The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Select your preference from the poll options. There is no guarantee anyone will care about or act upon your preference. Enjoy!

Also, Roy and Jim, can you provide a more specific location than "New England"? That covers a lot of territory.

And "the part North of the Mason-Dixon Line" isn't particularly helpful.

Jim, being a star and all, can call the specifics for performances in NH. I'm happy to host rehearsals/jam in the barn deal in Putney, VT. But he's farther North than I am (~2 hours).

Does this poll have a deadline?

No, I did not set one.

So then two questions come to mind:

How long before we make a decision?
and
What do we do in the event of a tie?

Good questions.

Roy/Jim, have you guys considered things like proximity to a nearby major national/international airport, public transportation, proximity of venue(s) to rehearsal location(s) and accommodations, availability and cost of accommodations, etc. It seems like the "New England" idea may have some issues there vs. having the event in a specific major city like Atlanta or Austin but maybe that's just because it still sounds kind of nebulous to me.

Even without being a New Englander, I can answer two of those questions.
- Burlington International Airport is in Vermont.
- Accommodations can be handled by contacting some local hotels and reserving a block of rooms (given that we choose soon). We would probably be able to cut a deal too.

But one of these questions couldn't be answered by any of the three locations: 'proximity of venue to rehearsal location' because we would have to pick venues.

Roy and I aren't exactly neighbors here in New England. (I should be so lucky. Happy belated birthday Roy!)

I live in Plymouth NH, about an hour north of our nearest airport (Manchester). If that is close enough to work, I have a willing venue near my house. The Country Cow (http://www.thecountrycow.com) has a downstairs function room that would work well. I host open mic night there on Wednesdays. There's a Days Inn right across the street.

If we need to be closer to the airport, I can look into hall rentals in Manchester or Concord (our state Capitol, about 15 minutes north of Manchester).

Also: I can put a PA in place, and if we're in campton I'm sure I can round up just about any musical instruments required.

Yeah, as mentioned, I'm about 2 hours from Jim. And by "I" I mean my farm in VT, since I live in NYC. That said, there are always + and - with any location, beyond transportation logistics. It would certainly be a different vibe but as in the pleasures of finding new locals via geocaching, I think many would find an extended weekend in central NH most rewarding!

That New Hampshire thing sounds nice, but is there an easy, affordable way of getting there which doesn't involve driving myself? I hate driving, especially after a four-hour plane trip.

Like, light rail, shared-ride shuttle service, etc.?

Maybe we can charter a bus. Can you imagine a bus full of Songfighters?

Yes, and I don't like their version of 99 Bottles of Beer on a Wall one bit.

Niveous wrote:Maybe we can charter a bus. Can you imagine a bus full of Songfighters?

This could work, but we'd need to arrange it NOW, because chartering a bus would basically require everyone's arrivals and departures to be much more coordinated than they usually are. Remember, on a typical Song Fight Live weekend, we all get into town at varying times in the 3-5 days leading up to the event, and we don't all leave on the same day, either, so we'd need to give people more than the usual amount of notice to work with a bus schedule. And summer draws increasingly, infuriatingly nearer.

Greyhound seems to do a bus between the Manchester Airport & Plymouth. But here's the catch. Despite the two places being about an hour apart, it takes 6 hours. The bus leaves the airport at 2:30, gets to Concord by 3:15 and then there's a "transfer" at 7:40 to get you the rest of the way.

The Boston Express Bus running out of the Manchester Transportation Center also does buses from Manchester to Plymouth. I just called them today and they mentioned a morning bus that's a straight shot 9:20 to 10:45; and an afternoon bus that runs with a transfer just like the Greyhound but shorter. 5:15 bus arrives at Concord at 5:40, wait for another bus and arrive in Plymouth by 8:30

Both Greyhound and the Boston Express Bus will run you about $20 to $30 depending on when you order the tickets.

Renting a charter bus from US Coach Ways, one way from Manchester to Plymouth would cost between $450 and $600 depending on the number of passengers. The $600 bus holds 56 passengers which would make the trip about 11 bucks a head. The low end is the 24 passenger bus at about $450 which is about 19 bucks a head. And that's just one charter bus company, there are several in New England.

I think the coordination issues involved in a charter bus make it pretty much unfeasible. Also, 56 passengers is pretty darn optimistic.

I don't suppose there's, say, a small airport closer to town where you can just fly a scary puddlejumper to get there, is there?

Of course, 56 is extremely optimistic.

Here's some airport info: http://www.visit-newhampshire.com/airports

I feel like this discussion is sort of reinforcing my concerns about New England vs. Austin/Atlanta. It doesn't seem like we'd have to worry about that stuff in those cities.

I think if we were to do New England, the best choice would be to do it somewhere other than Plymouth, like Manchester. Big cities are much better for this type of stuff.

Okay, it's April and we are tied in the poll...

Tell ya what. Does anyone just wanna do NYC again. We probably still have the connects to venues and whatnot...

Or is it crazy to throw another hat in the ring? Probably crazy.

But we do need to move forward if people are going to start making airplane and hotel reservations.

blurgablurgablurgablurg

Plus side to NYC is that we already have a drum kit there, right? And BenK still owes us a show at the Sidewalk, right? Or did you already cash in on that?

Maybe before making other plans we should wait for JB to get back from Asia in a week or so to see what he has to stay as the representative from Atlanta?