Anyone Want to Help Create a 911 Service for Musicians?

One of the goals of NxEW has been to have people everywhere, in every town, ideally at every show, all over the country and beyond. This can be useful beyond just covering music, when bands are on the road they are frequently not in brand new well maintained vehicles. There are sometimes going to places where they don't know a soul, or at least going through places where they don't know a soul and don't know the area.

So, although I haven't worked out all of the details yet, this post is the official announcement of a new program. It will basically serve as roadside assistance / 9-1-1 for bands and touring musicians. The idea is to put together a directory (though not one that is publicly viewable) of music fans, musicians, music industry types all over the country and (by working with other music blogs/sites) around the world. Access to the directory will be limited to a handful of people and it will ONLY be used when a situation arises. (It will not be used as a mailing list to plug shows, tours, albums or bands.)

So, for example, if a band

- Has their van break down in Medicine Hat
- Is trying to find a place to do a show in Des Moines
- Needs to find a place to crash in Birmingham
- Get lost on the way to a show in Regina
- Need a safe place to park a van in New York
- Needs someone to put up a few posters for a show in Chapel Hill
- Needs to know where to get a new set of Bass strings in Sudbury

We have people, on the ground and ready to lend a hand - they can send an email, or a text message, or make a phone call to one of the directory operators and be put in touch with locals who are sympathetic and ready to help.

If you'd like to be 'in' the directory fire some contact info to northbyeastwest@gmail.com and I'll keep your info on file until we're ready to go, what I'm really looking for right now though are people who want to help refine the idea and figure out how to make it work properly - inside and outside of Canada.