Be sure to check out the extensive list of New Year's Eve cabaret events on theCABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website - just click on the link at the top of today's listings on the opening (home page) or the top of the CABARET EVENT LISTINGS page -
Congratulations to Marcus Simeone on another award recognition! Marle Becker, DJ at WBAI reports that Marcus' CD "Everything Must Change" was voted "WBAI-OUT-FMs" #1 CD on their top 10 CD list of 2010! Congrats as well to Kitty Skrobela and MIRANDA MUSIC, which released the CD.
I posted a new column by Sue Matsuki on the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE WEBSITE on Monday. In the December 27th column, Sue makes some suggestions in the art of "prioritizing" and reviews the Hedda Lettuce show. Her next column will appear on next week Monday.
The application forms for the preliminary ballot for this year's MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets - http://www.macnyc.com/ ) Awards are now available on the MAC website. They need to be returned by January 29th. Several categories have changed since last year, as has the submission process for songs and special musical material, so please read the 2011 rules carefully. The 2011 MAC Awards will be held at BB KING'S BLUES CLUB (237 West 42nd Street, NYC - 212-997-4144 - ) on Tuesday, May 10, 2011.
If you plan on doing a reprise of your 2010 cabaret show for MAC Award voter consideration, you might want to take advantage of CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE'S AD SPECIALS for December & January (see the full announcements at the top of this issue). There's a full 25% off our SIDE-BAR ad standard rates if the ad starts its run before January 31st. This means your regular sized sidebar ad would cost just $18.75 per week (4 week minimum)/ There's a 20% price reduction on SUPERSIZE banners, which will cost just $40 per week (3 week minimum). Member discounts apply to banner rates as well (for example, a GOLD CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE member would get an additional 15% discount!). Plus your event will be mentioned in EVERY issue of the twice weekly newsletter, sent to over 2700 subscribers!
And right now is a great time to start your banner - only 4 banners are currently running, and since the banners are displayed at random, your banner will appear more often than ever! But don't delay - space is limited.
The secret is that even though the ad might not persuade folks to come to your show, your name is out there every day and in the newsletter twice a week, so when it come to marking up their preliminary ballots, you will be on their mind!
CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE is what it is - a newsletter/website to promote the art and artists of cabaret. It is an expression of my passion for this live entertainment art form. I've been doing this for over 21 years, and plan to continue for as long as I am able.
We're at another one of those "financial crisis" points this week at CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE. Because of financial circumstances, I've had to move in with my friend Daniel in Jackson Heights, and now he's been unemployed since early November. Meantime, all my funds have been expended and the rent is due on Saturday. I have some ad payments coming in via mail, but with holiday mail service, I have no idea when they will be received. You can help out by joining as a member today - CLICK HERE - or purchasing (or prepaying an ad to run at a future date) or simply sending a donation (PayPal preferred, since I am able to use the funds immediately).
Frankly, I don't feel a SILVER membership that cost just $20 per year (less than 39 cents a week, less than 20 cents each issue) is too much to ask and is probably affordable by 75% of the subscribers receiving this newsletter. But this small amount, multiplied by just 50 times, would more than cover our CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE expenses for a full month or more. You membership donations and advertising purchases are our only source of income to keep the newsletter, website and blog operating. We are not supported by a foundation. If fact, yesterday, for the first time in my life, I applied for public assistance - food stamps (I also applied for housing assistance but NYC is not accepting applications right now for Section 8 housing). Your membership/ad will mean so much to us today - I would not be sharing this with you if it wasn't.
I really don't want to write much about the snowstorm/blizzard we were hit with here in NYC on Sunday/Monday. We had over 15 inches of snow here in Queens - Manhattan had over 20 inches. It appears that by this morning nearly all the streets have been plowed (there are 6000 miles of streets in this town), and the subways and busses are all running at or close to schedule. My home has an excellent location with a grocery store just 1/2 block away and no need to cross those slushy curbside puddles - the store is just around the corner. Most of the sidewalks are now clear as well, and I'm just a few blocks from my bank and one of the main subway/bus hubs in Queens (I can be in midtown Manhattan in less than 20 minutes). In fact, the lack of funds is keeping me home rather than the snow this weekend.
The greatest benefit of the storm however, is that New Yorkers are at their happiest when they have things to complain about, and the mess, delays, street closures, airline cancellations, and all the rest have brought joy to all!
This is the last CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE newsletter of 2010 - our 103rd newsletter of the year. I hope you have had as much pleasure reading them as I have had writing them. Additionally, we have sent out 40 special MEMBERS ONLY newsletters. A special edition of the MEMBERS ONLY newsletter will be sent out to all 456 members on January 1st - looking back and looking ahead.
I want to wish all 2700 cabaret fans receiving this issue a very blessed and prosperous 2011! Hopefully the economic mess we have been mired in for the past two years has ended. Let's put this year behind us and move on to happier days.
Next on the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE agenda is the annual MARCH IS CABARET MONTH campaign, starting on January 1st, accompanied by the re-birth of our MARCH IS CABARET MONTH website - which currently just switches you over to the regular CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website. My head is bursting with ideas for this year. More news in the next few issues of the regular and MEMBERS ONLY newsletters.
If you would like to volunteer to help us get the word out (all over the world, wherever March happens), please send me a note - same address:stuhamstra@svhamstra.com ! I need a "steering committee" and also some "worker bees" to distribute fliers and posters to cabaret clubs and piano bars (all over the world, wherever March happens)! I will be also looking for sponsors to cover the costs of posters, cards, etc.
With entertainment venues still cutting back on live music (see note about Destino's above, for example) I need to promote this art form I all love and cherish. Now more than ever, cabaret needs your support!
STU
