Gang,

This has really been a stimulating discussion, although a major distraction from work today! I am going to have to go to "Daily Digest" membership from now on if I want to keep my day job! Yeesh.

Nevertheless, you have made so many thoughtful points about the music business and what's wrong with it. IMHO we all have the right idea - getting something of our own going! There is so much WONDERFUL talent hereabouts that deserves something better than its present obscurity. My dream is that five years from now we'll have venues like the Avalon Ballroom, the Family Dog and the Fillmore Auditoriums here on Long Island where up-and-coming bands can play to a knowledgeable audience. Those venues emerged as an alternative to a dismal mainstream music scene, and from that "the next big thing" was begotten.

Wouldn't it be great to see a show like, say, Hank Stone/The Basals/Jones Crusher in a great venue with great sound for $15? Where artists could come and play a venue with a built-in audience to get some exposure? Where a buzz was created that brought fans to people's gigs in the clubs? Where we could create an epicenter and make Long Island "THE musical place to be" for a couple of years?

That's my dream - it's what keeps me posting on this list and that's what keeps me volunteering for these early events. In a couple of years they will be thought of as "embryonic" events of a robust music scene that emerged. I truly believe that. Someday in the not-too-distant future people will talk about the Phelps Lane show like, "All those GREAT people played at one show and NOBODY CAME????" Keep believing, keep encouraging, keep contributing... we'll get there. I honestly believe that.

rock on, George Gelish

Last Updated 02.12.05