[Slowhand] ABB Beacon run idea

[Scott Wallenberg]

Imagine the entire EC Budokan run being available to watch...well that's not 
too far fetched....read on


As posted on the peach-o-gram


Hey there sweet family,

The last Peach-O-Gram, about the Allman Brothers Band and Moogis' plan
to bring the Beacon experience home to you, generated a lot of
excitement and candid comments. As one Peach Corps member said (slightly
edited), "The only way to add more Beacon realism while you watch from home
would be to lay sheets of flypaper all over your floor, arrange for some
bunghole to sit directly behind you yelling "Whipping Post!" during the
entire first set, spill half a beer on your shirt, and stand in front
of your own bathroom door for 20 minutes before you actually use it. An
optional activity would be to go out on your front porch and smoke
during the intermission." Love it! :-)

The POG also generated so many questions about the project and Moogis,
that Butch Trucks has volunteered to step up to the keyboard and shine
it on. But first, a reminder that your VOTE is needed to make the
Beacon project and Moogis a reality. We'll get back to that after Butch's
message. And now, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's Butch:

I had an idea, years ago, to put together a record company that would
treat artists fairly. I worked for three years raising the funds to get
Flying Frog Records going just at about the time the record business
fell apart. What struck me at that time was that the record business, as
we had known it, was a dead-end but the demand for music is not going
away. What we are going though is a paradigm shift. The trick is to
figure out what the new paradigm is going to be.

I believe that's it's a no-brainer that it's going to happen on the
internet. I came up with the Moogis concept about four years ago. That was
too soon. The band width wasn't available yet. Now it is in most
places. We are still early in this shift but I am convinced that the time to
start is now. I came up with the idea of a high def web cast for the
Beacon run and ran it by my partners.

There was a bit of reluctance so I suggested that I would do it as a
springboard for Moogis. Everyone liked the idea so here we are. What we
will do is present a high def multi-camera stereo web cast of every
Beacon show. We WILL NOT do what we did when we made the Beacon DVD. The
cameras will all be as unobtrusive as possible. At least two of them will
be on wires in front of the balcony run by remote control. The stage
will be full of family and friends as usual.

What I'm getting at is this is going to be a web cast of the Beacon
experience. It will not be a camera crew turning the Beacon into a studio
(that is what happened when we made that DVD. We got a great DVD but it
wasn't the Beacon experience. The guys in the sound truck were
wondering if there was an audience). In other words we will do everything we
can to become a part of the audience and not get in the way.

It is my very strong opinion, and I have been putting my blood, sweat,
tears and money where my mouth is for a while now, that the future of
entertainment is the internet. Within a year or so you will be able to
connect your 50" high def television to the internet and chose just
about anything that you want. I believe as I said earlier that now is the
time. We, as a band have always tried to stay on the cutting edge of new
technology. HTW (thanks to Rowland) was one of, if not the very first,
fan site on the net. We have been involved in it from the start. We did
the first instant live concert. Now we are going to try and be the
first to offer everyone the opportunity to watch these shows live (and yes
you will be able to watch them after they are over at any time. They
will become a part of Moogis' streaming archives).

Whether or not the shows are made into DVDs is strictly up the the ABB.
Moogis will be the webcast provider and will stream all of its shows.
The band will own all of the content. This is exactly the reverse of
what the old model was. In the past the bands paid for everything and the
record companies owned everything. We will pay for everything and the
band will own it. How they decide to use what they own is entirely up to
them, starting with the ABB this March. I think the time is right.
Whether I'm right or not is up to you. You will be able to watch these web
casts on your full screen and it will be high definition if you have
any type of broad band at all. Of course you will need some minimum
computer specs, but I would expect that most of you do.

We are offering a one year subscription to Moogis along with the Beacon
subscription. It's our way of saying thanks as well as a way to build a
base in Moogis even before we go live. I won't go into full detail
about what Moogis will be but a brief summery is: we are going to wire six
of the major "jam band" clubs around the country with 5 camera high def
video and 24 channel digital audio. We will also have a mobile truck to
catch some of the bigger bands that don't play these clubs.

You will be able to watch a live show every night of the year. Once the
show is aired it will loop for the next 24 hours (which we will also do
at the Beacon) so that people in all time zones can watch at a decent
hour. All shows will then go into our archives and any of these concerts
can be viewed by any subscriber at any time. We will also build a
massive library of documentaries and videos of 100's of the best bands
currently touring. There will be a guest book, forums and message boards as
well and we are still working on some new twists. Basically what we
want to do with Moogis is build a music community that will give
subscribers (we're thinking $9.95 per month) a community that is so full of 
live
and taped music that you couldn't possilby see it all. What I am
excited about is the platform that this gives the bands.

When the ABB started in 1969 FM radio was brand new. Without FM getting
us national exposure I doubt if we would have made it out of the South.
Radio is not an option for all of the good new bands out there that are
trying to do what we did. In fact they really have no national exposure
points.

That's what I want to do with Moogis. I want to create a community of
musicians and fans that can not only see there favorite band/bands but
be exposed to new bands and sounds. I want Moogis to be the FM of the
future. Too many good musicians are selling used cars because they just
got fed up with the grind of one small club after another without being
able to make a living. I believe that Moogis can give many of these
artists the exposure they need to be able to have a career doing what they
love.

The Beacon is our "Beta Test". If it is successful then Moogis will be
on-line within six months. Then by March of 2008 a lot of you will be
watching that Beacon run on you 60" High def TV. It's coming. Of that
there is no doubt. I want to be a part of getting it started. Y'all with
me?

***

Thank you, Butch! You bet we are!

OK, peeps it's time to do your thing. The cost for the entire Beacon
run and your free one year subscription to Moogis would be $100. Are you
with Butch too? Please go to:

http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/beaconyes.html  to vote yes
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/beaconmaybe.html  to vote that you
might be interested
http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/beaconno.html to vote no

This is a VOTE, not a financial committment at this time. The above
links simply gather your opinion, without asking any personal information.

Voting is limited to one vote per IP address period (i.e. not one per
day, just one per IP).

Btw, unlike almost every other Peach-O-Gram, it's ok to share this
message, copy it to bulletin boards, spread it around. The Beacon/Moogis
offer is not Peach Corps exclusive because there are an unlimited number
of great seats to be had.

Take care and know that you are loved,

Lana, Rowland . and Butch! :-)