You know that faint, yet undeniably audible thumping sound you've been hearing lately? No, not that one. We don't know anything about that one (you might wanna talk to a doctor about it, though). We're talking about the other sound you've been hearing. That one is the Arkansas Times pounding the annual Showcase drum.
It's a sort of rhythmic siren call for Arkansas folks who play original music and enjoy good times. That's right, if you fit that description, we want you and your band (or just you if it's, you know, just you) to enter the 2013 Arkansas Times Musician's Showcase.
We've gotten quite a few entries already, but like a pack of ravenous wolves descending on a big plate of nachos, we're simply insatiable, so go ahead and send us your tunes, and maybe some nachos, if you can figure out a way to do that over the internet.
We're looking for any and all kinds of music, no matter how normal or weird. Also: you can be from anywhere in the state. We're not only exclusively for Central Arkansas bands. In fact, the last two winners —The Holy Shakes most recently and Tyrannosaurus Chicken the year before— were from, respectively, Hot Springs and over in Western Arkansas.
Here are the pertinent deets: Musical acts must be based in Arkansas and must have enough original material to play for 20-25 minutes. We'll need four tracks to evaluate, unless your songs are like 15 minutes long or something and then a couple-three will do. No cover songs allowed.
We'll pare down the entries to a field of 20 semifinalists, four of which will square off each week for 25-minute sets at Stickyz on Jan. 24 and 31, and Feb. 7, 14 and 21. The winners of each semifinal round will face off at the finals at the Rev Room on Friday, March 1. If that sounds reasonable, it'd be really super cool to not to have any scheduling conflicts on any of those dates.
We're still working out all the specifics on the prizes, but rest assured, there'll be lots of rad stuff that will also be very useful to musical acts.
The entry form is available raht cheer or send a CD, along with your info, to:
Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, PO BOX 34101, Little Rock, AR 72203
There are entry forms in current issues of the Times. You can just clip it right out and include it. The deadline is Jan. 7.