Catching Up With Alex Brubaker

You may remember Alex Brubaker from previous posts. He plays percussive fingerstyle guitar, runs the monthly First Fridays that Messiah started up this year, and has done quite a few guest blogs reviewing various shows.

He is still playing shows, even doing some weddings now, and liked blogging so much he decided to start his own - http://alexbrubakerguitar.blogspot.com - where you will find information about his own musical efforts and his consumption of others' musical efforts, like his review of the most recent b-sides, featuring Cloud Nothings and Oberhofer.

Explanation of Situation

Here's the deal: I've been busy.

I realize that not posting from November to February essentially kills a blog if the author isn't otherwise famous (which I'm not). I got caught up in finals and end-of-semester stuff at Temple and preparations for a trip to California and then a semester in Oxford (where I am now).

I have now posted all my show reviews from November, and will hopefully be posting more often since I have little to no scheduled obligations while I'm here. As a sidenote, show schedules will be on hiatus until I return to the US of A, because I honestly don't want to know what I'm missing out on. Here's a list of the websites I check if you'd like to keep up with that yourself:

R5 Productions, The Troc, Electric Factory, TLA, Khyber, Champion Ship, B-sides, SAB, Chameleon, Croc Rock, SBC, Merriweather, Ram's Head, Sonar, Ottobar, 9:30 Club, Hangar 84

I'll be going to some shows in England, as well as passing on friends' reviews of shows elsewhere. When I get back (in April), I'll be kicking into high gear with a new promotions company, initially focusing on my friend Marc Seeley, aka Letters from the Prom (who you might remember from here). In the meantime, let me know of any shows, venues, artists, etc. you think I should cover, and check out this video from blogger favorites The Soft Pack (formerly known as The Muslims):

Summer Info

For my readers' information, I have a summer job as the assistant pool manager at Sandy Cove in North East, MD. This substantially affects

• the amount of time I have to devote to this blog
• the amount of shows I can go to
• the location of shows that I go to and that I'm interested in
• and my access to the internet (ordinarily I have it in my room, but right now it's down and I'm in the "business center")

I'll still be going to shows and reviewing them and posting other stuff as I'm able, but it may be a little erratic. For future reference, I'll be in Philly for the fall semester and hopefully at Oxford (yes, in England) for the spring but I'll try to keep up and increase guest blogger (contributor?) involvement so you are all provided with content (fairly) regularly.

Showbread Tour Cancellation

Showbread just cancelled their upcoming tour due to a death in the family of drummer Ricky Holbrook. Read their blog about it here. (via Indie Vision Music) I've updated the March Madness upcoming shows schedule to reflect that, as well as adding dates for Idina Menzel at the Keswick Theater and N.A.S.A. at the Barbary.