Ryan Eby pointed out PodBop, a site that podcasts sample tracks from bands coming to your area (or any other area you select), and we both wished we’d thought of it ourselves.

There’s nothing coming to Warren (of course). But they’ve got coverage for Denver, where I’ll be in May, so it immediately found a place in my podcast aggregator.

Laura Fries might have covered the smart and cool factors best:

Why this is smart, and why an entertainment-oriented newspaper would be smart to copy it

• It’s easy. It’s convenient. It’s cool.
   
• Podbop skirts the legality of files issues by only linking to mp3s already published online.
   
• This project is dynamic; relying on user-contributed content. Instead of manually uploading mp3 files (and tracking down pesky legal releases), this site is a mash up of events feeds and music files that users enter into the database. As the database of songs grow, the site will become infinitely more useful. As it becomes infinitely more useful, the more likely it is to have lots of participation from the public.

Why this is cool

• Sweet. Free music=awesome.
   
• Free music + upcoming shows = stuff to do; awesome!
   
• Democratic, baby! Local bands can gain new audiences in a snap.

Calendars for too long have been the domain of “groupware,” the near antithesis of social software. Upcoming launched the first assault on that in late 2003, PodBop advances that a generation.

podbop, eventful, upcoming, event, calendar, social software, podcast, local, music, concert calendar, shows, show calendar

CommonCensus Map Project:

The CommonCensus Map Project is redrawing the map of the United States based on your voting, to show how the country is organized culturally, as opposed to traditional political boundaries. It shows how the country is divided into ’spheres of influence’ between different cities at the national, regional, and local levels.

tags: common census, commoncensus, culture, cultural boundaries, cultural map, cultural regions, local, locale, map of the united states, map project, political boundaries, region, regions, spheres of influence, united states, us map