BRAIN: A call to all Brain Surgeons fans

[John A Swartz]

Lately, I had been pondering over one of my favorite bands, The Brain
Surgeons.  To me, the band seems poised to "take their game to the next
level", to coin a phrase.  *Trepanation* will soon to be available in
stores, and the band is working on a new CD reportedly even stronger
than the first two efforts.  Of course, none of this is a guarantee for
success, but certainly the potential may be there.  With the band doing
about all that they can to make a name for themselves, I think it might
be beneficial if we fans could help spread the word, especially at this
time of opportunity.

I am suggesting that we attempt to contact various music publications
and request that they cover the Brain Surgeons.  Of course, many of
these publications may not have heard of them, so we need to convince
them to listen to and perhaps submit a review to their magazine of the
Brain Surgeons' music -- Deb has told me that interested publications
can obtain demos by contacting the label, so we should not send out our
own copies of *Eponymous* or *Trepanation* (and we should not give out
personal e-mail or mailing addresses without the band's consent!).
Perhaps after becoming familiar with their music, some of these
publications will be prompted to do an article on the band.  Perhaps
"Guitar Player" will want to interview the Brain Surgeon's guitar tandem
of Pete Bohovesky and Billy Hilfiger, or perhaps "Modern Drummer" will
consider interviewing Albert again (they did run an article on him about
7 years ago).  Perhaps a magazine like "Circus" (which I used to read
often probably 10 years ago when I was more in tune with what's popular)
would run an article or two on the band.

So, I'm proposing 2 things that we Brain Surgeons fans do (and am
borrowing a famous Brain Surgeons' lyric to describe them):

1. RISE:  Everyone who can please write or send e-mail to various music
publications, requesting that they cover the Brain Surgeons, and if they
haven't yet, to review their music.  I've enclosed below a few net
addresses that I was able to find.  Also, we should try to present
ourselves to these publications as astute and intelligent music
listeners so that these publications might take our opinions seriously
(perhaps telling the publication how we came to appreciate the fine
music that The Brain Surgeons have produced, and include some of those
comments on the music that we have).

2. REVERBERATE:  Now, some of us may not have the time, drive, or
resources to send mail to various publications, but I think I've got a
way that you can still provide valuable help.  I would like to compile a
complete list of comments from all those on BOC-L (or friends of yours)
who have either heard the Brain Surgeons or seen them live.  I would
then send this complete list of comments out to various publications --
this way it wouldn't be just my opinion, but perhaps 10 or 20 opinions.
I would include past reviews we've done on the Brain Surgeons' CDs and
shows if they are available, and any additional thought you all can
provide on the subject.  Also, so that these publications know that I
didn't "invent" fans for the Brain Surgeons, I would include everyone's
name and e-mail address so that these publications could send you an
e-mail (should they wish to) to verify that you exist and made the
comments attributed to you.

Many of the various music magazines have stated that they respond to
reader input.  But, like the radio stations that take requests, they
respond to QUANTITY of input, rather than QUALITY.  One or two of us
asking for Brain Surgeons coverage isn't going to cut it.  We need lots
of requests, otherwise, we'll get lost in the noise of people requesting
Pearl Jam, Alanis Morrisette, Hootie and the Blowfish, or whatever
else is popular among the majority of readers these days.

Below are a few web or e-mail addresses that I could find.  If anyone
has more, please post them.  If you have any time to drop them a note
about the Brain Surgeons, please do so.  NOTE:  Sorry most of these are
web pages - but I was able to use some web-searching tools to come up
with this.  E-Mail might be better for alot of us, so if anyone can
provide e-mail addresses, please do so.


GUITAR WORLD:  http://www.guitarworld.com
ADDICTED TO NOISE (very cool on-line magazine):
     http://www.adict.com/ATN/
GUITAR PLAYER:
     http://www.dc.enews.com/magazines/guitar_player
     http://www.dc.enews.com/cgi-bin/makecomment?Name=Guitar+Player
MODERN DRUMMER:
     http://www.dc.enews.com/magazines/mod_drum/
     http://www.dc.enews.com/cgi-bin/makecomment?Name=Modern+Drummer
VILLAGE VOICE:
     http://www.dc.enews.com/magazines/village/
     http://www.dc.enews.com/cgi-bin/makecomment?Name=Village+Voice,+The
SPIN:
     http://www.dc.enews.com/magazines/spin/
     http://www.dc.enews.com/cgi-bin/makecomment?Name=Spin+Magazine
BASS PLAYER (a very cool magazine, IMHO):
     http://www.dc.enews.com/magazines/bass_player/
     http://www.dc.enews.com/cgi-bin/makecomment?Name=Bass+Player
     e-mail:  bass at enews.com, bassplayer at mfi.com
    (editor:  jroberts at mfi.com)
BILLBOARD:
     http://www.billboard-online.com/
     e-mail:  Epubb at ix.netcom.com
The BOSTON PHOENIX (Boston newspaper with lots of music coverage):
     http://www.bostonphoenix.com
     http://www.bostonphoenix.com/alt1/standard/feedback.html
NEW ENGLAND ROCKS (New England music magazine):
     http://metro.turnpike.net/~nerocks/nerocks.html
     e-mail:  NERocks at aol.com
The NOISE AROUND BOSTON (New England music magazine):
     e-mail:  tmaxnoise at aol.com
ROLLING STONE (Australia - couldn't find a U.S. listing, but perhaps
they would forward comments to the U.S. offices -- also, I'm pretty sure
Rolling Stone has an e-mail address):
     http://www.next.com.au/music/rstone
     e-mail:  letters at rstone.com.au
GUITARIST Magazine (UK publication only?):
     http://www.music-net.co.uk/Guitarists.html
Total Guitar (UK publication only?):
     http://www.futurenet.co.uk/music/totalguitar.html

NOTE:  I realize that writing to some of these publications may produce
better results than others.  BUT - one of the beauties of doing this all
electronically is that once you've got one letter/e-mail done, you can
forward it to numerous locations.

And if you've been exposed to the Brain Surgeons' music, please write to
me and let me know what you think.  If you have old posts or reviews of
albums or shows, please send those along as well.  I welcome any
suggestions of publications which should receive our requests.  Send
replies to:

jswartz at mitre.org

C'mon all you Brain Surgeons' fans -- let's RISE and REVERBERATE!!!

John