Ouch! I see it's been almost 2 years since my last update ...

There's been some very slight retooling of Cringe.com in recent months. There are bigger changes in development and testing ... including some mobile/text messaging and instant messaging functionalities. Social networking through MySpace and Facebook and some interactive mapping through Google and/or Yahoo may come into play eventually too.

If you're interested in helping, testing, developing, writing, reviewing, stream DJ-ing, etc. ... or just have some suggestions or questions for Cringe, just drop me a message, email or comment.

Thought I'd pass this on ... OK, it's really an excuse to actually use Myspace and say Happy New Year! This Wednesday, January 4, 2006 Wexner Center for the Arts is holding a recruitment/orientation meeting for new ushers. The meeting is at 6pm in the Wexner Film/Video Theatre. These are volunteer positions, but you do get to see the shows you work for free. There are also commonly a few part-time paid positions (ticket takers, usher managers, program supervisors) available. Though this orientation meeting is not intended for paid positions, it couldn't hurt to attend it to learn a bit about the who, what, why, where, when and how. Email MWimmer@wexarts.org for further information. P.S. Yeah, I work there a few nights a month myself as part of the paid staff, so you might just see me there on occasion.

Potluck, Local TV Footage, Cringe CD Preview & Solo Show With the help of the Rackets, Cringe.com has put together a special FREE post-thanksgiving solo show for Sunday, November 27 at High Five. The festivities begin at 6pm with a Thanksgiving leftovers potluck and footage from various TV appearances of local venues and musicians. The audience is free to bring leftovers or non-leftovers for the potluck. Starting at 9:30pm we have 14 local musicians playing solo acoustic sets. We'll also be previewing tracks from the next Cringe.com/pilation CD throughout the night. All this is free - no cover charge.

Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 6pm-close at High Five 1227 N. High St. Columbus Ohio 43201 (614) 421-2998 http://www.highfivebar.com

Starting at 6pm a potluck with TV footage from:

• VH1's Bands on the Run in Columbus
• The Dave Attell Show in Columbus
• The Sun on Subterranean
• possibly others such as Judge Judy

From 9:30pm to close 14 local musicians playing solo acoustic sets:

• Brad Swiniarski (Vespin, Townsmen, The Means, Bob City)
• Dan Spurgeon (Greenhorn, Bush League All-Stars, Two Hour Trip)
• Davey Highben (United Snakes, My Uncle Wayne)
• David Holm (Townsmen, Bigfoot, Ugly Stick)
• Donovan Roth (Husher, Smashy Smashy, Grafton, Bob City, White Outs)
• Jacob Sundermeyer (Evil Queens, Killionaires, Our Flesh Party)
• Jay Brown (Pillowbiters, The (Or)Deal)
• Jon Schwartz (The Secret Admirers)
• Lara Yazvac (Tough & Lovely)
• Marcy Mays (Scrawl, Marcy/DC)
• Mark Spurgeon (Isle Of Pines, Greenhorn, Two Hour Trip)
• Nick Schuld (The Rackets, Pillowbiters, Gaunt, Beano)
• Thom Lessner (Sweatheart)
• Tony Norris (Greenlawn Abbey, Classical Ass, The Staggers)

We'll also be previewing tracks from the next Cringe.com/pilation CD throughout the night. ABOUT CRINGE & THE COMPILATION CD The Cringe.com/pilation CD series was started in 2001 to help expose bands and fans to each other. Volume 5 should be out by the end of 2005 featuring tracks from 30 Ot 6, The Bottoms, Branks, Cup Tent, DB3, The Diverters, Donnybrook Boys, Greenlawn Abbey, Kopaz, The Lab Rats, A Landscape Yesterday, Magpie, Mors Ontologica, No Soul Jones, Phantods, Pillowbiters, The Rackets, Red Dahlia, Tree Of Snakes, Vespin, and Mike Wojniak. Cringe.com is an online zine covering the OSU/Short North area music scene. The zine started in 1995 as a poll of Live Shows subscribers. Live Shows was established in 1990 as an online calendar of OSU/Short North area music and dance events. Both are available on the World-Wide Web at http://www.cringe.com/

CRINGE.COM APRIL BIRTHDAY SHOW Cringe.com is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a birthday party show every month through October 2005. Below is information on the April Birthday show:

