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Your Group Needs You!

Ey up!

Hopefully by now you are all aware that something is well and truly 'going on' with our UK CBG scene.

The first festival was a huge sucess, with around 25 folk attending the day sessions, and 60 for the evening gig.

This almost doubled to 50 and 100 respectivly for this years fest - and from what I gather, a lot more than attend many of the US events. And they invented it! ;o)

Clearly our scene is exploding... and I reckon it will continue to do so.

A lot of this is down to you, the participants, the anonymous benefactors, and the hardwork that Chickenbone John and a few others put in throughout the year doing all the planning and organising.

As it stands at the minute, John shells out his own cash, then worries if he'll get it back on the night! He spends hours planning, meeting, travelling, discussing - all at his own expense.

The performers play on the assumtion they will not be getting paid. They pay their own travel and accomodation costs. As it turned out this year, the anonymous donation and the good turn out, coupled with the deal done with the venue, meant they did get a little financial help, but they were there out of their own good will and dedication to the scene.

So, heres my point (FINALLY!!)

Wouldnt it be great if we had a little money in the kitty to help with all these little costs? Maybe to lay on food at the next fest? Help John with some of the planning costs? Or to actually pay the preformers something like a proper wage? Maybe cover venue costs so we can avoid the dreaded door split? Or, to put it another way;

To support the scene we all take so much from, and to ensure its continued success.

Lets just imagine for a moment that John cant afford the time off to organise next years fest, or that Hollowbelly cant afford to come and give a workshop and gig... pretty dreary picture huh? You would be left with me, in a dingy pub, talking nonsense for 15 hours. Not worth 25p...

I know what youre thinking. Sounds like a begging letter, but trust me, its not - I have a plan!

And better than that, everyone gets a little something back too :o)

The plan is to set up a UK CBG Registry (for want of a better name - it would be cool to include all homemade instruments).

And this is how it would work;

* There would be a nominal fee to join - say £5 per year. This would give us a few hundred quid to do something with next year.

* There would be NO obligation to join, and not joining would have NO effect on you attending the festival, etc etc - the idea of this is to support our democracy and help it grow, not to divide folk.

* For your £5, you would get a membership number, maybe a downloadable logo with said number (so if you are building / selling / preforming etc you can show you are affiliated, so to speak - handy if you Ebay etc) and your name on 'The List'

* 'The List' will therefore be a Uk directory of of builders and players and interested folk. If someone was activly looking for an artist, or a builder, or even just folk to interview for a documentary, what better resource?

* The registry would also have the benefit of drawing in folk who are on the fringes of what we do. Plenty of folk build and sell on Ebay, but dont come here or to the shows. Maybe seeing everyone else affiliated would motivate them to get a bit more involved. Same goes for players - lets get everyone together and share our tips, help each other, and educate the rest of the musical world together!

* As an additional benefit, once we have a proper group set up in this way, and with a little extra paperwork, we can apply for outside funding. Want to see Seasick Steve play the next UK festival? This could pay for it. Seriously.

Incidentally, I did also think about a sticker for your guitar case, but this then becomes a 'money in, money out' affair and doesnt actually raise anything for the kitty. Maybe a bit of merchandising could be done as a seperate venture?

I am volunteering to help set all this up, and it would be done properly with an elected board, proper accounts etc, so its all above board and,most importantly, for the good of the group.

So - thoughts please!

Im asking for honest open opinions here folk, so dont hold back! DO, however, try to read the whole thing before you start on about making it elitist etc etc - I think its pretty clear thats not the point!

Thanks again

Ben

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JUJU on November 12, 2010 at 9:55am

yep it's all looking good here just joined the mailing list so i can keep an eye on you ...lol!

great job so far Ben

Permalink Reply by Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley on November 12, 2010 at 10:06am

Well here at work if i try and get on the new site i get this message

http://www.homegrownmusiccollective.com/

Matched categories:

Potentially Damaging Content
Sites likely to contain little or no useful content, with potentially harmful elements.

