions are going to be ideal for the first live feed. It’s an outdoor gig that starts early (like 7:30) so the lighting should be really good. We’ll keep ya posted as the week progresses. We’re gonna whip this puppy yet, or at least find out if the technology is ready to make something like this doable on a regular basis…

Stay tuned!

Okay, so now I feel like a complete tool… Because I’m so web-centric in everything I do I just assume (STUPID) that when I’m reading information on a “commercial” web site, it’s reasonably current. (Annoying buzzer), thanks for playing… I should totally know better by now… Anyway, I was working directly off the FM94.9 Web site yesterday when looking at the bands for Independence Jam and the information WAS from last year. I should have fucking known better because I remember thinking it was strange that it appeared to be EXACTLY the same line up as the previous year… Anyway, I heard them pimping the show on air today and I was like wait a minute, this is a completely different line up than what I saw online just yesterday… I sent them a WTF e-mail and they simply responded by suggesting I discontinue any and all drug use. Sound advice as that may be, I know what I saw yesterday… Shame on me for not being more careful, shame on them for not keeping their site up… Anyway, I’m not going to take the previous post down but rather let it stand as a monument to my stupidity and a place to possibly glean a little info from last years event. In the meantime, I’m working on something for THIS years event, thank you very much…

As a local San Diego Independent music source, naturally we had to look into the FM 94.9/Miller Light Independence Jam coming up on Sunday June 10th to be held on the Devore Stadium Field at Southwestern College. This is an annual event so we figured the best thing to do is start with last years experience since so many of the same bands will be appearing. Her are some reviews from last years Independence jam found on Yelp.com.

Lee F. says:

“My take on the day - I loved the venue (having a choice of sitting on the grass, heading up into the bleachers, going up to mosh, back to the 21 and over area, or up to the local stage is good), loved being able to bring in a backpack with a sweatshirt and blanket and whatnot (desert air gets cold quick!), and loved the people watching (hipsters, emos, pretty people, etc. … i love you all).

But the bands were all exceedingly mediocre. It wasn’t like The White Stripes, who blew me away at Street Scene two years back, or like Death Cab, one of my favorite bands who sucked big time at SS last year. Just a whole bunch of performances that left me saying “eh”. ”

Tiffany S. says:

“Hey Lee, I’m still wearing my Miller Light wristband, exhausted at work. I got there a little late, around 4:45-5 and was bummed that I missed the Aggrolites. Oh well. I agree, Spoon was incrediby disappointing. Kings of Leon left me yawning, and Interpol cut their set 20 minutes early!

The highlight was definitely locals Grand Ole Party. If any of you get the chance to see this band (and seeing as they’re local, there will be plenty of chances) GO!!! The singer/drummer burns on the drums and sounds like a combo of Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Shirley Bassey. I liked Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects too, although the sound really sucked.

I think the local stage was the highlight of the event fer sherr, and you don’t need to pay $40 to see locals. Boo on not being able to bring food in, yay on the people watching (I kinda wished I had dressed up a little bit more), boo on climbing stairs, yay on the grass, yay for bringing back an old school venue, boo on expensive beer (although that is a given).”

Colleen C. says:

“I loved the venue, it was so nice to get there early and lay around in the sun listening to good music! The Aggrolites were fun but their show didn’t really “flow” very well. Parking was a breeze, toilet lines sucked, beer was reasonably priced and the margaritas were fantastical. As for the music…Spoon could have been better, K of L were pretty awesome, and Interpol was a good set even though it was short. I personally loved the Soft Lightes on the Casbah stage, I thought they were awesome!”

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There are a couple more reviews on Yelp that kind of echo a lot of the same sentiments. All in all, it sounds to me like the locals out did the major labels but as for the event itself, it sounds like the good time is what you make of it. You can take a look at the top acts listed and linked below to decide for yourself how things are shaping up. As a confessed Web geek, I couldn’t help but throw in some observations regarding their Web sites (seein’ how I was there anyway). Have a look…

[Interpol] - Personally, I like their music… But they’re riding under the flag of Capitol Records so clearly they’re not an indie band. Of course they’re there to help expose the truly independent artists also performing, but if they cut their set short… That leaves me scratching my head. Their website is interesting but the video was very glitchy and there were no player controls.

