Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 10:42:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Anna Borg To: audities@smoe.org Subject: Re: IPO LA and SF recommendations Message-ID: <20040627174230.45019.qmail@web50905.mail.yahoo.com> Excellent! This is actually a big help because one glance at the 23 days of the fest (29 shows in all, including daytime ones,) is completely overwhelming. As much as I want to be a champion of all the unheard pop bands, it's impossible to attend every show when the festival runs for so long. "Impossible"? Not true. At the end of this year's IPO Chicago, I counted up the number of shows put on by the festival since David Bash first brought it to the Windy City three years ago. IIRC, there had been 65 shows over that three-year span ... and I had been to 59 of them, most of which I attended as a member of David's merch team. I'm not bragging or anything. I freely admit that there are some significantly favorable circumstances operating in my favor that allow me to essay the annual IPO marathon (circumstances that also allow me to be a fairly consistent clubgoer in general). I'm single and I don't have any kids. I have a cooperative work environment that gives me some schedule flexibility when I need it. IPO has, happily for me, never coincided with my postgraduate schooling. And I live in one of the IPO host cities, no more than 45 minutes at most via public transportation from any of the clubs where David books the shows. All I'm saying is that it's not impossible to make it to every IPO show if you're in a position to do so. Yes, it's pretty exhausting to make it to every show (nowhere near as exhausting as it is for the man in the hat who puts them on, of course!). But it's absolutely worth it in terms of getting exposed to new bands, not to mention seeing older favorites and having the chance to hang out with friends from all over the world who share my enthusiasm for power pop. Gregory Sager