Detroit Musician's Caucus – TUESDAY

Detroit Musician’s Caucus Tuesday, April 13, 2010 @ Small’s Bar, Hamtramck, MI.
[From press release -ed.]
The Detroit Musician’s Caucus is a free event being held on Tuesday, April 13th at Small’s Bar in Hamtramck, MI to celebrate the culture of local music and promote the values of mutual aid and responsibility within the community of Detroit’s local musicians, venues, labels, promoters and services. All we are asking from bands and musicians (or friends of bands and musicians) is that they show up, shake hands with their friends, enjoy each others camaraderie, swap some music and maybe buy each other a few drinks. If that’s not enough, we’re providing an opportunity to:

SHARE YOUR STUFF: There will be several tables set up marked “free” where anyone can place a few copies of albums brought with them and pick up something else they may like. If all you have from your band are home burned discs with track listings and band info scotch taped to them in used jewel cases, then bring them. If you have still have copies of releases from your old bands taking up closet space, bring them – someone who saw you “back then” may just want one. Bring copies of those horrible soundboard recordings of that night you were drunk onstage at that local bar. Feel free (with permission, of course) to bring your friend’s band’s cd’s if they cannot attend. We are encouraging ALL who wish to bring their own band’s merch tables for sale items (t-shirts, vinyl, gear, etc.) to do so. If you are not a band per se but have a business that deals with musicians quite a bit (printers, silk screeners, tattoo artists, gear repair, etc), bring a table and some fliers and some of your favorite stuff. Meet some people and get a few gigs out of it!

LEARN SOME STUFF: We are very fortunate to have as a special guest speaker Martin Atkins of Invisible Records and founder of the band Pigface. Martin taught classes on touring with your band at Colmbia in Chicago and is author of the book “Tour:Smart” He will be delivering a lecture entitled “Welcome to the Music Business, You’re Fucked!” where he draws upon his 20 years of owning a label, releasing over 300 albums and constantly touring to bring some simple survival strategies to fledgling bands like your and mine. Martin will follow short presentations by Scott Boyink (event coordinator) and Melody Baetens (venue owner, booking agent and music journalist.)

WIN SOME STUFF: Raffle tickets will be available for $1 to win an HP 320GB portable hard drive stocked with music from local bands. We are collecting cd’s from local bands on a voluntary basis through drop-boxes at Small’s and Detroit Threads to be ripped into hard the drive. Any music, old and new, regardless of genre is accepted. We will also be ripping cd’s to the hard drive in person at Small’s on Sunday and Monday evenings between 9:00 and 12:00, in just a few minutes time, your music can be added. Whether filled with tunes or not, this is a helpful item for a possible dollar…

The Detroit Musicians Caucus is an ALL AGES event and is FREE, although voluntary donations will be accepted. We are very lucky to be sponsored by Slow’s Bar-B-Q and Detroit Threads. Special thanks to Mike and Melody at Small’s, Terry Perrone at Slows, Mike Smith at Detroit Threads and Martin Atkins for their help and support…. Thanks! Hope to see you there! Bring your merch!