[Kings of Leon] - Another band I dig but again, not an indie artist as they’re flying RCA colors. Also getting mixed reviews on last year’s performance, you almost have to wonder if the signed artists aren’t giving their all at these shows. They have one of the most user friendly web sites… Not real fancy but glitch free and easily navigated.

[Spoon] - These guys are one of my favorites and are “sorta” indie compared to the first two bands being on Merge Records (a label that also handles the likes of The Buzzcocks, Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr. and Arcade Fire) but again, apparently fans weren’t all that impressed by the live performance last year. Merge is kinda borderline indie if you ask me because they represent more than 75 bands. Not Capitol or RCA, but still pretty big in this idiot’s opinion…

[Living Things] - I’ve always heard that these guys rip live and they have more of an edge to their music than a lot of these other bands (which I’m totally down with). Living Things are on Zomba, another label that just looks too big to be called indie… Cool web site with some interesting Flash that still leaves for easy navigation.

[The Aggrolites] - Not really my cup of tea, they’re on Hellcat along with bands like Rancid, The Transplants, HorrorPops, and Dropkick Murphys just to name a few. Their Web site is pretty much an online calendar of tour dates so you might be more interested in the MySpace.

[Test Your Reflex] - Another RCA band, I don’t honestly know too much about them other than they don’t have any tour dates posted on their Web site. That leads to another interesting point I forgot to mention… Many of these artists make no mention of The Miller Lite Independence Jam coming up on their Web sites. There’s probably something to that that is commonly understood amongst industry insiders but I sure don’t get it… Why not be pimpin’?

That covers the main stage for this year, at least for now. Next post we’ll go through and take a look at the locals appearing on the FM94.9/Casbah stage.

That’s right homey, if you already have some kind of web cam and a high speed connection, get your mates together and perform live on your MySpace profile (or anywhere else you can embed a video player on The Internet) tonight without spending one thin dime… Mogulus, baby… It’s the only thing I’ve seen that could give YouTube a serious run for their money as far as video hosting sites go. If you have any idea how to work a web cam, this should be a piece of cake… The Mogulus MeeTube Channel was up and running in about 10 minutes…

So what makes Mogulus different? Easy… Tons of stuff, starting with live feed capability. The people at Mogulus (who knows who they are, it’s still in Beta and there’s very little background info on the site) have in essence taken a full functioning broadcast studio and condensed it down into a Web application that you launch from your browser. Instead of just posting your videos in a list form like YouTube, MySpace and every other Internet video platform you can think of, Mogulus lets you take it to the next level actually program your channel just like on a regular network. The Mogulus UI allows you to upload videos like you would on any other video sharing community, rip videos directly from YouTube or any another web server, and schedule a “playlist” just like you would in your iPod. To top it all off, you can cut into your pre-programmed content at any time with a live feed from a web cam. It really is the sickest thing I’ve seen to date as far as Web media platforms go and yes, it’s completely free. As someone who’s old enough to remember a time with 4 clear TV channels and no remote control (gulp), I would say this is some truly revolutionary technology.

Another truly sick feature (and trust me, there are just too many to list here) Mogulus supports multiple logins to your studio. This means multiple live feeds are available simultaneously and you can switch between cameras just like a real studio.

This is it, sonny Jim… To ALL the bands out there who thought that all they needed was a break to make it big, your break is here. Watch out YouTube, Mogulus has arrived and thanks to them, you really can be performing live for your fans on MySpace and anywhere else, TONIGHT. In fact, I wouldn’t surprised if at some point YouTube either adopts, or buys this technology outright. It’s gonna be HUGE.

MeeTube will still continue to tape live shows and make videos the “old fashioned way” because our videos are made in post production. However; we’ve already added a Mogulus Channel to our site because live feeds will be a nice addition to the taped live performance videos. In fact, we’ll be testing the MeeTube Live Feed on and off over the coming weeks by letting a web cam run behind the scenes here at MeeTube (my living room) so you can see what goes on. Boring, yet at the same time, fascinating. Check out our live feed page… If you look right now, you just might find me there hammering away at my computer…