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JUJU AKA SOUNDSSOGOOD said:

yep it's all looking good here just joined the mailing list so i can keep an eye on you ...lol!

great job so far Ben

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on November 12, 2010 at 12:30pm

"...contain little or no useful content..."

The cheek! lol

Sounds like the I.T. police are on to you mate ;o)

Permalink Reply by Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley on November 12, 2010 at 1:15pm

yep looks that way, to tell you the truth im amazed that i can get on the nation our I.T police are keen !!

Roosterman said:

"...contain little or no useful content..."

The cheek! lol

Sounds like the I.T. police are on to you mate ;o)

Permalink Reply by Alan Hodges on November 12, 2010 at 2:08pm

Hi all, web sites starting to look good, sitting here listening to the mp3 player. enjoying the pics! Signed up and ready to go!!!This is a really great idea for the british cbg scene. Cant wait to see how it develops.
Cheers, Alan H

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on November 12, 2010 at 5:49pm

Thanks Alan,

Iv a heap more stuff to go on the jukebox now I know it works, lots more info to go up, and as soon as the account is up and running we'll get the membership sorted.

And the mugs of course :o)

Oh, and the logo, the banner, maybe some advertising space (its all income right?), the members list, the.........

Permalink Reply by Ryan Gallagher on November 13, 2010 at 1:27pm

Hiya,

Yes I was gutted not to make it this year, it has been a great year for me but a very busy one and I have been back and forth a lot. Well done on setting it all up so far. If we need phone numbers for anything please let me know, it's what I do so I can provide numbers in over 48 countries which can simply forward to someone's phone as a virtual number so you don't have to give out your personal number or it can do more interesting thigns like play music, run surveys etc.

I think this whole thing is great, more busking though. That will get into the hearts and minds of people, someone needs to organise something like that.

Talk to you soon,
Ryan.

P.S. Added myself to the map.

Permalink Reply by dan wilcox on November 16, 2010 at 5:50pm

count me in for a tenner .really enjoyed what i saw of this years fest but unfortunaly had to leave early.ps sorry for being a bit slow of the mark i have only just joined cbn .keep up the good work

Permalink Reply by marshall stapleton on November 16, 2010 at 6:03pm

i added myself to the map but can't seem to be able to join the mailing list

Permalink Reply by smojo on November 17, 2010 at 4:03am

You might need to go into SETTINGS then EMAIL then tick the boxes that you want to be notified for

marshall stapleton said:

i added myself to the map but can't seem to be able to join the mailing list

Permalink Reply by paul 'pigfingered shark' gilbey on November 20, 2010 at 10:18am

hi all, there is already wonderful place for cbg people to meet, exchange ideas, buy and sell and promote their personal businesses, its cbn. i have just found another called homemade music clubhouse.some of you are already members i see. both of these sites have a uk section and provide all the facilitys to ferther cbg in the uk.
in my experience all organisations with a commity/board will become self serving, plagued by nepitisom,back slaping and corruption. from allotment ass. through sports clubs, hobbyists to local, national and international government.
the only people who would benifit from a uk registry are those with a commercial interest,ie,builders who sell thier products,performers,parts suppliers, promoters ect ect.
i am all in favour of supporting people in business, though we punters should not be asked to fund the start up/advancement of these personal business ventures

Permalink Reply by MrRandomWritings (Backwater Bri) on November 20, 2010 at 10:22am

Shame you have had such bad experiences - also shame you have missed the point!

paul gilbey said:

hi all, there is already wonderful place for cbg people to meet, exchange ideas, buy and sell and promote their personal businesses, its cbn. i have just found another called homemade music clubhouse.some of you are already members i see. both of these sites have a uk section and provide all the facilitys to ferther cbg in the uk.
in my experience all organisations with a commity/board will become self serving, plagued by nepitisom,back slaping and corruption. from allotment ass. through sports clubs, hobbyists to local, national and international government.
the only people who would benifit from a uk registry are those with a commercial interest,ie,builders who sell thier products,performers,parts suppliers, promoters ect ect.
i am all in favour of supporting people in business, though we punters should not be asked to fund the start up/advancement of these personal business ventures