STEWART COPELAND

There was a screening of Everyone Stares in NY on Friday with Q&A with Stewart and I missed it!!!!!!

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story. ... e=8/3/2006

I'm surprised, too, Kim. There were no google alerts or anything that I know of until the one I got today. Maybe Stewart will do a meet and greet at the Modern Drummer fest next month to promote the DVD.

Oh!

I see, sometimes Stewart is a silence man...

Shoot, Kim, sorry to hear about that

I wouldn't have been able to make it anyway, but still...I wish we'd known about it beforehand.

I mean, this isn't a criticism, but I do think someone from Stew's PR firm really ought to keep us posted when The Man is going to make an appearance somewhere, since we're his loyal fan base and can be relied upon to show up, help spread the word, wear various SC or Police memorabilia, etc. Giovanni does a great job of reporting the Italy stuff; it'd be nice if he had a U.S. counterpart to let us know what's going on. But maybe we're just spoiled, since Gio's so good. ;)

I'd be beside myself if I'd heard he did some gig here in town and I'd missed it somehow (although the odds of his turning up in Mid TN for the second time this year are most likely exceedingly slim...)

I'm willing to take it a step further AND name it as a criticism, though not one directed at all at Stewart or any of the team running sc.net (Gio, Eugenio, etc), who I totally appreciate for all of their awesome work here. Sadly though, it's pretty common that fan/web sites -- even official ones -- are not valued for the publicity tool they really COULD be, if fully utilized by agents and PR firms to promote their artists. Especially when there are so many of us fans around to help spread the word for free!

I mean, as a similar example, I run an official website for an actor. Not once have I ever received any materials for the site or contact directly from his agent or PR people--nor from the TV network where he's had a regular role on a popular show for over 5 years. Whatever news I get either comes directly from him (when he has the time to pass it along), or I have to pull it myself from google alerts--with few exceptions, such as when he's been on another network's show where they were MORE than happy to send me photos, press releases, etc, without even asking.

It just seems like a missed opportunity, there as well as here, when "the powers that be" don't realize the opportunities for promotion even just by keeping the fans up-to-date on these kinds of events.

And I didn't really mean to rant on here at length, but I just know how frustrating it is to miss something simply by not hearing about it like this...I would never want sc.net to turn into the kind of corporate, faceless promotion machine that sting.com is...but it would be nice to know I could come here and know I wasn't missing out on anything good!

A good example I can think of is the website for an Australian artist I worship named Paul Kelly, www.paulkelly.com.au.

Now, I know most of you have not ever heard of Paul Kelly, which is a crying shame; he's often compared to Bob Dylan (though I'd compare him more to Townes Van Zandt or Steve Earle) and has won several ARIA Awards [the Australian Grammy.] He tours often in the U.S. and was just here with the Aussie band the Waifs....anyway.

His website is run by a dedicated volunteer, Eva Blanda, who also administers an official listserv that gets the news out to the fans quickly. Seems like she picks up a lot of info from Paul's record label, Mushroom, based in Sydney.

Another example might be Henry Rollins; although the man is well-known for his verbosity (he writes journal entries for his website www.henryrollins.com everysingleday) his production company also does a good job sending out emails, updating the News section, and whatnot.

I hesitate to even mention any of this, because I think Gio is AWESOME and works his little fingers to the bone updating this place, but as you mention, the PR and record companies and agents might be able to do a little better job hooking him up (and us, consequently) with timely info.

Just a little constructive criticism, and let me know if I can help (I administer three or four Yahoogroups and would be glad to set one up. Unfortunately I'm a doofus who can't run FORTRAN, or I'd offer to set up a Unix-based email list...though I might have some hookup with nerds for hire who'd do it for us.)

I'm sorry I get no news about all the screenings....I would add them up as soon as I get them, but I can understand who is in charge of planning them sometimes forget to tell it to the official website....
Giovanni

I'm not complaining about you Gio, or even about Derek. Someone in his office who is in charge of PR or his schedule really should drop you an e-mail to post, or join the forum and post it themselves whenever the master makes a public appearance. It's a simple thing really, that would make lots of us happy. Or at least avoid tears. Sniff.

i have to support that idea wholeheartedly as well, kim. i shudder to think anyone else would have to go thru what i did trying... and failing... to get info in time about the rhythmatist tour, especially now that we have the internet and a central meeting place for all us stewheads!

it could only help attendance at the events stew takes part in. although he is getting a lot of attention right now for Everyone Stares, he is usually criminally under-represented in the mass media and this could easily become [i]the[/i] place to go for info on his upcoming appearances.

again, not faulting gio, who does an excellent job with the site in spite of constant hacker attacks and whatnot. he can only work with info he actually has!