MACRoCK 2007 coming .... in 2008

Thanks to a timely heads-up from Eavvon, we see now that the MACRoCK website has been updated to include a new design and a new message for 2007:

Guess what?! MACRoCk has gone on safari!

Contrary to some rumors, our ship has not sunk. During our trip, we found a new home that we loved so much we decided to stay. The MACRoCk committee has thought long and hard about our mission and has decided to partner up with the Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance. We are now in stride to become a completely independent conference, free of the legal backing of James Madison University, with whom we have operated over the past ten years. The conference will now be housed completely in the Harrisonburg downtown area with the support of local independent venues and businesses.

In order to bring our community the highest quality conference we can, we have decided to forgo the conference this spring and prepare for April 4, 5, of 2008. To all our friends and supporters, we're sorry to have inconvenienced anyone with our lack of communication. No worries, next year the shit is going to be bananas!

We look forward to seeing you all next year.

Hugs and Kisses,
The MACRoCK Committee

First of all, kudos to the MACRoCK kids for soldiering on under what must have been tremendous pressure from James Madison U. to make this show profitable. While having a decent-sized influx of indie kids from all over the East Coast every April was undoubtedly a small boost to the local economy, JMU had pretty much nothing to gain but headaches from the annual rush. Disassociating themselves from the university is a good move that should free them up to do some wild new things, such as getting more sponsors and growing the conference beyond the limited capacity it had before. Once they're independently financially stable, we ought to see some bigger musical attractions as well.

The cons to this move? Obviously, a move off-campus means there might suddenly be more "21+ only" than all-ages shows for a conference that has traditionally appealed to the 18-20 year old college crowd. MACRoCK's slow creep from JMU's prestigious concert halls to Harrisonburg's many strip-mall bars and clubs has been spreading for years, though, which means the transition away from the school probably won't lock out too many underage kids. The price range is a slight concern, too -- MACRoCK has always had dozens of shows, expos, and discussion panels available over the course of two days for the approximate equivalent of the tank of gasoline it takes to get down there -- a fucking bargain when compared to the music industry circle-jerk that CMJ has become.

In all, Eavvon and myself have been keeping pretty close tabs on what the WXJM kids have been up to these past couple of months, and I suppose we're generally pretty happy with the steps they're taking. Obviously, completely skipping 2007 is bogus, but not really avoidable with less than a month to go before the conference was scheduled to go down. However, these folks are wise to recognize the potential the event has, and they're making a courageous move stepping out of the comfy confines of a university that has probably grown a little tired of the annual migration of freeloading idiots such as ourselves.

Goddammit though, there goes my annual built-in road trip! Where to now? Boston in May? Perhaps Los Angeles in June? Who knows?