If you read the Collegian regularly (and if you're this deep into our Web site, this is probably the case), the following may already be known to you, and if it wasn't, it would have been by the weekend.

Anyway, there's a lot going on in the near future:

-Friday night at the State Theatre, Asylum is putting on its first show of the semester - an acoustic show headlined by not-quite-local Koji on the Roof.

-Saturday at the Cell Block is Yellowcard, who hasn't been here since the Cell Block was Crowbar.

-Monday, at the State Theatre again (who would have guessed they'd be the live music pinnacle this semester?) is Andrew Bird, which should be a great a show and, from what I can see, will probably be the best of the semester.

-Wednesday in the HUB is a SOMA-organized concert, headlined by the Good Life.

Aside from the fact that all these shows could end up being very entertaining (and make up one of the best week-long stretches of the whole semester), it's interesting to note that all but the Andrew Bird show will feature local bands: The Asylum show will have Joe Dabney and Matthew and the Judes, Cloverleaf is opening for Yellowcard, and the Bullet Parade is playing at the SOMA show.

I'm not sure what this means, exactly, but it has to be a good thing, right? You get to see big national acts and talented local artists on the same stages. As I mentioned - or, more accurately, implored - in the last blog, go to these shows, lest this well run dry.

In the first entry of this blog, I'd like to ask something of our readers:

Please go to concerts.

There are a lot of people in this town who complain about the music scene (myself included). Coming from a suburb of Philadelphia, I'm used to being able to see just about any tour. Any musician who doesn't come through Philly will usually hit up a venue in New York City or D.C., or at least somewhere in Jersey. So being a fan of not-so-big bands and living in State College has taken some getting used to.

After 2+ years here, I'm starting to come around. Most of the bands I already know I like won't come through here, but I've learned that if I take the offensive, I can find some things I haven't heard before that are, in actuality, really worth hearing. State College has a handful of promoters and venues that work really, really hard to bring in good musical acts, and it has a handful of really talented original local bands.. The problem is, in State College, indie music is a niche market. It doesn't appeal to everyone, and a lot of places would rather appeal to get a small share of a bigger market as opposed to a bigger share of a smaller one.

Anyway, here's the point. At the risk of sounding boastful, I've been told many times off the record about bands that could have played in State College. Sometimes it doesn't work out because of logistics and other times it's just poor timing, but all too often a band won't be booked here simply because no one thinks it will sell enough tickets. Because the shows don't happen, it's impossible to know whether it would or would not have. But the point is: they can happen.

The closing of Crowbar over a year ago was a big blow to the State College music scene, but it certainly is improving, albeit gradually. There are a lot of people (myself again included) that want to see it thrive. The only way for this to happen, though, is for people to go out and see shows. If you support the smaller acts, the bigger ones will come. There is potential here, and the process can be expedited with a little support.

Besides, there's not much else to do around here anyway.