Cringe.com April Birthday Show Friday, April 8, 2005 at Bernie's Distillery 1896 N. High St. Columbus Ohio 43201 (614) 291-3448 http://www.cringe.com/bs Featuring: Hogscraper - http://www.hogscraper.com Apocalypso - http://geocities.com/apoca_lypso Smashy Smashy Got an April Birthday? Get a FREE Cringe.com/pilation CD with paid $5 cover

ABOUT THE BANDS I remember the days when rock could be unpredictable, scary and fun all at the same time. One of the finest Ohio purveyors of this was Hogscraper. Back in the mid to late 1990s they packed local venues and shared the stage with the likes of The Hairy Patt Band and the Econothugs. After seven years of cursed bad luck, the satanic bluegrass outfit from Cincinnati is undead and back in Columbus. Made up of banjo, washtub bass, drums and sometimes guitar, their fables of devils, Peterbilts, toothpicks and road kill stand on their own as well written songs. But seeing the face-painted bassist stand above all atop his Voodoo stick washtub howling his incantations is one of those images that's hard to forget. It's easy to suspend reality and forget it's all in the name of putting on a complete and memorable show. The band even spoke of bringing a couple pigs heads on stakes for each side of the stage for this show. To be quite honest I'm still not sure if they were serious or not. Apocalypso is a steel drum led band that's known for its unique and undeniably fun covers of Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, the Dead Kennedys and scary movie themes - all with the steel drum carrying the melody. They went over so well at the February birthday show that bringing them back with the similarly unique and apocalyptic Hogscraper was an obvious choice. Smashy Smashy is a fairly new band but includes some veterans of the local rock and punk scene (i.e. members of Bob City, The Staggers, Grafton, and The White Outs). The result is some serious and silly gutter punk meets hardcore. We may have one other special act from the mid-90s as an added bonus. For more information, updates and photos, visit http://www.cringe.com/pilation. CRINGE COMPILATION CD DEADLINE Submissions for the fifth Cringe.com/pilation CD are due APRIL 30, 2005. All musical artists who call Central Ohio home and/or perform in the area regularly are eligible. More information and application forms can be found at http://www.cringe.com/pilation. The Cringe.com/pilation CD series was started in 2001 to help expose bands and fans to each other. Cringe.com is an online zine covering the OSU/Short North area music scene. The zine started in 1995 as a poll of Live Shows subscribers. Live Shows was established in 1990 as an online calendar of OSU/Short North area music and dance events. Both are available on the World-Wide Web at http://www.cringe.com/.

CRINGE.COM MARCH BIRTHDAY SHOW Cringe.com is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a birthday party show every month through October 2005. Below is information on the March Birthday show:

Friday, March 11 at Skully's Red Dahlia EP Release Party & Cringe March B-Day Show: Red Dahlia The Lab Rats 333 Adam Evil & the Outside Royalty $100 prize message on one lucky EP FREE Cringe.com/pilation CD for March B-Days

Red Dahlia is celebrating its EP release at Skully's this Friday, March 11 with help from the Lemon House Collective. The EP also contains a track by each of the bands on the bill (333, The Lab Rats, and Adam Evil & the Outside Royalty). After the show make sure you pay attention when listening to the EP. One lone copy contains a special hidden message that will win the owner $100! As the March Cringe B-Day show, anyone with a birthday in March gets the Cringe.com/pilation CD of their choice free with paid cover to this show. For more information:

http://www.thelhc.com http://www.cringe.com http://www.cringe.com/pilation

Submission forms for Cringe.com/pilation v5.0 are now available. The DEADLINE is APRIL 30, 2005. For more info and to download the submission forms: http://www.cringe.com/pilation

Cringe is not a band, but an online resource focusing on local music in the Columbus, Ohio area. Cringe was founded in 1995 by Joel Treadway. I'm hoping this will help me keep up with shows, news and such over on Cringe in two ways:

1. Just enter your shows as Band Shows in the MySpace Events system. I'll check Columbus Band Shows when updating the Cringe Live Shows calendar.
2. If you are in any way involved with local music or just attend shows frequently in the OSU through downtown areas of Columbus, Ohio, feel free to add me as a friend. I will regularly check my Bulletins when updating the Cringe Live Shows calendar and Lowdown news.

Oh, I started a personal MySpace account before this one. I probably won't use it much, but it's under the email address joel@cringe.com ... or just click here. Visit http://www.cringe.com for more details.