Amy Goodman is coming to Johnson City! The host of Democracy Now!,

will give a lecture at ETSU's D.P. Culp Center Auditorium on Tuesday,

April 7, at 7 pm. Tickets for the lecture are $10. Tickets for the

after-lecture reception in the D.P. Culp Center's East Tennessee Room

are $25. Remarkably, Amy is doing this as a fundraiser for WETS-FM and

all funds raised will go to the station. Tickets are available at the

WETS-FM studios on the ETSU campus, and at the auditorium box office

on the night of the lecture. Doors will open at 6 pm. For more

information visit the DNTC website (see below) or contact WETS-FM

(www.wets.org).

If you are a Democrat thinking about voting in the Republican Primary for Republican Phil Roe – most likely based on your dislike for Congressman Davis -- here are three reasons why you should vote in the Democratic Primary for Rob Russell.

3. Roe is not a moderate. On all of the important issues – energy, the economy, immigration, and especially healthcare – Roe has taken the most conservative position possible, often even more conservative than Davis. Many criticize Davis for being a "healthcare insider" and doing the bidding of drug companies, but do we really expect a wealthy doctor who has made a personal fortune off the healthcare status quo to reform our healthcare system in the best interests of poor, uninsured and under-insured, hard-working Americans?

2. The bitter Davis vs. Roe fight helps Democrats. The division in the East Tennessee Republican party has been so bitter, and the mud-slinging so intense, that many of Roe's Republican supporters would probably consider supporting a moderate Democrat. If this bitter Republican primary is teaching us anything, it's that a large portion of East Tennesseans want to do away with politics-as-usual. The big money Republicans in the area already know this – they have even started calling for "party unity" at their rallies – so let's not let this opportunity slip away.

1. If you are a Democrat and really want what's best for East Tennessee, you will vote in the Democratic Primary for the best Democratic candidate. This is a season of hope and change in America, and not the time to be politically cynical. I want to provide a real voice in Washington for the hard-working men and women of East Tennessee. I'm not a wealthy businessman or a career politician. Who I am is one of you, and I would appreciate your vote tomorrow.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Rob Russell, Democrat for Congress
http://www.robrussellforcongress.com/

(The detour does not endorse this candidate. The detour reposts e-mails from candidates to help voters figure out which candidate is the best choice for them. If you would like your commentary posted, please e-mail vertical@thedetour.us -- keep it less than 1,000 words.)

WE ARE GIVING AWAY TICKETS TO:

Friday, July 25 @ 7:30pm: The Wailers (w/ Third World) [2 sets of 2 tickets]

Saturday, July 26 @ 7pm: Travis Tritt (w/ Steve Azar) [2 sets of 2 tickets]

The drawing for all 4 pairs of tickets will be held on Thursday, July 24 @ around 11am.

For your chance to be entered into the drawing, just go to...

http://contest.thedetour.us

...and enter your information!

Along with these main acts, there is plenty of music going on! Click here for a complete music lineup of the festival.

---

Belle Chere Festival Details

Bele Chere is turning 30! The South's ultimate entertainment, arts and food festival celebrates its big 3-0 July 25-27, 2008 in downtown Asheville, NC. Internationally known as a cultural hub, Asheville is one of the East Coast's most vibrant cities recently named "Best Southern Town" by Outside Magazine. Drawing more than 300,000 visitors, Bele Chere offers the unique opportunity to see, taste and hear some of the region's finest art, cuisine and music. The best part of the event, it's FREE!

With more than 75 hours of live entertainment, festival-goers will be treated to every genre of music from homegrown bluegrass to sultry jazz, rocking blues to folksy singer-songwriters. Western North Carolina is a hotbed for musical talent, so visitors can be sure they'll see lots of local musicians and bands in the festival's lineup.

The festival's gated event features reggae legends The Wailers with opener Third World on Friday, July 25. Country music fans will be treated to superstar Travis Tritt on Saturday, July 26. Steve Azar opens. The gated event was moved to Memorial Stadium just east of downtown due to construction. The stadium is three short blocks from downtown and shuttles will be available to guests. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster or the Asheville Civic Center.

Now are able to enter for a chance to win VIP tickets to the Blue Plum Festival held in downtown Johnson City, TN (Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7, 2008). The pass allows you and a friend to sit in the VIP section, which is a cordoned off area at the front of the main music stage. Some of the headliners include Doc Watson and the Subdudes. How can you get entered into the drawing? Listen to both detour MUSIC and detour TALK for chances to win throughout the day! The first drawing for tickets will be held Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 3:30pm, so be sure to enter!

The Blue Plum Festival features several stages of different music, arts, and food. Beer is also permitted on the streets during the festival. The festival is held Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7, 2008 from 11am until 11pm each day.