Go forth and do likewise my children…

Ahh, old school networking via The Internet… I mentioned a million times throughout various posts that meetube started out as the420channel. Anyway, the whole time we were experimenting with the420channel brand, there was another entity known as the420network lurking about watching our every move. Long story short, when I abandoned the420channel brand, I was contacted by DJ @ Merkaba Productions in New York (the 420 network) regarding key profiles I created with the420channel moniker… Primarily MySpace and YouTube (duh). Naturally, he was interested in these profiles so he asked me if he could have them. Of course my immediate reaction was, “Have them?”… You must be kidding…

After wading through a couple of… “tense” introductory e-mails (copyright infringement, etc.) I’m pleased to report that DJ and I both decided that we could do more damage working together rather than against. After all, we’re pretty much hitting on the same demographic here. Maybe not everyone’s down with the 420 but, you don’t have to be to be down with the 420 network. Granted, it helps though

What is The 420 Network? It’s a multi-media Internet/TV/Radio communication distribution platform with several divisions like, The 420 Channel, 420 Radio, 420 News, 420 Music and The 420 Gallery. They specialize in film, TV, video, animation, music, arts, humanities, environment, and socially, politically, and religiously conscious satire. The ultimate goal of The 420 Network is to migrate from The Internet to cable television on The 420 Channel, as well as 420 Radio on Sirius or XM. At least that’s what DJ tells people… We have it on good authority his real purpose is to ultimately make contact with aliens… And I don’t mean the kind from Mexico…

Anyway, the end result is that meetube.com now has contacts/promotional affiliates in New York, and Merkaba now has the same in California. And while we here at meetube focus on the Web, Merkaba is aiming for cable and satellite. Who knows? Maybe somewhere down the road, we’ll have the opportunity to conquer all three together but for right now, we’re content to not get involved with any litigation over names and have simply decided to swap some promotional space and pimp a little for each other.

Let this be a lesson to any newbs out there… If there’s something you want to accomplish and getting people’s attention will help, hang your junk out on The Internet as often, and in as many places as possible. Sure, you run the risk of collapsing under the sheer weight of spam build-up that you’ll likely experience but eventually, if you’re doing things right, like minds will come to your aid. If you’re insane, that could be dangerous, so watch out… ;b.

As work continues on code issues throughout the meetube.com site, we often use browsershots.org to check the consistency of the site’s appearance across every browser and platform imaginable. There are OS’s and browsers out there I’ve never even heard of (Yeah, hello tech support? I’m running Seamonkey 1.1 on BSD and my e-mail isn’t working…) but one browser in particular caught my attention because it showed up in my site statistics… That would be Flock…

Now before you get crazy and accuse me of being in someone’s pocket for mentioning another “product” in what is supposed to be an indie music video blog, just hear me out a second… First off, I can assure you I’m in no one’s “pocket”… If I was, I’d have some money and this site would be a lot different :b. Secondly, after spending just two days messing around with it, I can see that Flock really isn’t just a browser. It’s literally a social networking control center, the likes of which I’ve never seen.

Technically speaking, it’s a Mozilla based browser but it bears no similarity to any Mozilla products I’ve seen in the past. It certainly functions like any other browser and has been smooth and glitch free since install but that’s just the half of it. If you’re doing any social networking online (if you’re in a band, you damn well better be) this browser puts every social networking entity at your fingertips with the notable exception of MySpace. Why it’s not “plugged in” to MySpace I don’t know but everything else integrates right into the browser itself. Blogger, WordPress, Xanga, Twitter, Facebook, Flicker, YouTube… All of them, and many more have widgets and plugins that apparently let you control all of your social networking activities right from one customizable surface. Like I said, I’ve only been working with it for a couple of days so clearly i don’t know everything, but even if you don’t use this thing as your default browser you should give it a try. If you want to make the most of your time pimping the band online, Flock 1.0 puts all that social shit right in front of you…

Just a reminder that it’s that time of year again and The Del Mar Fair is rapidly approaching. With it comes The Battle of The Bands and it’s not too late to get your bid in… If you’re a local SD artist (CA residents only) you can find all the details and sign up information right here but ya probably should act fast. The deadline for submitting entries is May 23rd. The “Battle” begins on June 20th, round two is on June 27th and, the winner will be crowned on The 4th of July.

