No Age's Randy Randall talks to SFStation.com about the significance of being both an audience member and performer at the Smell and other all-ages venues.
Randy says, "It was a huge influence. Just being there as an audience member, I saw so many great local and touring bands. As my time there as an audience member grew, I got to know the people who ran it. It is all volunteers who run it, and we’re like a community. If you want to see something happen, you just have to kind of suggest it. It’s just a matter of saying it and putting the show together -- Xeroxing flyers, or whatever. It taught me everything I really know about being in a band and it gave us an opportunity to get onstage."
Click here for the full interview.
The Tank, a non-profit venue that has been providing a creative, collaborative home for emerging artists for the past five years, is about to need a new home of its own. But for this young company that moved 3 times in its first 3 years, this is familiar, if undesirable, territory.
Bend-It, a queer youth arts and music festival in Seattle, is happening this weekend! June 27th through the 29th, Bend-It will feature lots of music, art exhibitions, free dinner, a fashion show, multiple bike rides, workshops, dance parties, films and spoken word. All that will be happening all over Seattle at place like Cal Anderson Park, the Northwest Film Forum, Lambert House, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Vera Project and Home Alive. To check out a full schedule and find out more about Bend-It, you can go to their 
Award-winning music producers and music directors of the Grammy Awards, Larry Batiste and Claytoven Richardson, have teamed up with Youth Movement Records to mentor young performers, songwriters and producers. Batiste and Richardson had been previously involved with YMR, volunteering their time to teach songwriting and music theory. But the new mentoring program this summer is stepping it up a notch. They will be paired as professional mentors to five of YMR's most promising young musicians and performers, spending a month with each, guiding them in many facets of the business and the art of performing, and helping them produce their best work. You can read more about YMR's mentoring program in 
Skull Alley, one of the most recent additions to the AMP directory and the newest all-ages space in Louisville, KY is having their grand opening party tomorrow night! The party will be featuring lots of art, DJs and dancing and best of all, it's free! And all-ages of course. So if you're in the area, make sure to check out their brand new show space and screen printing shop. And if you can't be there in person, you can always show your support by sending them a little 
Acrobatics Everyday, a group of students putting on all-ages and open-to-everyone shows at UC Irvine, were featured in the Los Angeles Times this weekend. The group is committed to bringing great music to Irvine that is accessible to everyone, putting on shows in the dining hall, the student center and outside on UCI's campus. They've hosted Parenthetical Girls, the Mae Shi and Mt. Eerie, just to name a few. For a list of upcoming events, visit 
Kennewick, WA's 321 Art Space, which has hosted about 200 shows since it's opening, has closed. Tim Leingang, who opened the space in January 2004 and has been operating it since, said "It accomplished what it had to -- to have a spot for all-ages art that wasn't about money and wasn't subsidized by alcohol or the commercialization of music." Leingang had been planning to close the space in July but had hastened the process as a result of vandalism to the front of the space. Leingang still plans to operate his nonprofit label, FunkyTonk Records, but as one of the few places to see music in the Tri-Cities area, 321 Art Space will definitely be missed.
Turning Point Youth Collective, a brand new youth music organization in Daytona Beach, FL, held their first large scale event last week. TPYC put on Endless Summer Fest, an all day free music and arts festival at City Island Park in Daytona Beach. TPYC is the only organization of it's kind in Daytona Beach and is doing a great job of providing all-ages music opportunities in that city. The collective hopes to find permanent space soon to hold music and arts programs. Check out 
The Neutral Zone Teen Center hosted a block party this past weekend to celebrate its 10th birthday. The party featured music performances, art exhibitions, a basketball tournament and maybe most importantly, a giant blowup slide. Founded in 1998, the center hosts a weekend concert nearly every week and sponsors 22 weekly programs in music, visual and literary arts, leadership education and other areas. Congratulations to the NZ and all the staff and volunteers that work so hard to make it so awesome! The Ann Arbor News wrote an article about the block party, which you can read 
In a totally radical display of awesomeness, Rats of NiMH, some great bands, and a whole lotta friends put together a mobile music festival that started in Manhattan, continued on the subway and ended in Brooklyn. The event, completely free and completely all-ages, featured the So So Glos playing in the Bowery St. station, the Eskalators playing on the train and ton of other bands like Aa and USAISAMONSTER playing at the show's final stop, Goodbye Blue Monday. Make sure to check out 