I am looking for DJ’s that spin spanish/latin music for a special broadcast coming up soon. If you have this kind of music and would like to participate, please e-mail vertical@thedetour.us or call 423-741-6969.

-vertical

On Wednesday, I submitted a post to GoTriCities.com Buzz forum (http://www.gotricities.com/thebuzz) instructing bands on how they could submit music to the detour. A few hours later when I tried to log back in, my account had been deleted.

Why would GoTriCities.com not want local artists and bands to be able to submit music to the detour?

Quote from David Cate, director of the Buzz’s forum
________________
Hello Aaron,

Sorry about that.

We don’t promote competitive media sources on our forum.

Our company has its own business model that includes the promotion of local music and also includes a future Internet radio strategy.

We made a decision a long time ago to publish comments from local bands, musicians and venues that support them. We state that in our terms of conditions.

We would be available to discuss joint promotions as shared ventures, but we simply have a company policy about promoting competitive media who seek to build audience, advertisers or content using our forums.

David Cate
New Media Director
________________

So GoTriCities.com is trying to make themselves the monopoly when it comes to the local music scene? I think that by refusing to allow this kind of information up, they are depriving bands/artists the opportunity to get their music out to more people.

What’s also funny is that the detour has already been advertised all over GoTriCities.com...so they have been in violation of their own TOS for months now. At the bottom of every column written by Jim McGennis (host of Family Entertainment here on the detour), there is a note that reads...

Quote from Jim’s article on GoTriCities.com (at the bottom of EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE):
________________
Jim McGuinness hosts the "Family Entertainment" radio show, which can be heard from 8 to 11 p.m., Sundays on Internet station The Detour (www.thedetour.us)
________________

So this really doesn’t make any sense to me. I am not allowed to give instructions to bands/artists on how to submit music to the detour, but are allowed to advertise the web site to the station on several other pages around the site? Weird..

Isn’t it lovely to see the censorship alive and well in the Tri-Cities media. I thought that the Buzz was created to help bands/artists promote their music & events to the world...no matter what means, but instead it appears they are just trying to build a profitable monopoly around the local music market.

Why do I care so much? Because the Buzz seems to be the main hang out for Tri-Cities band members/venues/etc on the internet, and it is disappointing to see that GoTriCities.com deprives bands of other oppurtunites to get their music out there..especailly to a non-commercial radio station that has no competition intentions.

-vertical
the detour director

TECHNO/ELECTRONICA/DANCE NIGHT

@ The Acoustic Coffeehouse’s NEXT DOOR

SUNDAY, MARCH 30 @ 10pm

Featuring…

DJ Nesto

ECHOTOMB

http://www.limitedwave.com/redweb/

Mark Mahoney

http://www.akaipro.com/content2343

DJ EK-TOR

http://myspace.com/ek_tor

TaaDow

http://www.myspace.com/doctaadow  

 

COME ON DOWN TO 415 W. WALNUT ST. (Johnson City) OR TUNE IN ONLINE AT www.thedetour.us

What do American soldiers really do when they’re sent to fight in Iraq? Find out March 14th to 16th when hundreds of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans step forward to tell tehir stories at the Winter  Soldier gathering in Washington DC. Stories of torture, mass arrests, and massacres of civilians - American soldiers know these are not isolated incidents, but an integral part of the war plan. Join us for this historic special broadcast. Winter Soldier will air on detour TALK from 9am till 7pm eastern Friday and Saturday, and 10am till 4pm eastern on Sunday.

Visit http://talk.thedetour.us to listen to this exciting event!

State of Franklin Radio Network

Tune in Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm eastern for the State of Franklin Radio Network, live from the Acoustic Coffeehouse in Johnson City, TN. State of Franklin Radio brings you live music and original programming from the Tri-Cities region.

Tuesday: Original's Night
Wednesday - Saturday: Live, Uncut Music (most of the time), Specials. and original music

We now have a studio setup at the Acoustic Coffeehouse, and invite locals from the Tri-Cities area to come out and do a show! If you are interested in doing your own show, please click here to contact us for more information.

Pacifica Network Affilation
We are now an affiliate of the Pacifica Radio Network which provides us with alternative news programs (such as Democracy Now and Counterspin). We continue to introduce new programs as we discover them, so keep watching our schedule to keep up with the new programs we have added.

We now have a new show called Acoustic Sounds. Acoustic Sounds is a live broadcast from the Acoustic Coffeehouse in Johnson City, TN every Friday and Saturday night. Acoustic Sounds will be bringing listeners an oppurtunity to listen to live, local music in high quality sound. The show starts between 8 and 10pm (depending on when the band starts to play).

Also, Acoustic Sounds has been broadcasting randomly Monday through Thursday nights, so be sure to tune in and see if the program is on (live preformances take priority over regularly scheduled programming).

*(Times subject to random change and shows subject to cancellation.)