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We wish you peaceful and prosperous new year!
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The Reggae Festival E-Guide Team
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
* Upcoming Reggae Festivals
* Recipe: Shrimp and Fruit Salad
* Fun & Games: What's Patois for brand-new? (for answer, see below under Fun & Games)
* Band Promotion: Expand Your Definition of a Live Performance
* Reggae Biz Marketing Tidbit: Get Your Reggae Website Listed in Google Without Submitting Your Site
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Upcoming Reggae Festivals
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Bob Marley Birthday Bash
Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.
www.kazoostate.com
Hotline: 269-665-7483
Saturday-Sunday, February 5-6, 2005
Soundsplash Eco Reggaefestival
Raglan, New Zealand
www.kazoostate.com
Hotline: +64 211 845 869
Friday, February 11, 2005
12th Annual Bob Marley Day
Hilo, Hawaii, U.S.
www.hawaiireggae.com
Hotline: 800-736-3922
Sunday-Saturday, February 6-12, 2005
Africa Awareness Week
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
www.morehouse.edu
Hotline: 404-681-2034
Saturday, February 12, 2005
3rd Annual B.C.S Reggae Festival
Pescadero/Todos Santos, Mexico
www.bajareggaefest.com
Hotline: 011.52.612.145.0009
Thursday-Saturday, February 24-26, 2005
Bob Marley Festival
San Francisco, California, U.S.
www.bobmarleydayfestival.com
Hotline: 619-230-1190
Thursday-Sunday, February 24-27, 2005
Moonsplash 2005
The Dune Preserve, Anguilla
www.dunepreserve.com
Hotline: TBA
Festival listings are believed to be correct. Please contact the promoter
directly for more information. Promoters are responsible for making sure their
festival info is correct on www.ReggaeFestivalGuide.com prior to this publication.
Are you a reggae festival promoter? Post your festival at
www.ReggaeFestivalGuide.com/post_festival.html
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Recipe: Shrimp and Fruit Salad
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces fresh or frozen peeled and deveined shrimp
1 15¼-ounce can pineapple chunks (juice pack)
1 medium orange, peeled and sectioned
1 tablespoon snipped fresh mint or 1 teaspoon dried mint, crushed
Dash salt
Dash pepper
½ cup sliced celery
½ cup lemon low-fat yogurt
Shop Now for Jamaican recipe ingredients & seasoning in our online store.
DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan cook shrimp in boiling water about 3
minutes or till shrimp turn pink; drain. Rinse shrimp under
cold water; drain well.
Drain pineapple chunks, reserving juice. Combine pineapple
chunks and orange sections; cover and chill.
For marinade, in a medium bowl combine ¼ cup of the reserved
pineapple juice, the mint, salt, and pepper. Stir in cooked
shrimp and the celery. Cover and marinate in the refrigerat or
for 2 hours. Drain off marinade; discard marinade.
Stir pineapple chunks and orange sections into shrimp mixture.
In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of the remaining
pineapple juice and the yogurt. Toss with the shrimp mixture.
Divide mixture among 4 small airtight containers. Chill
overnight. Store up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
Carry in an insulated lunch box with a frozen ice pack.
Serves 4.
Preparation Time: 25 min.
Marinating Time: 2 hrs.
Chilling Time: overnight
Recipe courtesy of (c) 2004 Jamaicans.com.
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Fun & Games
What's Patois for brand-new?
"CRISSARS"
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Band Promotion: Expand Your Definition of a Live Performance
Let me ask you ... What has to happen for a person to be
converted into being a fan of your music? There are a number
of possible answers, but at the most basic level, one thing
has to happen: The person must hear your music.
And there are only so many ways someone can hear your music:
on the radio or on television, on the Internet, in a dance
club or a retail store, from a friend on a home or car stereo
or ... during a live performance.
Let's focus on that last one, because even with all of the
advancements in technology, live performance continues to be
one of the best ways to connect with fans, sell CDs and
prosper as an artist.
Hopefully, your marketing plans include a heaping helping of
live shows. But what type of live shows do you plan? The problem
is, many musicians get stuck in live performance ruts and fail
to think outside the box. For instance, most rock bands flock
like lemmings to nightclubs. Most acoustic singer-songwriters
obsess over coffee shops and folk venues. That's fine, but they
end the thought process there -- and then complain that there
aren't enough gig slots for all of the acts who want to play.
The solution: Redefine your live performance goals. And ask
yourself the right questions. If you only ask, "How can I book
more shows at clubs?" you'll rarely look outside that possibility.
But if you ask, "How can I reach more of my ideal fans through
live performances?" then your list of potential venues is
suddenly wide open.
