Mem. Music Fdtn + Resource Center closed until noon. Call before coming by to make sure we are open this afternoon. 901.527.1027

The Memphis Music Foundation and Music Resource Center are closed today. Please stay safe and warm out there!

Volunteers are needed for the 2010 Plug In Memphis Indie Music Expo. If you are available to help, or would like more information on volunteering, please contact Plug In coordinator Pat Mitchell Worley at pat@memphismeansmusic.com.  

Need more info on Plug In? Check out this week’s Memphis Flyer article on Plug In by clicking here.

VOLUNTEER DESCRIPTIONS

Check In 
Shifts:   A  5:00-7:00pm  
                B  7:00-9:00pm
2 people needed per shift (4 total)
Work at the event check in table to register  vendors, industry experts and, attendees. Duties will include providing name tags for guests and getting contact info from attendees. Have vendors fill out needs cards. Skills Needed: eagerness to work with the public, ability to communicate with diverse groups of people.

Ambassadors
Shifts: A  3:00-5:30pm
              B  5:30-8:00pm
              C  7:30-9:30pm
4 per shifts (12 total)
Assist  vendors with set up and general needs during the expo. Speak with attendees to help them find appropriate vendors based on needs card. Skills Needed: good organizational  and leadership skills, ability to communicate with diverse groups.  

Experts Lounge
Shifts:  A  5:00-7:00 pm
              B  7:00-9:00pm
2 people needed per shift (4 total)
Guide attendees to appropriate expert based on appointment. After appointment lead attendee to Plug In Expo Ambassador for continued networking. Coordinate appointments with overall Expo schedule. Skills Needed: good organizational  and leadership skills, ability to communicate with diverse groups.

Showcase Coordinators
Shifts:  5:00-8:00pm
2 people (2 total)
Help artists coordinate stage appearance. Act as artists assistant for performance. Keep stage schedule, move equipment, etc.

Connection

The Plug In Memphis music expo brings artists and the music industry together.

by J.D. Reager  (Printed in the January 20, 2010 issue of the Memphis Flyer)

As the Memphis Music Foundation enters its third year of operations, the not-for-profit organization has slated perhaps its most ambitious programming schedule to date for 2010. That program kicks off Tuesday, January 26th, at Minglewood Hall with the second installment of the foundation’s annual Plug In Memphis: Indie Music Expo.

Plug In Memphis is a free event designed to help connect local musicians to the many music-industry service providers available in the area. It’s an extension of the foundation’s public workspace, the Memphis Music Resource Center. Plug In Memphis is built around three key components: an exhibit hall with 30 to 40 booths representing all types of industry-related businesses, an “Expert’s Lounge” that gives musicians a one-on-one opportunity for networking and career guidance with established industry professionals, and a showcase for emerging independent artists.

Click here to read the entire Memphis Flyer article.

Jay Reatard’s Memorial

January 16, 2010 | 5pm

Memorial Park Funeral Home

5668 Poplar Ave. | Memphis, TN

Rest In Peace, Jay.

(from MTV.com)

Jay Reatard (real name Jeremy Lee Lindsey Jr.) may not have sold very many records in his all-too-brief career, but he picked up plenty of high-profile and extremely talented admirers and collaborators. Many of those musicians took to the Web to pay tribute to Reatard, who was found dead early Wednesday at the age of 29.

The Pixies, who brought Reatard along as the opening act on several dates of their recent Doolittle tour, paid tribute to the late Memphis rocker via their Facebookpage. “We want to express our condolences to the friends and family of Jay Reatard, on his sudden passing today,” the band wrote.

Beck also tipped his hat to Reatard via his Web site. The singer posted Reatard’s cover of “Gamma Ray,” a single from Beck’s album Modern Guilt. Beck originally commissioned the cover as a B-side to the U.K. version of his own “Gamma Ray” single, and in typical Reatard fashion, it takes the original tune’s minimalist pathos and turns it into a loud, joyous, gutter-punk stomp.

For more information, read the Commercial Appeal article here: http://ow.ly/WbtR

New species of bird, which lived 71 to 75 million years ago, has been named after MMF/MRC members Lucero http://ow.ly/UicI

Willie Mitchell (from the Memphis Flyer)

Memphis has bade more than its share of farewells in recent years to favorite sons — especially those who achieved renown in the international language of music. We said goodbye to one of the most fluent and successful of these Tuesday — in Willie Mitchell, the legendary producer of so many class acts at Hi Records.

Al Green, Booker Little, Phineas Newborn, Al Jackson, Ann Peebles: Mitchell worked with all of these and many, many more, and he was a formidable artist in his own right, as composer, as trumpeter, and as the leader of his own combo. Historians of music will mention him in the same breath as Sam Phillips and a handful of other eminent pathfinders and musical guides. Read more.