Again, it’s that time of year when we ask for your support. Unsatisfied with our brief winter break, the TMT news staff has caught itself in a quagmire of lugubriousness, and that means, in order to keep your little eyeballs filled with texty goodness, we need help. Your help.

That’s why I am taking the totally unsanctioned initiative to launch this year’s “Unofficial 2008 TMT Reader News Story Pledge Drive,” where you, the reader, can write your very own TMT news story. You may remember the theme from previous articles such as “Exclusive: Create Your Own Burning Star Core News Story!” (TMT News) and “Let’s Write A News Story: Marah — Which Sounds A Lot Like Mirah — Is Touring; Hey What Is Mirah Up To?” (TMT News). Today is the first time, however, that TMT has gone the extra step and suggested that you (YES! LOWLY YOU!) have the potential to climb the ivory tower of music journalism and become published (albeit anonymously) on the virtual Olympus that is Tiny Mix Tapes.

The most basic and essential part of this process is the selection of an artist who is doing something newsworthy and has not appeared on TMT for that newsworthy thing. To make the experience more realistic, you may want to recreate the writing process as it exists for the actual TMT newswriter. First, I would suggest wasting a sizeable chunk of time reading Wikipedia entries or even a past TMT feature. I enjoyed a Chuck Klosterman exposé while writing this very tidbit. If you want to go for the full experience, you may also want to become an ex-convict, learn conversational Esperanto (Estas bela tago!), or cover yourself, or a neighbor, in Vaseline.

When completed, just copy the goods into this box, or better yet, compose a story in the style of your favorite TMT newswriter and send it to him or her. No one will ever know.

The formatting should resemble something close to the text for the upcoming RTX tourdates that follows. As you may have noticed, the content doesn’t really matter:

02.18.08 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts 02.19.08 - Albuquerque, NM - Burt’s Tiki Lounge 02.20.08 - Tulsa, OK - The Continental $ 02.21.08 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar 02.22.08 - St. Louis, MO - The Bluebird 02.23.08 - Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen 02.24.08 - Detroit, MI - Scrummage University 02.25.08 - Columbus, OH - Bourbon St 02.26.08 - Pittsburgh, PA - 31st St Pub 02.27.08 - Washington, DC - Velvet Lounge 02.28.08 - Hudson Valley, NY - WFMU (live performance) 02.29.08 – New York, NY - Knitting Factory Tap Bar ! 03.01.08 - Hanover, NH- Dartmouth 03.02.08 - Jamaica Plains, MA - The Milky Way % 03.03.08 - Providence, RI- AS220 03.05.08 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands Gallery @ 03.06.08 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head 03.07.08 - Raleigh, NC - Downtown Event Center 03.08.08 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light 03.09.08 - Chattanooga, TN – JJ’s Bohemia 03.10.08 - Atlanta, GA - Lenny’s Bar 03.12.08 - New Orleans, LA - Hi-Ho Lounge 03.13.08 - Fort Worth, TX - Lolas * 03.14.08 - Austin, TX - Flamingo Cantina ^ 03.15.08 - Austin, TX - SXSW 08 Daytime Party 03.16.08 - San Antonio, TX - The X-ing * 03.17.08 - El Paso, TX - The Brickhouse 03.18.08 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress ( 03.20.08 - San Diego, CA - The Pink Elephant 03.21.08 - Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory Front Room )

$ El Paso Hot Button
! Bad Wizard, Blues Control and more
% Viva Viva, the Life Partners
@ Telepathe, Child Abuse, Necking
* Monotonix
^ Panache/Lovepump SXSW Showcase w/ Monotonix, HEALTH, Clipd Beaks, Old Time Relijun, The Apes
( Burning Brides
) The Mae Shi, Bad Dudes, Foot Village