The PLCB issue and more venting

[hiflyer1970]

First a Thumbs up to Rock page for their efforts in supporting local music. Now onto the topic... I agree with Plum Crazy and to quote him....

"AND I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE IS STILL PUTTING UP WITH THIS......EVERYONE BITCHES AND COMPLAINS, BUT NO ONE HAS THE BALLS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, EVERYONE HAD IDEAS ABOUT WHAT TO DO BUT ONCE AGAIN NO BALLS, I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT ALL THE PEOPLE I KNOW ON HERE DON'T HAVE THE NERVE TO OPEN THEIR MOUTHS OR ACT ON THIS. IF IT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU WANT BADLY ENOUGH YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN OR DOES YOUR MUSIC NOT MEAN THAT MUCH TO YOU? I KNOW IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME, SO I INTEND TO DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES. DAMN IT PEOPLE WAKE THE HELL UP AND MAKE THE SACRIFICES FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN. OR ARE YOU GOING TO PROVE ONCE AGAIN THAT YOU ALL HAVE NO BALLS!!! "

This issue has been here for months and what more has been done with it?? Many great idea's and much talk, but it seems not much more than that and the petition. Speaking of the petition it seems that some people got signitures then when asked what to do with them noone would step up. Then finally Vinny stepped up and gave his address to send them. Did any send them Vinny??? I doubt it because they were probably scared of stirring things up with the PLCB or just plain lazy to stuff them in the mail. There are a few here willing to help but it is going to take all if change is ever going to happen.

My brother is a writer from the Pittsburgh area and took interest in this subject and wanted to write about it for the newspaper and when he e-mailed some from this thread for contact info so he could get the whole story and write it noone would let him know how to contact them. How is he going to write an article without the info he needs? Are they scared that it was some sort of trap and the PLCB would hunt them down and take their birthday away or just to damn lazy.

To vent even further, over the years I have heard a great deal of bands bitching that there is not much of a music secene for them, blablabla. It seems that many want great things to happen but won't lift a finger to make it happen. Well for those who are bitching, get off your asses, step up to the plate and do what you can to change things and move yourself further. Get out there and post flyers to promote your shows and the venues having them, be more active on sites like Rock Page as well as other similar sites, and help to support these sites by linking to them on your bands site in a visible place and putting them on your flyers and promo materials, telling everyone you know about them and mentioning them at your shows. These sites are here to help support the local music scene and are probably not getting much (if any) compensation for their efforts (rarely even a Thank You). I can speak from experiance as an operator of one of these similar sites and can tell you that there have been many times where I feel more grief than gratification over my efforts. here are a few points over the past few months...

1)On my site ANY band or venue can log in and place a link to their website. To access the upgraded features I have chosen to charge a small monthly fee. I have done this for 2 reasons 1.) to help pay for the cost of keeping the site online and 2.) to help weed out the bands who are not willing to put forth an effort to maintain their listing, which will oversaturate the sites upgraded listings, therefore taking away from those who give a shit. Through this I receive an e-mail bitching that this is a money making scheme and that I should be offering all this for free. To be honest I wouldn't mind making a buck or two for my time and efforts but I am surely not going to get rich off it. As a matter of fact for the past year and a half and still continuing I am in the red and paying to keep the site up out of my own pocket. I don't think many realize what it takes to keep these sites up and running. If you want to know just ask and I will give you some figures. I don't think that asking for less than the cost of a drink a month at a club per band member is asking too much. And to the one who sent me the e-mail, if your reading this and are really as broke as you say, I would like to ofer you a free trial upgrade to see what you are missing.

2) I was ofering to upgrade member listings on a free trial basis to give a test drive of how things work under the condition that they maintain their account and enter their schedules so that the entertainment guide remains current and populated. Over half of these have not gotten off their asses to update their listing (which will be soon be removed). In order to originally set the free trial up I have to enter all the info then send the band a user and password so they can login and update anything. All I get is an e-mail bitching that I put up a photo of one of the band members and not the entire band. Well I didn't have a photo of the entire band so I used what I had to set the listing up then they could log in and put what they want up but instead of getting off their ass and changing the photo all I get is bitching.