Joel (AMP) and I filmed some bands last year for our own personal edification but I can’t for the life of me remember who they were. That might be a shameful thing to admit but I think it’s a tribute to the mediocrity we were fed (at least while I was there) last time. We shot some video of a couple performances which Joel has up on his YouTube Channel. I think some of the acts were chosen as “novelty acts” because #1) I had never heard of quite a few of them… Granted, I don’t know EVERY band in San Diego but I’ve been gigging around here for the last 7 years… I should at least have heard your name before if you’re playing out… #2) Many of these same bands looked good but didn’t really execute very well. I realize that The Del Mar Fair can be a big deal but a show is a show… You need to get your nerves under control if you’re going to play for crowds. I’ll bet a lot of these bands had killer demos and press kits that they put a lot of time in on but lacked experience and couldn’t deliver the goods when the time came. Just speculation mind you…

There is one band that I do remember from last year but unfortunately I didn’t get to see them perform. That would be our boys from Soundescape. I think I even have an interview with the band where they talk about last year’s battle. Come to think of it, I’m going to have to dig that up and see if it’s worth posting… It seems to me that while they were very much being gentleman about the whole thing, I think they were a little disgruntled at the outcome. Now, I have absolutely no inside knowledge of the goings on with The Del Mar Battle of the Bands and it’s sponsors. What I do know is that as a general rule, it’s a good idea not to underestimate the power of relationships when it comes to these kinds of media sponsored events. It’s just one of those situations where the “best man” might not always win. Either way, take your shot. Go, do, get dirty… Sign up for The Del Mar Battle of the Bands… Eventually the cream always rises. If you’re it, we’ll know it…

Well now, in case you missed it a couple of posts back, I was giving props to Radiohead for their “rebirth” as an indie artist. In Rainbows, their latest release was available as a free digital download before you could even buy it in the store. I also mentioned that if I wasn’t mistaken, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails weren’t far behind… I love it when my powers of clairvoyance actually work… You can get a free download of the single Discipline if ya click on this little link here. Don’t say we never gave ya nothin’…

I was in the car the other day and one of the local DJ’s was talking about the change in the record industry and wondering aloud how it was the record companies were going to be able to continue making money. With the likes of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails bringing product directly to our computers, I’m sure there are board rooms all over the country wondering the same thing. If they have any brains at all, they’ll realize they somehow have to harness the Internet in a fashion that just isn’t affordable to the average Joe. Let’s face it, The Internet is becoming privatized right under our very noses. Record labels, if they’re smart, will become miniature film companies and instead of releasing a new CD, the new music will be released on a DVD with videos for every track, live performance clips and maybe some behind the scenes shenanigans. Release a few singles as free digital downloads, leak a few videos onto YouTube, and then just buy up exposure online like they would with any other media outlet.

No matter what happens, we the consumer have more choices than ever on where to find our music. If record labels want to hold our attention, and more importantly our money, they’re going to have to step up and offer us more.

So the final word from Technorati was to validate the code in the meetube blog… Apparently there are some errors that are creating trouble for the spiders. Why I didn’t check this going in is completely beyond me… When it comes to Word Press (aka, this blog), I don’t know how to do anything from scratch. I typically go get a theme that has the layout I want and then gut the CSS and restyle it. Because I always get my themes from the Word Press site, I just assumed the code was clean. Isn’t there some old saying about assumptions? Anyway, I went back and checked the validator and it appears the php (scripting language that powers Word Press) is generating some bad code because I can’t locate any bad html in the Word Press design editor. So yeah, I spent hours styling out a theme that won’t index correctly with Technorati. How fucking SWEET is that?

A fan(?) who will remain nameless kinda ripped me via e-mail because I write about the above type situations in what is supposed to be an indie music video blog. I can sorta see his point but, I think the point that he, and others might be missing is that everything I do in building and promoting this site are things that you can do to build and promote your band. I go through all these trials and tribulations and write about them on the slim chance someone will benefit and not make the same mistakes. I might have a BS in digital media but school just scratches the surface. The real education comes from going out and getting yourself dirty and I thought perhaps someone might actually appreciate a little information at my expense. Sean from Revenge Club once told me about a gig they were playing in SACRAMENTO (500 miles away) for FREE… Let me tell ya somthin’, that’s the kind of motivation you need to make it in any industry as far as I’m concerned; but if you apply that kind of energy to The Internet, you’re going to get the attention of more people then you ever would from one night in Sacto… Ya feelin that, G?

Oh, and also to the flamer, to answer your question, Technorati is like a MySpace for blogs. Maybe you can grasp that concept…