Greetings Earthlings,

I wanted to take a minute and go over a few things about the MFU on May 3rd, how bands can get involved in playing an MFU, and just some general insanity that I dispense when typing/talking/getting on in life that makes the process tolerable.  It's my party; I'll cry if I want to. (... see what I mean?)

May 3rd is going to be sweet.  We're confident that we have a decent line up and we've been really trying to think about how to change the layout of the whole MFU event.  We'll be tinkering with the way the stages are set up so that we can do both stages with less PA gear.  All the bands will have a dedicated load in/out area in front of the Patrick Street entrance to the Cultural Arts Center.  The big thing for the audience will be hanging out outside of the building; here's a bit on that.

When you want to go outside because you want to talk to friends or duck a band you may not be into, it's important that you don't hang out in front of the building or in the parking area next door.  Not being in front of the building is important in case there's a fire or some other catastrophic event (think Krasner in a thong) that will make people want to get out of the building in a hurry.  I know it sounds improbable, but the Fire Marshall's Office here in Frederick has been trying to get things to be safer for these kinds of events.  While most people groan about it, the fact is that a safe event is the vital if we hope to have lots of shows in the area.

They're trying to keep this kind of thing from happening: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e97_1175350379 <--- notice that it takes 2-3 minutes for serious injury/death to happen if the proverbial poop hits the fan.  ...so don't hang out in front of the doors.

Past that, the people next door to the Cultural Arts Center get grumpy if you park in the area beside their building and cause us absurd amounts of drama.  They get the same way if you hang out on the bench; so you can't be there either.

So where can you be?  The courthouse is right up from the Cultural Arts Center.  They have lots of benches and an open area that's good for hanging out (it's built for that).  Just be careful if you're smoking; there's a ban on smoking throughout downtown that doesn't seem to be getting enforced consistently... Big Brother is watching, listening to your conversations, planning your future... *spooky music*

So what can you do without eliciting the wrath of old people everywhere?  Come into the MFU event and have a good time without being a jerk to anyone else there.  Do this and I'm fairly confident that things will be ok.

Recently, some bands have been wondering how to play an MFU event.  That's a fair thing to wonder... so I'll take a moment and just go over what we're looking for with bands.

1) It really helps if you actually come to the events.  If you're in a band and come to the events, then introduce yourself to some of us.  You don't have to pretend to be our long lost lovers or something; just be nice and say hi and tell us what band you're in.  Any conversation past that is optional, but appreciated.

2) While we're doing our best to read the thoughts and minds of others, most of us aren't doing very well in our Jedi/Sith studies.  If you want to play an MFU, it helps to actually tell us that you're interested.  The bands that play MFU have told us this on multiple occassions.  Some of the members of those bands do a lot of work helping MFU.  Being involved with MFU helps - volunteer to help out with something and we'll be very into getting you on at a show.  It makes it more of a cooperative and less a corporate situation - we're all fans of that!

3) If you're in a band that's playing in Frederick 5 times in the two weeks leading up to MFU, then we're not going to book you.  You're overexposed.  If you're always playing in our area, then people will be lukewarm about coming to see you.  We want the bands that play our events to draw an audience. 

4) If your band doesn't draw people yet, that's ok.  If we can help you out, we'd love to do it.  Just don't tell us how 800 people would come to see your band if we booked you when we know you've played one show in a garage.  Honesty means a great deal to us.  We're not some big group after all... just a few local musicians and music lovers that want to do what we can to give local talent some space to do its thang.  If your a small band with little or no following, just cop to it.  You'll stand out in a good way.

5) Lastly, if you make a habit of being crappy to MFU (acting like an ass onstage after we've booked you, endless complaining about how we didn't book your band, cancelling at the last minute and telling your friends that they can play in your place and not telling us, expecting us to let 20 of your friends in for free, etc.), then we're probably not going to be real into booking you or whatever band your in next time we have a chance.  Tons of bands are forming every day and many of them have members that are really cool people.  Things go wrong from time to time and we get that; if you can't make it, tell us immediately and let us handle it (it's our show, after all).  There are bands that we overlook and kick ourselves afterwards for not having - be cool about it and ask us about the next one.  The general idea is this: acting like a penis wrinkle will not be appreciated.  We won't be impressed or think you're uber punk rock; we'll roll our eyes and turn our attention to someone that we're psyched to work with.

That's about it; sorry it's long winded.  All of us are really looking forward to the show and we're hoping to be a more regular thing now that we're getting our stuff together and aren't swamped with other projects (or, less swamped).  Thanks for reading.  Thanks for supporting local music.  Thanks for coming to the old shows and coming to the future ones.  Thanks. :)

Kraz, Megan, Ryan, Brian, Soren, Don, Matt