In a message dated 99-01-19 17:25:31 EST, you write: << But whatever you call it -- a scene-- a "movement" or whatever -- for the most part, the publicity isn't going to be done for us - we have to do some flag-waving ourselves. That's what the punkers and new wavers did back in the late 80s in dc- we rented storefronts and begged clubs to let us play on Mondays -- we plastered the town with flyers and started fanzines. Who else was going to write for the fanzines but the musicians? People read DCenes in the record stores, saw our flyers on lightposts around Dupont Circle and Georgetown, then started hearing our records on WGTB (bless you may you rest in peace) and on WHFS (which has now turned into a slop-90s haha ....Anyway, the idea is to grow a "scene" the way we grew up those many years ago. And if i have to put on my own barn dances and publish my own little fanzine or ezine or whatever to help it grow, I'll do it. >> I have to say I agree. We have a little bluegrass fanzine called The Burr here in the NYC area and we all write about each other in it. And it gets a bit of attention for all the people on the bluegrass scene here, and really encouraged a lot of growth in that little fledgling scene. It created a local forum. We write about each other because we're all passionate about the music enough to put together bands, and put on bluegrass festivals (in NYC!!!) and Twang Festivals and bust our butts for the music. It's hard not to become friends with the bands, especially the ones your really like, and, especially in this tiny little market, where almost every CD project is a labor love, it seems like most musicians wear more than one hat. I have muscian friends who work at labels, who work at magazines, record stores, work for publicists. Ethically, if a band was horrid and you said they would incredible because you had a crush on the lead singer, well, that would suck. But journalists have reputations to keep up as well. If you're going to rave about something in print your creditablilty as a critic is on the line. If they're great, you win, if they blow chunks, you lose (although of course then there's the matter of taste....). I've written about The Shankman Twins in Bluegrass Unlimited back in the day when I was doing those kinds of things, and they had become sort of friends of mine. I had seen them at WInterhawk, on the kiddie stage, and been blown away and a series of conversations, we hung out a bit, and pretty soon I was doing an article on them. I don't think I did anything wrong. I've written about many friends of mine for the local paper here in Hoboken when I was a regular contributor, but only when I really really loved the band. I never bumped an artist I didn't know in order to give press to a friend of mine, that would be rotten. ANd I never let anyone pressure me into presenting something the way they wanted it presented. It's hard in the small world of grass roots Twang to avoid having your name on the CD of an artist you've supported and become friendly with, or to have avoided having had a beer with this artist or that, but I think the real ethical problem would be not saying something you really want to say in print because you're afraid of what someone "might think." But then again, what do i know? I'm no hot shot journalist, just a lowly musician... Elena Skye
