From the notably nerdy and nefariously non-neat desk of Paul:

Once upon a Thursday evening, blogging out my thoughts a fleeting
Dancing ‘cross the keys in an attempt to paint these words ‘pon screen–
Grooving to a YouTube playlist (one of my own, no, not an a-list),
Finding  proper words I may list– Nay, missed in this rhyming scheme,
“Things to note” my keyboard chattered, “in hopes to keep this weekend keen:
See Open Beta, and wear your green.”

Good evening, All. and welcome to the pre-game show.  If you’re reading this, you’re in for a treat.

Last summer, Open Beta took on an ambitious idea.  With two in-studio albums under our belt, we wanted to take the recording experience out of the studio, and into a live-performance environment.

To say we were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our fans would be an understatement.  While we were originally concerned with making sure we’d be able to get enough interest to make this project viable, our concerns nearer the performance date became “are we going to be able to stay within venue capacity?”   Not only that, but we have multiple benefactors who contacted us to lend support as well, setting up a scholarship for those who may not be able to afford a ticket, or offering rides to make sure attendees wouldn’t have to consider not attending due to a lack of transport.

To all of you who have supported us in the grand Open Beta, whether in this one step that was the Live Project, or along our journey as a whole: You have our whole-hearted thanks, because we never would have been able to do any of this without You.

If you haven’t already, some of you are now very likely wondering about an update on the aforementioned Live Project.  Wonder no more for the fruits of that live performance are here!

Our 3rd album, titled CrowdSorcery, is being released this weekend and will be first available for sale at our live shows. As we’ve done in the past, the album will be available in CD format, and we also have a limited run of USB Flash keys.  The Flash Keys will contain all the tracks found on the CD plus bonus tracks and photos taken at the live-performance recording. (Our apologies to anyone in attendance in violation of witness protection program conditions.)

Also of note: We’ve got more than a few upcoming plans in the works for promotional and marketing ideas, and we’re looking to up our game in those areas.  We’re likely going to be testing some things out, asking for feedback, and open to suggestions on how to make Open Beta “betta”.

Yeah, this is why we try to only let me write once a month…

Meanwhile, we really hope to see you this weekend if you can make it to one of our shows.  If you do, please come up and say hello to us in between sets, and consider stopping by the merch table to sign up for our experiments, focus groups and emailing list.

Much Love,

Paul

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