Out & About continued...
azine, and does his best to get Nate Myers and the Aces booked at venues near him out in the Johnstown/Altoona area. Appalachian Brewing Co.’s Abbey Bar is a great place to go see live music, I really don’t go there nearly enough. They not only get a lot of amazing local acts, but they also get quite a few national acts passing through the area. I wish we could convince them to advertise, but right now I try and keep an eye on my e-mails to see who is playing there next. While we listened to the music, my friend Holly and I enjoyed ABC’s specialty a “beer float”.. It’s a chocolate stout with Hall’s Dairy vanilla ice cream!! Hall’s Dairy is from my old stomping grounds up in Millerstown, PA, it definitely has a soft spot in my heart, and especially in my stomach! Ha!! Next time you stop in at ABC do yourself a favor and get a float, it is mmm..mm.. GOOD! And of course support live music! My last band of the month was Back in Black at Blarney’s in Mechanicsburg. I haven’t seen these guys in a very long time, and it was just what the doctor ordered, a night of some good old, heavy rock n’ roll! It’s hard watching them in such a tiny venue like Blarney’s, it really makes me miss Tubby’s even more! (From a distance the other day it looked like there might’ve been some kind of construction crane near Tubby’s, I definitely hope that’s what I saw, and hopefully they are still planning on rebuilding bigger and better…) But for the time being, I am just grateful that Back in Black is willing to make the commute and come down to the burg from Massachusetts and play in such a small space. Blarney’s is another place I wish I could convince to advertise. They take the time and energy to book bands at their venue, but then they don’t promote their shows anywhere. It’s sort of sad. It’s a gorgeous venue and they have a lot of potential, but half of the people don’t even know where Blarney’s is. Blarney’s is the old “Wanda’s”, “West Shore Hardware Bar”, etc. etc. It’s changed it’s name and set up so many times, it is truly hard to keep track of not only what it’s called, but what’s happening over there. Anywho.. back to the music. Back in Black as always puts on an amazing show. Dan “Angus” is absolutely crazy on guitar, by the end of the night his knees were all beat up from all of his duck walking and throwing himself down on the stage, jumping in the air, etc. He didn’t let the limited space stop him, he was all over the place! Tony’s vocal range and his ability to cover all of your favorite AC/DC songs, young and old, is amazing. They were rockin’ their new American Flag backdrop. It looked really nice and fit perfectly on the back of Blarney’s stage. Congrats again to Tony and Roxy on their new grandbaby Auggie!! He is so stinkin precious and Tony is one proud Pappy! We want to welcome Yak Bone to our pages as well as Suicide Puppets this month. Did you notice Yakbone is on the cover?!? We were actually going to put Stonerook on the cover but couldn’t get it together with Dan in short notice so than we asked Amanda + The Noise as they have been advertising for a while but Patty (who is in the band) has also started a new project, Yak Bone and preferred them to be featured on the cover and they were able to get everyone togeether in a few days for a pic and interview. (Thank you). We try to accomodate our clients wishes. Make sure and check out Yak Bone’s cover story and check out this new and upcoming acoustic act. I can’t wait to see their show live and in action! Fewer and fewer bands are choosing to advertise in the PA Mu sician Magazine. It’s amazing how many bands have used our pages to promote their business: Green Eggs, Emily’s Toybox, The Sharks, Halestorm, Smooth Like Clyde, Screaming Daisys, etc… Do you know what all of these bands have in common?? They all ADVERTISED for YEARS! When I ask some of them why don’t you still advertise? Their response is that the magazine served it’s purpose and they have a big enough fan base now, they don’t need us any more or they don’t have the money because their crowds aren’t as big as they use to be and they don’t get paid enough. (hmm). Do you know what else all of these bands have in common?? they still play in the area, just a lot of people don’t know they are still around or where they are playing. Do you know why?? Because they STOPPED advertising! I wish people would feel that Facebook isn’t their only answer for promoting their shows. Facebook takes over such control about who sees your posts, when, how often, if ever, etc. Our readers see all of our advertisers every month. We don’t block anyone from advertising, if you have a band or business that would like to promote themselves, give us a call at 717444-2423. We also share all of your events, etc on our Facebook page as an added bonus plus the entire paper is placed on the web for we know many people prefer to read the magazine on continued on next page...
10
Pennsylvania Musician Magazine
October, 2017