For as long as we have run events listings (nearly 25 years now) we have also run a little box that warns people to call ahead before leaving their home or office for an entertainment venue. That’s because 1.) things may change after the details of an event are printed in our weekly publication; and 2.) we — or the people submitting the information — may make a mistake. It happens.
To that warning box we should probably now add another sentence: Also check our website, www.princetoninfo.com.
If you haven’t visited our site lately, you might want to take a look now. It’s changed, and it’s still changing, as we revamp the site that was originally designed and uploaded back in 1996 or 1997. One of many changes is that the home page no longer attempts to mimic the contents of the weekly newspaper.
Instead it has a life of its own, its own set of deadlines, and its own possibilities for providing useful information in a timely fashion. The February 12 plane crash in Buffalo was a tragic case in point. At around 3 p.m. on Friday, February 13, we received word that one of the victims was the husband of jazz vocalist Jeanie Bryson, the headliner at a Valentine’s night event at the Trenton War Memorial honoring her father, Dizzie Gillespie.
Our online events database, which gets uploaded every day, was immediately updated for a second time that day, with the February 14 event listed as a cancellation, sadly, instead of the celebration it was intended to be. In addition, we posted a bulletin on the home page itself, with links to a prior story we had written on Bryson and to the Myspace page of her husband, Coleman Mellett, a guitarist in the Chuck Mangione Band.
Bad news travels fast, they say, but in this case the cancellation was still not widely known even on Saturday morning, February 14. Both Trenton dailies reported on the death of Mellett, but only one made the connection to Bryson and announced that her show would not go on.
Here at U.S. 1 we continue to strive to produce the most comprehensive events calendar for our print edition. And we also are ready to provide split second updates as warranted. If you have a last minute cancellation or — happier news — an additional performance or other change to an event, please send the information to us — events@princetoninfo.com.
For those of us drones who seldom get beyond our office and home, a weekly view of the upcoming events is usually enough. But all of you social butterflies might do well to take a peak every day at princetoninfo. You can go to the events search page to explore our entire events database (about 3,000 records are online). Or you can click on “what’s happening today” or “what’s happening tomorrow” for quick views of events listed in the next 48 hours.
