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Valley players have two good friends on the Net by Werewolves of Woodstock / Haven James
Tuned-In To Hudson Valley Music, which can be found at
http://www.HVmusic.com, is a new Internet venture created by
Steve Stiert and Steve Wehr, both professional programmers by day
and out-of-the-closet music fanatics by night. Sharing a fairly
simple goal, Stiert says that the two "set out to directly target
the Hudson Valley and to showcase all the musicians and services in
the valley." They launched their site in November and have worked
most of the bugs out, as they've continued to add features and
attractions including listings of events, venues, and spotlight
presentations.
Stiert sings in a club band called
Lost Dog Woody; he'd been thinking
it would be nice for his band to have some kind of outlet on the web,
so that people could give his music a listen. After researching the
available resources, he decided to team up with his co-worker, Wehr,
to build a place that would suit the needs of his own band and many
others confronting the same scenario. "I'm fairly new to music and
just discovering my own interest and abilities," he says, "and in
doing so, I've really developed a great deal of appreciation for
people who are really good at this, and have seen just how much
talent there is in this area. With that spirit, we set off trying to
find a way to let people show it off a little bit, in particular
trying to target groups that don't get a lot of exposure, lesser
known names."
Though Steve and Steve are not intent on discouraging any nationally
known artists from participating, they "really want to focus on local
and ... community musicians," says Stiert, "and not just rock,
either." Noting that a number of rock sites are already out there,
the Steves intend to include everything from barbershop quartets,
choirs, classical, opera, folk, rock, you name it.
Financing is pretty easy, too. "Most of the things we offer are
free," says Stiert. "We're trying to create a site that isn't really
commercially motivated, so there's a lot of things we offer for free.
If they've got a band or a service or they're a solo artist or
whatever, they can list their name and how people can contact them;
if they've already got their own page, we'll put up a pointer to
their page."
So far, Tuned In has got an events page that lists upcoming
performances and links to a national music calendar service, so that
anything posted locally also gets picked up for nationwide notice.
Artists can submit their performances by phone, email or letter, and
the listings are free.
The site also features albums by local talent and hosts a monthly
giveaway promotion providing band bios and such, plus "real
audio/sound bites of the music" for people to hear through their
home computers. This month features the new album of a Werewolves
favorite, Bar Scott, Confession, plus Ash Can Flash's
Nothing's As Real. Last month Woodstock's own
Older Than Dirt was the prize, and Stiert notes that the
response to the giveaway program has been so great, they'll
probably bump it up to four albums a month in the near future.
To participate, all a band needs do is provide two CDs, one to give
away and one for audio processing for the site, plus whatever
pertinent information they'd like listed. If the band is already on
the web, they'll be linked to the page, but if they're cyber virgins,
the Steves will build them a page for an embarrassingly low cost.
The only charges involved at all to most participants are to defray
the charges for storage of the sound files on the server, and
relatively speaking, that ain't much.
"We really want to become a focal point, so we're going to try as
much as we can to share events with others around the web," says
Stiert. "We also want to develop interactive areas where people can
dialogue a little bit, just get musicians talking, and we're always
looking for news about events that go on." Neither Steve is a
journalist or writer per se, so they're depending on public
participation to make this work. It's a site for the Hudson Valley,
by the Hudson Valley ... you get the idea.
If you already have Internet access, tune into the site for all the
valley news. They have section headings on Bands, Artists, DJs,
Services, HV Albums, Events, Classifieds, Articles and CD Giveaways,
and post other music links of interest. You can e-mail them from the
Tuned-In site or directly at
Steve@HVmusic.com or contact them by
phone at 339-1364 (Stiert) or 246-9643 (Wehr). This is a new venture
and the Steves are open to suggestions and participation on most any
level, so don't be shy.
Originally printed in the Woodstock Times Thursday, January 29, 1998. |
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New web site promotes Hudson Valley musicians by Philip H. Farber
What: Tuned-In to Hudson Valley Music web site FOR freelance writers and computer geeks like myself, the Internet has become the preferred outlet for creativity. Text is cheap on the 'net, and graphics are easy to deal with as well. Now, with the increasing popularity of "streaming" technologies like RealAudio, the opportunities for aspiring musicians are likewise expanding. The sign of the changing times in our area is the new Tuned-In to Hudson Valley Music web site, www.HVmusic.com, which offers area bands a place to promote their sounds before the international audience of the Internet. The brain child of Steve Wehr and Steve Stiert, music fans and technophiles from the Saugerties area, Tuned-In offers resources for bands, DJs, and audiences. By surfing your way to their home page, you can find information listing for Hudson Valley bands, reviews, events calendars, articles, CD giveaways, band pictures and stories, classified ads, free talent listings, and, best of all, sound clips that will play through your computer's speakers with very short download times. The Steves are to be congratulated on their techno-informative efforts. It's a great site, with a clean, colorful design, and plenty of unique information and resources. It's just in its formative phase now, and it's a great opportunity for musicians, writers, and web enthusiasts to get involved. The site encourages all kinds of musicians to participate, not just rockn'rollers (though they are amply represented). "Most web pages on the 'net today are about rock bands," Steve Stiert says. "I want to see more focus on classical performers, high school marching bands, barbershop quartets, and certainly there's room on the web for more polka bands!" Fire up your modem and surf over to Tuned-In. It's free to visit, free to list band information, and deserving of support. Give them your music reviews, photos, band stories, and anything else related to Hudson Valley music you've got on your hard drive (I'Il be giving them some items culled from my own computer archives). Let's put the Hudson Valley on the Info-highway map!
Originally printed in the Kingston Daily Freeman Friday, December 11, 1997. |
