Save The Local Bands Show on WPLR! (Non-visual arts related post)

As a rule, I confine my posts here to topics related to the local visual arts scene in Connecticut. I'm making an exception, as a musician and music fan, to encourage readers to contact WPLR-FM in support of The Local Bands Show.

For over 20 years and more than 1,000 shows, Rick Allison and James Velvet have produced a half-hour show that airs Sunday nights at 10 p.m. (They also have a Local Bands Show website.) A labor of love and musical erudition, The Local Bands Show features only locally made music. The show costs nothing for WPLR to air. But now the new management at Cox Radio is dumping the show.

In an era when commercial radio stations ignore the musical grassroots in favor of constricted playlists determined by number-crunchers in distant corporate offices, The Local Bands Show has been an oasis. Along with playing music by a diverse selection of local artists, Allison and Velvet have conducted interviews and publicized important upcoming shows and music events.

James Velvet puts it well:

For twenty-one years we've loved listening to and airing locally made music.

We've met and interviewed dozens of colorful goof-balls from the local scene.

We've had only local sponsors: breweries, bars, a deli, a guitar store, and many more.

We've had virtual partnerships and associations with The Space in Hamden, The Meriden Daffodil Festival, and IndepenDisc.com

Our weekly calendar has been a constant voice for Cafe Nine, Toad's Place and music venues throughout the state.

When we say local we mean "local." We're proud of what we have here in Connecticut.

Just as I'm proud of the vibrant visual arts scene in Connecticut, I've long immersed myself in the eclectic local music scene. As a musician and a writer on music, I've enjoyed going on the show and conversing with Rick and James. I was thrilled that in late January they led off a show with "Psychedelic Winter," a song I recorded with my son, Matt. Rick and James get the importance of local culture to a community.

Please, if you care about the local music scene—or just about supporting local culture in these commodified, corporatized times—contact WPLR and urge them to reconsider.

Letters in support of The Local Bands Show can be addressed to:

Ms. Kimberly Guthrie
General Manager WPLR
440 Wheeler Farms Road, Suite 302
Milford, CT 06461

Please cc copies to Scott Laudani, the program director, at the same address. Rick Allison and James Velvet would appreciate a copy also. You can email them at rickallison [AT] mac.com.

Support your local bands!