Former Booker Melissa Brodeur
Starts Bee Well Massage for Musicians

Melissa Brodeur, a certified massage therapist and founder of Bee Well Massage, knows it is easy to ignore your health when touring. She started in the music business as the entertainment coordinator at Nectar’s in downtown Burlington, which opened up opportunities for her as a tour manager and booking agent for several bands in the Burlington, VT and Philadelphia areas. In between touring and promoting bands, she went to massage school and has combined her two loves in life, massage and music.

Brodeur has given pre-show massages to The Disco Biscuits and Umphree’s Magee.

“Living in a van and playing gigs every night makes your muscles tight and achy,” Brodeur says. “A pre-show massage helps with your coordination, stamina and energy. It also helps you to relax and ease your nerves on stage.” She focuses on certain body parts for different musicians. “Guitarists usually ask for focus on wrists while drummers want focus on their arms.”

Massage seems like an obvious cure for a music-related hangover, whether it is from a party the night before or just road exhaustion. “Also, drink a lot of water and go grocery shopping for your van instead of eating bar food,” she suggests about maintaining a healthy lifestyle while on the road.

Melissa Brodeur can be reached at www.BeeWellMassage.com or (267) 255-2452 if you want to book a massage therapist for your show.

-Meghan Chiampa

IN THE NEWS

Charles Eller Studios, located in Charlotte, has had a productive summer. The studio recently recorded an album for The Starline Rhythm Boys, and acoustic blues great Eric Bibb was in the studio recording some new tracks. The studio is currently recording Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and working closely with Boston-based labels, Cow Island Records and Putuyamo Records.

www.charleseller

studios.com

The Radio Bean Birthday Bash will be held on November 8 in Burlington at the Radio Bean. Local bands will be playing from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Last year’s bash hosted 56 acts.

www.radiobean.com

Icebox Records is working on upcoming releases for bands such as Punky Brewskies, Greg Davis and Swale, who is working on an album titled A Small Arrival. The album will be the bands’ fourth release but their first full-length album.

www.ibrecords.com

Spare Change Records, located in Brattleboro, is an independent record label dedicated to “taking the industry out of music.” The label, which owns local venue The Tinder Box, features a plethora of free events, music and reading material. The first Friday of every month, the label hosts The Free Store, where local artist can give away music, art, ‘zines or prints.

www.sparechangerecords.

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Spare Change Records is also the creator of The Playtime Posse, a group of musicians who publish Playtime News, a newspaper with what the group calls “better truth” than what mainstream news is distributing. They distribute the newspaper in homemade and installed newspaper boxes around town. The label mostly runs on donations and volunteers, hence why everything is free.

www.sparechangerecords.

wordpress.com

Vermont-based record label Big Heavy World is in the process of putting together a compilation disc of Vermont artists active since 1996. The label is working with the Vermont Music Library, the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont Folklife Center. The album will be released for Lake Champlain’s Quadricentennial celebration.

www.bigheavyworld.com

Brendan Thomas, the creative force behind the one-man-band Foreverinmotion, is currently in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Said Thomas in a recent blog entry, “While out there in the lovely mystical desert, I will set up my studio and record my new albums, get a change in perspective, and tap into some new kind of energy.” Thomas was responsible for the entire recording and production of FIM’s 2006 release, The Beautiful Unknown. He plans to return to the East Coast sometime in December.

www.myspace.com/

foreverinmotion

Straight Arrow Recordings is in the process of moving its mastering studio to a new space in the Cotton Mill Complex located in Brattleboro. The new location will allow for more recording space in a better sound-controlled environment.