From the sounds of it, you and I have somewhat different situations. For me, my friends and family are scattered around the globe and the likelihood of them ever coalescing into one geographic region is slim to none. Part of that is because I've traveled a lot and the people I care about are also people with interests and passions that take them to distant places where they sometimes decide to put down roots. However, wherever I do end up, I hope that it will be a place where I can make a lot of friends and build some kind of community. I guess that's something my family and friends have in common: a strong drive to build community of some kind, either on a large scale or through small groups with close bonds. Like many of my friends, I'm at an age where I'm taking a stab at realizing my ambitions and realizing that it might be a while yet before I find the next place I'll call "home". I don't know that it's necessarily noble to want to stay geographically close to one's kith and kin, but it's certainly something I want for myself. Anyway, for both of us, I hope that the professional side and the personal side can be reconciled. It's tough, but you're right: it's worth it.
I have friends scattered all over the place, but there is a large concentration in two cities in particular. You have definitely spent a lot more time traveling to a lot more places than I have. It's funny that you mention building communities. Two of my roommates and I have been building a community within our city and now across a couple of cities in terms of local music and fans of local music. It all started with our record label which is now turning into a collective of sorts for friends and fans and is gaining some momentum in a couple of places.
It's getting there. We put out our 4th release on the 14th, and have another release coming out next month. We've had 2 concerts with one more lined up in January and another in February. It's all about keeping the momentum going and continuing to put out releases while unifying the part of the scene that we want to work with, which is the hardest part. It's also hard since I'm moving away from the other two guys for 6 months for a job so that will be interesting. I'm hoping to get some shows lined up out in Boston which is close to where I'll be.
That's cool. You might hit up WERS (Emerson College Radio), which is right next to the Loews Cinemas close to the corner of Boylston and Tremont in downtown Boston. The Boylston green line stop is right across the street. Link. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone at WERS anymore, but a lot of people listen to WERS, so it might be worth a shot. You might also see if the Cantab Lounge would be into it. They put on all kinds of stuff. Mostly I've been there to see poetry readings, but they do music too. Don't forget that Berklee and NEC are in the city and that means that their bulletin boards have all kinds of flyers for shows put on by students, alums and professors, so there'll be a lot of places on those that might be open to your thing. Where exactly is the job, if you don't mind me asking?
I already plan on getting in touch with them, WERS is one of my favorite college stations in the country. Are you from the Boston area? You seem to know a good deal about it. That lounge looks cool too, I'll add it my list of venues in Boston. I'm up to about 10 between Boston/Cambridge at this point. The job itself is in Andover, so not terribly close but not far enough away that I can't go into the city on nights. I've got an apartment up there which should be cool since Boston, Portsmouth, and Portland are all close enough to frequent.
I graduated from Emerson in '07 and right now I'm really close to Portsmouth. Not a whole lot going on in the region, so yeah, I've spent considerable time getting to know both :). Portland just started taking off within the last 10 years, so I don't really know it. I hear good things though.
Oh wow, no way! Portsmouth has a few breweries that I want to check out, so at least it has that going. Portland is a great area, I've been there a couple of times over the last few years since I know some people that live around that city. It's got some great beaches, restaurants, and a lot of cool little stores hidden around. Let me know if you ever want to get together over the next few months, maybe we could try to have a New England Hubski meetup.
I really liked Portland when I lived there briefly. There were some awesome record shops and comic book shops. I wish I would've been there for the summer though. I heard its fantastic. You guys should def put on a northeastern meetup. If it's during the summer I might make the trip out there. I've had my fill of cold weather for now.
Yeah man. shoot me some mail with some possibilities and maybe we can grab a drink or two. Oh, that reminds me. Is the Thirsty Moose Taphouse on your list? Last year I talked to someone who said she was a part-owner of the place and she mentioned that they're always looking to book musicians, though she did say that they had a lot lined up at the time.
That place was not on my list, but I'm adding it since they seem to have a great beer selection. I'll send you mail and we can figure it out from there, I'm free most weekends though. I really need to get a live setup going for my electronic music.