I am very very excited to unveil our newest feature on the217.com, forums.

We’ve been waiting to debut these for a little while, and today’s the day! We created them so people who were browsing the site could discuss community and arts and entertainment. We want these to be a place where people will discuss openly and have a good time!

Below, I’ve posted our policy on forums. The forums will be moderated, mostly for on-topic and appropriate content. We don’t like trolls, and you shouldn’t either.

So log in and post!
Elle

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The217.com encourages on-topic discussion about a variety of subjects through our community forums. It is our policy not to delete any posts based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove any posts or threads that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.

In a nutshell, don’t attack people or groups for no reason. If you think something sucks, explain why it sucks.

We’re definitely OK with critique of anything, including our own products and the sister products of Illini Media. Justify what you’re saying, though. You can explain why a story in the Daily Illini wasn’t well-written, or that you think a music review from buzz was way off the mark, as long as you explain what you’re talking about. We will also accept unabashed praise.

Don’t post anything inappropriate such as pornography, violent or threatening material. Racism and sexism and all other ism’s will not be tolerated. It’s 2008; get with the times.

On-topic discussion is the name of the game here. If someone starts a thread, reply to what they’re saying. Internet trolls (and trolls of any kind, they’re just creepy) will not be allowed to perpetuate the black hole effect of the Internet. For more information, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

Don’t advertise your stuff here. It’s really cool that you’re starting a company or that you’re trying to sell your car (and brave, in this economy), but this is not the place for it. The Daily Illini has a great classifieds site, try it out sometime. We do encourage hyping your music/comedy/theatre show, however.

Reviews of restaurants and albums will be more beneficial to all members of the community on the Restaurants page or the Artist Index.

Don’t post something twice. Become familiar with the “edit” button. While we’re all fascinated by what you’re saying, it can’t be so good that we want to hear it twice. Break your posts up into paragraphs. Large blocks of text are known to cause eye strain. Capitalize stuff. Make an attempt at using good grammar.

Make sure your images are a reasonable size if you’re going to post them. A good rule of thumb is around 320×240 at 72 dpi. Do you like to wait 10 minutes for a thread to load?

No spam!

This forum exists so the community will have a fun place to discuss all manners of topics. Please keep it fun and lively. We want to be able to participate in the discussion and not spend all of our time moderating. The217.com was created to celebrate this great place known as Champaign-Urbana, and these forums were created in the same likeness. Show some love, people.

And now for the boring legal part:

The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Posts containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from posting on the217.com.

If you think we wrongfully removed your post, please e-mail the site producer at producer@the217.com. All e-mails will be read and considered equally.

If you haven’t heard of Pygmalion Music Festival, then you might not frequent this site very often, or really any art or community website in the area. But I’m here to tell you one thing: if you do nothing else worthwhile in Champaign-Urbana during your time here, do this:

Go to Pygmalion Music Festival.

It’s absolutely incredible that we have such an amazing weekend for us here in CU. Acts are coming from all over the country, and local bands have a chance to play alongside well-known bands. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Anyone who says CU is just a town in the middle of nowhere, that there’s nothing fun to do here, etc. is just plain wrong. The list goes on and on, but I believe Pygmalion to be the epitome of cool in the area.

Now in its fourth year, and building credibility daily, Pygmalion is being covered by national publications such as Pitchfork and The Onion. Artists are submitting their stuff from all over. And if you don’t take advantage of it, you might be a fool.

Even if you don’t want to spring for the festival pass (which, at $50, is extremely reasonable, not to mention the tote bag full of goodies you get along with it), you can still check out different shows. Think of it as a way to find new music that you might have never heard of. Be enchanted by the four part harmonies and face-melting guitar of Elsinore. Dance your ass off at Dan Deacon. Revel in the indie-rock of Black Mountain. Whatever you do, do yourself a favor and see at least one show this weekend (starting tonight). If you need any recommendations or help, the fine folks in CU have made it easy for you:

-Carlye Wisel, a former buzz writer and Music Editor and founder of OverUC.com, has done an excellent job in pre-coverage for the festival.

-smilepolitely.com, a self-proclaimed “Champaign-Urbana culture blog” and online magazine has run various previews for the fest.

-And of course, we here at the217.com have made every effort to keep you informed, and will continue to do so throughout the weekend.

So get out there, grab your camera, and rock. You won’t regret it, I promise.

pygmalionmusicfestival.com

Here’s some features you might not have known about the217 — or maybe forgot about:

-WPGU Playlist: Did you hear a song at 2:17 AM? How about 9:49 PM? Search through our playlist to find out what it was. While you’re there, you can read/write reviews, buy albums online, and view discographies and bios for the artists.