3) Bands just gotta get off their asses if they want to move forward. I ask bands that if they have any news of interest to contact me and I will post it in the news section of the site. To date not one contact. If bands have original music, send it to us and we will get it on the air on our internet radio broadcast. Many won't get off their lazy ass to drop a CD in the mail. I even got through to an A+R rep from Elektra Records who was willing to accept a submission from a local band I was trying to push. In his request was the lyric sheets. When I contacted the band to request them I got why does he want that?? They never sent the lyrics and therefore the submission never got sent to the rep. It was probably a long shot but who knows. You are not going to sit in your basement and have a major lable come looking for you. wHAT MORE DO YOU WANT US TO DO?? PLAY YOUR INSTRUMENTS FOR YOU?? This is just a few of the many examples.

I think I let off all my steam now. My point here is that there is strength in numbers and we must all support each other and give all we have and maybe we can improve the local music scene. If those who do nothing but bitch and complain would put half of that energy into something more positive, things can and will change.

[tonefight]

Hell I'm too lazy to even read all that

[red]

CHEERS!

[Billy]

Well people I keep hearing that something has to be done. I suggested that the bands get together and do a gig to raise money to pad a pocket of someone with some oomph.As I said before I just started gigging again after a long time off. not since 83. I am willing to play as well as my band .just give me a shout .I will need some help here my friends as I am just getting back into the scene and don't know alot of you folks yet. perhaps we can start by finding a venue that will let us do our show .I know one thing, bottom dollar is that ,money talks when it comes to lobbying or getting an attny with the clusters to fight the law.Anyone interested in my idea contact me. And please get the word out to your band friends. I don't know alot of you guys but,I know one thing .when it comes to our love of music we are gonna fight like a trapped rat to do our thing.If we lay down ,we are gonna go down.at the pace the LCB is presently keeping we are chancing the clubowners saying screw it !! Man when they took my Id it scared the hell outa me and I almost felt like saying screw it !! Well, reality has kicked in!! What gives them the right to put a hurting on what we love and in some cases to stop a guy to make an extra buck he might need to buy his kid some milk !! Again, I ask you to get with me and see what we can do.I await anyone with a set to respond.thanks Billy.of Billy and The Inmates

[lonewolf]

Hey Vinny, how many signed pages have you received so far?

It seems to me that changing the noise rule is the only course of action short of convincing the governor to order the PLCB to cease and desist. I seriously doubt that Rendell cares much about the plight of the working musician.

In today's "values" oriented politics, I doubt if any representative will do anything based on the rantings of a few or even a few hundred musicians. It would be a political poison pill to cross over to the executive branch and request a moratorium on noise enforcement; HOWEVER, sponsoring a state-wide PLCB noise bill would have the opposite effect. What values-driven politician wouldn't want credit for a law protecting the citizenry from noise?

I cooperated fully with everybody who contacted me about the situation. As I recall, there was no followup.

By the way, the petition is not completed. That .pdf file is only the signature page. The main part of the proposal would consist of a preface, proposal, legal justification and all of the signature pages that are collected. Most of that info is already posted under the LAW, but its not all put together in its final form.

HiFlyer, it might help if you posted a link to the website that you wrote about.

[FatVin]

LoneWolf Wrote:

Hey Vinny, how many signed pages have you received so far?

To answer your question Wolf, A big fat Zero, Zilch, Nada, None, less than one.

I have no clue how many signatures we have.

JP has a number of them I know but he keeps forgetting to give them to me or we keep missing each other and I don't know how many other people have them.

And I agree in this values oriented environment us musicians don't carry a lot of weight but we still have one card to play.

That's the big bad oppressive government stepping on the lives of average amercians who are just trying to make an honest living, that'll put a fire under the GOP, it also has the virtue of being true.

The Irony is: we're not making enough noise, at least not politically

This is not a Law enforcment thing it's politics, someobdy is getting brownie points from a supervisor for the Gestapo tactics and we need to make it politically dangerous to attack us that's all.

We don't want special protection, we just want the hobnail boot of government off of our throat so that we can pursue our happiness like any American has the God given right to do. It's our lives they are interfering with, it's our liberty they are curtailing and we must decalre our Independance from the Tyranny of the PLCB.

We need to get mad. We need to show this state government that we are mad as hell and we're not gonna take this any more. They have meddled in the primal forces of nature and THEY MUST ATONE!

Get those signatures and get the forms to JP or WOLF or me but get them and get them NOW because the longer this goes on the worse it will get.

Soon it will be your gig they bust in on.

[Jim Price]

Vin, you'll be getting sheets from me on Monday evening. And I'm still collecting signatures. I will again have the petition out and about with me this weekend. If you see me out and haven't signed it yet, come on up and sign away! Better yet, print out one of your own and take it around!

This ball is starting to roll...