One of the easiest ways to benefit from what the AMP community offers is to take a regular look at the forums. The latest 10 are always posted on the right side of AMP's home page (as are the latest 10 blog entries). At this point, something new is being posted in one of these places nearly every day - calls for submissions, show announcements, and more. Do you know of something that some other artist in the world could possibly benefit from? Post it in the forums. Have something to say about your own art, or just want to say something about anything? Put it in your blog, where you can also attach MP3s of your music. Want more AMP Members in your own town? Just send an email to pluginamp@gmail.com with your name, address, and how many AMP postcards you'd like to leave around your neighboorhood (caf�s are good, as are music clubs, but always ask first), and I'll try to get them to you.

Multicultural, colorful Silverlake is full of artists of all stripes, including more than its fair share of musicians. In this newsletter, I'm featuring two of my favorite Silverlake neighborhood musician friends who are in AMP. Scrote is one of the best. A very busy man, Scrote has just returned from a tour featuring stops in Poland, Berlin, and New York City. Influenced by bebop trumpeter Pat Harbison, Scrote has studied under experimental music maestro Larry Austin, and now divides his time between playing live, recording, writing, and producing. He's worked with Myles Boisen, Jessica Lurie, Amy Denio, Fred Frith, Earl Harvin, Robby Virus, and Wire Graffiti, to name just a few. Listen to some of his music at http://www.bundinimusic.com/scrote and http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/scrote

Another Silverlake musician, Jeff Merchant (AMP Member merchy) has a new album out - Window Rolled Down - and has a show at the Echo (which is pretty much in the neighborhood) Monday night, June 12 at 9 pm (see merchy's blog for further details). Jeff is a singer-songwriter who's been known to write "cute, sweet, happy love songs (which are also) undeniably charming and whimsical," not to mention "carefully crafted and thought-provoking," says his AMP profile. Find out more about Jeff from his website, from his AMP profile, or just go and see his show. Tell him I sent you.

And here's a tutorial on how to get to know the rest of your fellow AMP Members. Just follow these steps, and you'll have a lot better idea of how to navigate the AMP website. 1. Go to http://pluginamp.com and login. 2. Go to the menu at the top left, and click on "AMP Members: A Complete List." Start scrolling down. You'll see everyone's profile, page after page. 3. See one that looks interesting? Click on their website. Explore. Then go back to the list of profiles. 4. Look for a category that interests you, such as "I am a dancer." Click on that, and you'll see the entire list of dancers (or whatever category you picked). Anything that changes colors when you roll your mouse over it is clickable. 5. Want to ask an AMP Member about something? Click on their profile, then click "contact." An email will be sent to them. (You can also send them a message within the AMP system by clicking on "send private message.") 6. Is there some particular piece of information you'd like to learn about? Perhaps to see if anyone mentions a dog in their profile? Click on "Profile Search" in the menu, then type "dog" into the search box that appears. About 15 usernames should appear, each because they used the word "dog" in their profile. What does AMP Member robinsok say about her dog? 7. Perhaps you'd like to look for a certain AMP Member. Go to the "Search" box on the upper right side of the screen, click "Search," and then click on "users." I suggest you search for AMP Member Ganesh Anandan. I love his website. Type in "Ganesh Anandan," hit return, and read about him. 8. Go back to the AMP home page. See the "Earthquake Yogyakarta 2006" painting? AMP Member dutchartist painted it. (He also put up a forum about an art program in Bali - have a look at that!) You can see his username above the painting. Click on his username to see his profile. Drop me a line the next time you're in the neighborhood! And for now, I'll be getting to know some of your neighborhoods - with AMP Member Jakester in Scotland, perhaps AMP Member device in Paris, and future AMP Member Nancy P in Amsterdam. I'll be seeing you...