Lost in the shuffle
All around the country, newspapers (and TV stations) are pumping up their local coverage. Local, local, local, ya know.
Well, a lot of times, lesser known nationally touring bands get lost in the shuffle. I mean, unless they're superhugepopular bands like U2 or the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus or (you get the picture) ...
And local bands are getting plenty of play these days -- be it here on Midnight Sun or shows like Baltimore Unsigned or (you get the picture).
So when I get a press release for Party of Helicopters from Ohio coming to Baltimore, I'm probably not going to have anywhere to put a feature or Q&A on them, unless they're supersuperawesomeawesome. Maybe a blurb.
It's a shame for the nationally touring acts, but a boon for Baltimore bands. Shame we can't have both, though. But I'd rather pump Baltimore than Ohio. No offense, Ohio, but we are The Baltimore Sun.
(Fantastic photo by Patrick Smith/Sun photographer)
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
What's the story?
According to Amazon 3 out their five albums are out of print and there's nothing newer than 2003.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=music&field-artist=Party%20of%20Helicopters
Last FM has them breaking up in October 2004 and what bands they joined/formed.
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Party+of+Helicopters
c/net does have free downloads listed from one their out of print albums:
http://music.download.com/thepartyofhelicopters/3600-8716_32-100068147.html
Their current existence seems to be a marriage of economic convenience.
I hope their live performance proves me wrong.
Posted by: GDA | August 18, 2008 4:24 PM