How to Use Musi-Cal
One of the greatest music resources on the internet is an on-line concert database called Musi-Cal. Whether you're a fan or a performer, you should know how to use it.
Originally created by Skip Montanaro using early 90's, pre-browser technology, Musi-Cal began as a simple concert calendar with some innovative features. Artists could submit their tour schedules and Musi-Cal would merge them all into a single database. Users could search the database by date, artist, region, venue, or musical genre; they could also program Musi-Cal to send regular e-mails using their search criteria. For instance, you could program Musi-Cal to send you a monthly e-mail listing all gigs for Richard Shindell plus all concerts within a 50 mile radius of Chicago.
Musi-Cal is still the most complete concert database on the internet, but it has added many new features. The biggest additions are that it now offers links to artist and venue home pages. It also suggests related musicians and events. And of course there are now the ubiquitous links to shopping.
If you're a fan, Musi-Cal is a dream come true. You can check schedules for particular performers or venues, or find all concerts within a geographical region that you specify. From there, it is easy to find virtually all the information you could want through the thoughtful links that accompany each search result: with a few clicks, you can make reservations, get directions, and even order a CD in advance. Simply add this page to your bookmarks:
Short Cuts
The search form below will take you right to Musi-Cal to give you a taste of the ways you can search for concerts there.
1.You can copy and paste this search form into your personal homepage making it easier to access Musi-Cal by inserting the following little HTML snippet into the HTML code of your page:
<center> <form method="GET" action="http://www.musi-cal.com/cgi-bin/ simple-search"> <input type=radio name="key" value="performer">performer <input type=radio checked name="key" value="city">city <input type=radio name="key" value="venue">venue <input type=radio name="key" value="event">event<br> <input type="text" name="value"> <input type="submit" value="Search"> </form> </center>
2. If you have a favorite artist, venue or city, you might want to customize it a little to save a little typing and clicking. For example, if you are a regular patron of Freight and Salvage, you could use the following to view their schedule more easily:
<center> <form method="GET" action="http://www.musi-cal.com/cgi-bin/ simple-search"> <input type=radio name="key" value="performer">performer <input type=radio name="key" value="city">city <input type=radio checked name="key" value="venue">venue <input type=radio name="key" value="event">event<br> <input type="text" name="value" value="Freight and Salvage"> <input type="submit" value="Search"> </form> </center>
If you're a pro, whether an artist, agent, or promoter, you can submit dates to Musi-Cal in three ways.
1. When you have a date or dates to submit, simply go to the submission form and type in all the information. Simply go to: http://www.musi-cal.com/cgi-bin/check-itinerary
2. E-mail a list of gigs in one of the accepted formats and Musi-Cal will do the rest.
3. Maintain a webpage using the recommended table set-up and submit the location of the page to Musi-Cal. It's search engine will periodically check your page and add the new information automatically. You can find sample tables at: http://www.musi-cal.com/sample-table.shtml. When you've created your table, submit the page's URL to: http://www.musi-cal.com/web-itineraries.shtml and you're all set. Simply keep your tabular schedule up to date and the world will have access to it through Musi-Cal.
Remember that Musi-Cal lists only the concerts that have been submitted to it, usually by artists or their representatives. Therefore, Musi-Cal's listings are neither exhaustive nor always current. Some artists don't post their schedules to Musi-Cal at all, others only sporadically. Venues that do post are likely to be consistent about it, but most are not yet fully on-line. For the most complete information, it's a good idea to check artist/management homepages when possible.
Remember that all listings on the net, as anywhere else, are subject to changes or errors. You should always call a venue in advance to confirm dates, times and ticket availability.
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor hugh@balladtree.com