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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 ChickenboneJohn on February 14, 2011 at 1:48am

I'm also very excited by all this, but that could be something to do with feeling frazzled and worn out by how much work this has been to get set up! It's amazing that each little job you have to do seems to generate another three tasks...even something that should be simple like creating a PayPal account for the organisation is just that bit harder than normal because it's not for an ordinary commercial business or private individual. Every step seems to take at least 10 emails and 6 phone calls ..and even good old-fashioned letters in the post!

Anyhow, we reckon it's all wound-up tight and almost ready to set running very soon. At the same time, some of you may be wondering about this year's UK Cigar Box Guitar Festival...well, I've been beavering away in the background and things are shaping up. There are still a few things to tie-up before I can actually launch this too...so you will have to wait, but not long. Pretty well all the main points are sorted, and I'm pretty excited about what we have for you good people this year.

So, all in all, there's lots to look forward to...watch this space!

Permalink Reply by Soulcatcher & His DooFa Diddley on February 20, 2011 at 12:39pm

oh boy oh boy oh boy this so cool !!!

Permalink Reply by MrRandomWritings (Backwater Bri) on February 21, 2011 at 5:14am

Going to put a poster up in our Music Shop where my guitars are on display - is it too premature to mention the collective on it?

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on February 21, 2011 at 7:54am

Might be that we 'do' a proper Home Grown poster Bri - Il look into it.

There definately WILL be a Uk Fest / Home grown poster coming very soon though - in fact, Im confident it will be revealed on launch day.... :o)

Permalink Reply by MrRandomWritings (Backwater Bri) on February 21, 2011 at 8:16am

Cool on both counts - maybe I will put something on it in small print for when I am a fully paid up member!

Roosterman said:

Might be that we 'do' a proper Home Grown poster Bri - Il look into it.

There definately WILL be a Uk Fest / Home grown poster coming very soon though - in fact, Im confident it will be revealed on launch day.... :o)

Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on February 24, 2011 at 8:03am

Good idea, yes count me in for a fiver!

(-:

Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on February 24, 2011 at 9:14am

that sounds right up my street! ...all i need to do now is build a CBG, learn some songs and i'd be more than willing to give it a go...long as i'm not on anybody else's patch... (-;

Ryan Gallagher said:

I think it is a fantastic idea and something that is really needed to help the scene grow out of a niche. Busking in downtown London or in Notting Hill at the Portobello markets would also be great fund raisers. T shirts and such like might also work well to get the message out.

Talk to you soon,
Ryan.

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on March 3, 2011 at 2:19pm

Sorry to say the Collective launch has been delayed a couple of weeks - we really thought we'd be up and running this week, but alas, its wasnt to be.

Nothing major, just some techinical issues - but enough to slow things down, create extra work and generally cause havoc.

Stay with us - Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible :o)

Permalink Reply by Carl Robson on March 5, 2011 at 8:16am

£5-10 sounds good to me. I'm still not working but could afford that, and as i benefited from the accomadation/ticket deal last year, it would be my way of giving something back to help someone else get to enjoy it.

Permalink Reply by Roosterman on March 8, 2011 at 8:46am

Guys, we have made it!

Official Home Grown Muisc Collective launch date is Friday 18th March, and we'll also reveal the dates and line up for 'Boxstock', this years UK cigar Box Festival :o)

Iv started a new discussion here http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/thebritsarecoming/forum/topics/... to make us easier to find, so if yiou could post any future thoughts over there, thatd be grand

Thanks for sticking by us guys n gals - you da best!