How to Find Shows in Your Area (and Remember Them)
If you listen to anything south of the mainstream, you have experienced the awful gut-wrenching feeling that comes with having missed seeing one of your favorite bands play live because you forgot (or maybe worse, because you didn't know about it in the first place). Those of us who have been there scour our local weeklies for the newest listings, we spend an inordinate amount of time on McSpace hunting for band pages (it just can't ever be as easy as www.myspace.com/INSERT_BAND_NAME_HERE, can it) and then we try to remember it all. Or put it in our handy little Palm things. Too often we forget, so this article is going to help you easily find shows, and put them in a simple place to find them again.
In Tampa the best listings are on an incredibly ugly but useful page:
There are also venue pages, of course, and they are handy, too. Here's what I use for Tampa and the area:
State Media State Theatre, Jannus Landing and Orpheum. Tampa, St. Petersburg.
Transitions Art Gallery at Skatepark of Tampa
688 SkateparkClearwater.
Common Grounds Coffeehouse Gainesville.
The Social Orlando.
The Club at Firestone Orlando.
It can be a serious pain in the ass to figure out who is playing shows in your town. Luckily, there are some good web services to help you figure it out. A new one just launched, and while it isn't perfect, it's a pretty good resource.
Bee There is a new service that lets you search for shows by city. The listings aren't totally comprehensive, but are the best I've seen for non-local services.
Pod Bop gives you show listings and mp3s of the bands that are coming. Last time I checked it didn't have much for my area, but it has been growing, so check it out.
Ok, so you've found some listings. Wouldn't it be nice if they were on a calendar?
By now you should have signed up with Google in one way or another (i.e. Gmail, Docs and Spreadsheets, or Reader. If you haven't, do. The Google services are great. They are easy to use and you can use them from anywhere.
Google Calendar gives you two ways to add events. You can click on a date and paste info from one of the sites above, or you can just search for something (i.e. Flaming Lips Tampa) and Google will automatically add the relevant event.
I think it's easier to just copy and paste from the original page to the calendar, but that's just me. There is also a Firefox Extension for Windows called Google Calendar Quick Add. But I can't review it since I don't have Windows. Let me know if you use this extension, and if you like it. Leave a note in the comments.
The three best things about Google Calendars: One, you can access them from any computer with Internet access. Two, you can share your calendars with whomever you choose. Three, you can sync your calendar with Outlook or iCal on the Mac. Then Outlook or iCal will automatically pull the new data from your calendar whenever you open them.
Know of any good online show listings? I'm particularly interested in hardcore, indie, punk rock listings, but I'm open to others. But please don't tell me about Jambase. Screw Jambase.
There are also venue pages, of course, and they are handy, too. Here's what I use for Tampa and the area:
It can be a serious pain in the ass to figure out who is playing shows in your town. Luckily, there are some good web services to help you figure it out. A new one just launched, and while it isn't perfect, it's a pretty good resource.
Ok, so you've found some listings. Wouldn't it be nice if they were on a calendar?
Using Google Calendar
By now you should have signed up with Google in one way or another (i.e. Gmail, Docs and Spreadsheets, or Reader. If you haven't, do. The Google services are great. They are easy to use and you can use them from anywhere.
Google Calendar gives you two ways to add events. You can click on a date and paste info from one of the sites above, or you can just search for something (i.e. Flaming Lips Tampa) and Google will automatically add the relevant event.
I think it's easier to just copy and paste from the original page to the calendar, but that's just me. There is also a Firefox Extension for Windows called Google Calendar Quick Add. But I can't review it since I don't have Windows. Let me know if you use this extension, and if you like it. Leave a note in the comments.
The three best things about Google Calendars: One, you can access them from any computer with Internet access. Two, you can share your calendars with whomever you choose. Three, you can sync your calendar with Outlook or iCal on the Mac. Then Outlook or iCal will automatically pull the new data from your calendar whenever you open them.
Know of any good online show listings? I'm particularly interested in hardcore, indie, punk rock listings, but I'm open to others. But please don't tell me about Jambase. Screw Jambase.
Labels: Hardcore, Hardcore Music, Indie, Music, Shows
This entry was posted by Power Rambling, on
Wednesday, February 28, 2007.
You can leave your response.
March 1, 2007 at 3:35 AM
What's wrong with JamBase?
March 1, 2007 at 3:40 PM
Alright, nothing's wrong with Jambase. It just has nothing for me. And I'm not sure that it's such a good thing that jam band fans go see the same band play so many times. It makes me think they might be in it more for doing drugs in public places than for what actually matters: the music.