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Looking for Myself
Hey Rick – Where You Been, Man?
Oh, if I only had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that!
Well, the story is not that complicated, then again, it’s extremely complicated. I’ll only let the non-complicated parts become public, though. Let’s just say that I have been very, very, very busy (I also have this little thing going on called the MAMAs…).
Raising my children and spending time with my wife has been wonderful. For a long time I was pretty much 24/7 and that can only be done for so long.
When Rick’s Cafe had to shut down in 2007 it was a big loss to me; not just personally but financially. The debt was enormous and deterred my life for three years. We made some plans to take Rick’s Cafe online and to the next level, probably in 2008 – I don’t know my memory of it fades. The lack of deadlines – not to mention lack of pay – made it very difficult to employ a stable of writers that could contribute. My plate was full.
But it’s 2012 now, things are better, Madison is poised to swing it’s musical pendulum upward. There is still a big lack of local coverage and now that the Onion has shut down its AV Madison site, the hole is even deeper. It’s a good time to give this a go again.
I love Madison’s musicians and I want to see Madison evolve into a place where they can make a living, thrive even, and where the city is involved; not just to conduct studies for the benefit of fancy consultants, but to invest.
We at Local Sounds have ideas.
But if ideas were all it takes than we’d all be happily dedicating ourselves full time to Madison’s arts and music and the MAMAs would be endowed for generations. It takes a lot more than that. If you want this to be the kind of place we envision, then we will need to work together awfully hard.
Here’s what you can do:
- Local Sounds Magazine needs an intern to help populate our site with historical content. This is not rocket science at all.
- Local Sounds Magazine needs writers, primarily to do reviews, cover events and write features.
- Local Sounds needs money. We will soon launch a project on Dane Arts’ Power2Give website. We need nonprofit status and it’s expensive.
- Local Sounds could use some legal support for the above. Know any lawyers?
- Donate
Here are some of the initiatives Local Sounds will achieve:
- Local Sounds is a historical document, a history of Madison music and arts and also a contemporary outlet for information and promotion, a living museum.
- Local Sounds Radio (localsounds.fm) is warming up with a huge playlist of local music. We have a lot of ideas on how to utilize this feature and where to place it.
- Local Sounds TV can provide podcasts of informational and historical video content as well as music videos. The MAMAs are planning a series of ongoing informational disussions, roundtables and conferences for Madison musicians. Local Sounds TV will work together with the MAMAs to document these gatherings.
- The Madison Music Museum – there I said it. A gigantic step toward city support for local music, an idea that’s been in my head for a decade. Time to talk to Soglin. Time to turn the wheels.
Hey, give me a call or drop me a line. Ask me how I’ve been.
Peace,
Rick
