Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?
Technology
MHTA names keynote, adds categories for Tekne awards
Nominations for the 2003 Tekne Awards began April 1, although the awards ceremony itself won’t take place until October 23. A new feature in the technology community’s night to meet’n’greet is the requirement that all nominations are made online. The annual event is once again co-sponsored by the Plymouth-based Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) and Minneapolis-based Minnesota Technology Inc.
In the past, says Tina Volpe, MHTA’s director of industry events, nominators could send in applications either via the Web site or snail mail, but this year the organization decided to switch.
“We’ve been wanting to do it for a couple of years,” says Volpe of online applications. She says the desire is to make it easier for everyone involved, from nominators to judges. She adds that the MHTA was able to begin accepting online applications this year because they finally found an enabling sponsor.
In addition, Volpe says, there will be a new award category for technology users, although as of this writing there was no official name or description for the category. Volpe promised all of the information will be on the Tekne Awards Web site before May 1. Access that at www.mhta.org.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be the keynote speaker that night.
Tina Volpe, Minnesota High Tech Association: 952.230.4552; tvolpe@mhta.org; www.mhta.org
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