Another exciting night for the Philly theatre community! The recipients of the 2006 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre were announced last night at the Merriam Theater. Arden Theatre Company and Philadelphia Theatre Company were big winners, but our clients The Wilma Theater walked away with two awards for last season’s amazing Nine Parts of Desire. If you saw Jacqueline Antaramian’s performance, you know that she was not only extremely deserving of her Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play award, but probably deserved a “most remarkable stamina of an actress portraying nine women in one play” award too.

A number of smaller companies were also recognized. Lantern Theatre Company received the honor of Outstanding Overall Production of a Play for Richard III, and Pig Iron Theatre Co, Theatre Exile, and 1812 Productions all won awards.

It’s always fun to see the performances from the Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical nominees, especially since I missed some of them last season. Nova Payton’s jaw-dropping performance of “I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls tore the roof off the place!

And then there was the afterparty where we all got to eat, drink and be merry. As usual, I spent a good deal of time running around dealing with TV cameras and photographers, but my feet fared a lot better than last year. Above is me with the dapper Aaron Immediato and James Haskins from The Wilma Theater.

I thought Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday year would come and go without me getting too worked up. Don’t get me wrong. I love my history and Franklin’s the closest thing we have in America to a mythogical super hero. He’s one of those guys who can always cut you down to size when you start to feel full of yourself. “Hey Ben, I just made this pretty cool site with animations based on the weather forecast! What do you think?” “Not bad, chief. It reminds me a bit of when I charted the Gulf Stream, or when I invented the lightning rod. I’m sure someone’s life will someday be saved by your work, too.” What a prick.

So now he goes one step too far and insinuates himself in the header of my latest site, Phawker. He just stares out at me, mocking all I do and stand for while making snark all over the Philly “blogosphere”.* It’s eerie. I think his eyes follow you around the room. It’s bad enough that he’s on money. I never get $100 bills anyway. But now the old bastard’s got to mock me from my own work. I think I’ll give him a devil beard if he get’s out of line.

* A term he originally coined in The Poor Richard’s Almanac: “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time on the blog-o-speere; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

Here at Canary HQ, Mount Airy, Philadelphia, USA we love the Autumn. That’s pretty much the reason we built our site the way we did; so you can see the leaves turn. The air is crisp and we can start eating hot soup again. If any season feels like home, then this is it.

A lot of musicians and younger indie labels ask me about timelines for promotion. One of the biggest mistakes people make when putting out indie releases is not planning ahead. Your CD should not be released the day you receive the boxes from the manufacturer. Nor should you set a date for your CD release show before you actually have the CDs in your hands. Here are a few tips for creating a timeline and planning ahead while nearing the end stages of your recording process.

1. While the record is being mixed and mastered, graphic design for the packaging should begin. If you’re planning on using a designer, make sure you give yourself enough time to shop around, get samples of work, references, negotiate pricing, etc. While some people work well under pressure, it’s best to give your designer enough time to brainstorm concepts with you, listen to your music, and create and refine designs.

2. Now is also the time to schedule a photo shoot for new promotional photos. While indie acts are often on a tight budget, it really does pay to hire a professional photographer whose style you like. A good photo can end up in your CD design and can also be a key element in your publicity efforts.

3. Once you have a mastered copy of your CD, you should start shopping around for a publicist, radio promoter, and/or booking agent OR planning your strategies if you’re handling that yourself. Most of these people will be happy to listen to a mastered copy of your record without the artwork. They’ll want to determine if it’s something they’d like to work with and generally won’t mind getting a preview copy. This process will differ slightly for different people. Not every indie act has the ability to pay for all of the above services, and some may choose to do more local & regional promotion instead of a full national campaign. But even if you’re only doing a local campaign, don’t call the local papers and radio stations the day before your record release party and expect them to do anything with it. You need to give everyone lead time.

4. Lead Time – Timing can be everything for a good promotional campaign. For publicity you should send your release out to print magazines 3 to 4 months in advance, to daily and weekly newspapers 4 to 6 weeks in advance, and to webzines/blogs at least a month in advance (although webzines are often more flexible). For radio, you should have your radio campaign in progress before you hit the road for tour dates. Ideally, you’ll be added to a number of stations and can then get those stations to mention your show or have you in for an interview. For booking, you’ll want to start contacting clubs at least 3 months in advance. If you can plan your local CD release show, tour, and promotional campaigns to correspond, you’ll get the best bang for your buck.