-Find a buzz near you: Don’t know where to pick up a hard copy of buzz magazine? Use our interactive map, click on your location, and we’ll show you where the closest buzz magazines are to you! They might be just around the corner…

-Restaurants open now: If you’re hungry, you’re hungry. That’s why we’ve got a complete list of restaurants that are open this second. It’s available all the time, and if you want pancakes at 9 PM or a hot fudge sundae at 7 AM, we’ve got you covered.

-the217.com myspace: This is new, and we’re working on the design and content currently, but this is where you can learn more about the site, talk to us and interact with our favorite local artists and personalities through our friends. If you make your way over there, friend us!

-the217 Flickr group: If you enjoy how beautiful Champaign-Urbana can be, join our Flickr group and add your photos. We even have a contest where we pick our favorite every week! Click here to see the contest rules.

And, as always, email me if you have any problems or questions about the site. We love feedback!

Don’t wait to buy your Pygmalion passes for the fall — they’re on sale now at pygmalionmusicfestival.com. This is the easiest and cheapest way to see all your favorite acts from Champaign-Urbana, as well as great national acts, all in your own back yard!

Head over there now to buy your tickets.

So apparently there’s a freezer the size of a football field on campus, which has to be run on ammonia (because it’s the most cost-efficient option). If the ammonia starts to leak, there’s enough ammonia in there to kill the entire population in Champaign.

But don’t worry, there’s alarms and sensors and stuff to keep you all safe.

Carry on.

This is the first installment of the217 Sessions - a component to my blog that involves me interviewing people in the CU community with my camera. I started in my own backyard because it was a little easier to start, but I’ll be branching out in no time.

This one’s a bit long, they won’t all be this long, but enjoy learning more about what goes on at WPGU while we get to the bottom of the word “randomocity” and the car spike from Wayne’s World.

I went to see the Penny Dreadful Players’ “Come See Our Shorts” on Saturday, and I laughed my ass off, pretty much the whole time. Between the rants of Carl Newman to the hilarious skits about god, relationships, politics and life in general, the show was a success. I was surprised at how vulgar it was considering how many moms were in the audience, but then I was also surprised at how many moms were laughing so hard at those jokes (mine included).

The PDP always puts on a good show; I saw Batboy last week and while it was the weirdest musical I’ve ever seen, it was also very well done.

I’ve been seeing a ton of theater in the area lately and I have to say I’ve never been disappointed.

Steve Plock fights Charlie Johnson during “An Audience Member Gets Assaulted”

I went to see Ryan Groff (of elsinore) last night at WEFT studios, and it didn’t disappoint, to say the least. Every time I go see Ryan or elsinore perform, I am always blown away at what they’re currently doing. The first time I went to see them it was just Ryan and Dave (percussion) performing, opening for the Profits, who were terrible. But I couldn’t stop thinking about how good elsinore was… and two years later they’re still captivating me.

Between their 4-part harmonies, catchy songwriting and bold move to ditch the congas and go to a full drum kit, elsinore never lets you down live (or in studio). Ryan doesn’t, either. This was actually my first time seeing him completely by himself, although I’ve listened to his solo album numerous times. Last night he was all about looping, reverb, and heavenly vocal and guitar jams. It was inspiring, and again, was a reminder of how much talent there really is in this town.

Horrible-quality phone photo, again.

Support your local artists, people!

In case you haven’t noticed, the Local Music Awards are tonight. It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks for everyone here at the217, buzz, and WPGU, but the night is finally here. We’re doing a lot of cool stuff with the awards this year, so if you can’t make it out to the show or want to catch some post-coverage, the217 has got your back.

Right now, you can catch a schedule from the buzz. You can also tune in all day long to hear WPGU playing a lot of local music. From 3-6, The Red Baron will be broadcasting live from the Highdive, and from 6-9, Ashley E. will be doing the same thing. They’ll be giving updates and doing interviews on the air as the night goes on, so tune in to WPGU.

Matt Fender will also be live blogging the entire event, which you can find on the LMA page. We’ll have photo galleries being updated live as the night goes on, and you can catch video performances of all the bands tomorrow morning. Have a little Corn Desert Ramblers with your cornflakes.

We hope to see you all at the LMA’s tonight, but if you can’t catch them, hang out with the217 because we’ve got you covered.

Monday night rage with Zmick was, for lack of a better word, raging on Monday. It was a particularly full crowd at the Canopy, and Zmick provided all the sweet tunes accompanied well by good people and good drink specials. My particular favorite of the evening was a cover of “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”, in which they inserted the word “acid” for “vitamins”.

If you haven’t been to see Monday night rage with Zmick yet, it’s definitely worth your while. No matter how terrible the weather or how many midterms are floating around, there’s always a solid crowd there and Zmick is always tight.

Oh yes, and it’s free.

I apologize for the lack of quality. They were taken with my phone — I was caught off-guard at the awesomeness.