Where can you play in front of more potential fans? If nightclubs
is one answer, great -- continue to pursue that. But what about
community festivals, neighborhood block parties, grand openings,
rallies, auto shows, craft fairs, the finishing line of a city
marathon, a public beach on a sunny day ... anywhere that large
groups of people gather is fair game.
Sure, not every option will have the logistics for a sound system,
a stage, etc. But any glimmer of an idea along these lines is worth
looking into. And I guarantee you, the number of other acts
competing for a spot at one of these offbeat events will be much
less than the number you find at the traditional live music venues.
So ... expand your definition of a live performance, ask yourself
empowering questions, and open your mind to the many new ways you
have to reach fans through live performances.
Bob Baker is the author of "Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook,"
"Unleash the Artist Within" and "Branding Yourself Online." He
also publishes TheBuzzFactor.com, a web site and e-zine that
deliver marketing tips, self-promotion ideas and other empowering
messages to music people of all kinds. Get your FREE subscription
to Bob's e-zine by visiting http://TheBuzzFactor.com today.
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Planning a special event for next summer?
Book your caterer today! The Caribbean Cove is now accepting
bookings for next summer's event season. Spice up your party with
food from the islands - weddings, corporate events, birthday parties,
customer appreciation, moving parties and more. We deliver authentic,
high-quality Caribbean food to your door with a professional and
courteous manner - ask for references or see our customer testimonials
online: www.thecaribbeancove.com
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Marketing Your Reggae Biz Tidbit:
Get Your Reggae Website Listed in Google Without Submitting Your Site
With Google delivering so much traffic, it is only normal to be
eager to submit your page and have it indexed as soon as possible.
However, submitting your page is not your only option, and it's not
the best one. If this sounds strange keep reading.
Talking about its indexing process, Google says:
"We add thousands of new sites to our index each time we crawl the
Web, but if you like, you may submit your URL as well. Submission is
not necessary and does not guarantee inclusion in our index. Given the
large number of sites submitting URLs, it's likely your pages will be
found in an automatic crawl before they make it into our index through
the URL submission form."
We can therefore draw two conclusions:
1. Submitting your site does not guarantee inclusion.
2. Most pages are found and indexed automatically, when Google crawls the web.
The Google folks have also made it clear that Google gives a page more
importance when it is found through an automatic crawl. This can be
easily verified when we consider how Google's PageRank system works:
when page A links to page B, part of page A's PageRank trickles down to
page B, increasing page B's PageRank (and, therefore, its importance).
A manually submitted page will not enjoy this benefit.
Now that you know that manual submission is neither necessary nor
the best way to go, what can you do to make Google find your pages?
The best way, at least in my personal experience, is to write an
article on your area of expertise and submit it to popular article
syndication sites like http://www.marketing-seek.com or
http://www.ideamarketers.com . These sites will post your article,
so that online publishers can use them for free in exchange for
including your resource box at the end of the article. A resource box
(a.k.a. bylines) is a small paragraph about yourself, written by you,
which contains a link to your homepage.
In very little time, your article will show up in websites and ezines
across the web. It will then be just a matter of time (usually days)
before Google crawls those pages and finds your links. If you followed
good web design practices and have included a link to a site map in your
homepage, Google will follow it as soon as it finds your homepage, and
all your pages will be indexed. It's as simple as that.
The most popular articles you can write are those that list a collection
of tips related to your area of expertise. One of my most succesful
articles is called "50 Surefire Web Design Tips", and it is nothing
but a checklist of guidelines to follow when designing a website.
Another good way to help Google find your pages is to exchange links
with other sites. Google will crawl those sites, find the links to
your page, and add it to the index.
Finally, remember to optimize your pages before you try to get them
listed, so that you have a better chance of ranking high in the search
engine results pages (SERPs). After all, what good would it do to get
your pages listed if nobody can find them?
Mario Sanchez is a Miami based freelance writer who focuses on Internet
marketing and web design topics. He publishes The Internet Digest
(http://www.theinternetdigest.net), a growing collection of web design and
Internet marketing articles, tips and resources.
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Getting Serious About Promoting Your Band?
You love creating music and/or art, but you are bogged down with mundane
tasks of every day business - putting your creativity on the back burner.
Having a manager is essential to surviving the business of promoting your
own talent in this day and age. One burgeoning company based out of
California is ready to take your talent to the next level. Owner’s name is
Amy Shapas and she is willing to negotiate a contract with you that you
are able to afford. Call 831-479-0711 and visit her website at www.soyoucan.com.
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Contact Us
Reggae Festival E-Guide
P.O. Box 10917, Napa, CA 94581
Website: www.ReggaeFestivalEGuide.com
Email: eguideReggaeFestivalEGuide.com
707-257-6652
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(c) 2004 Reggae Festival E-Guide, ISSN 1551-6121
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