[Editor’s note: This month we feature moheads.com. A site devoted to Missouri-area music.
It is a very useful guide to folks who live in the area and this site has really worked to foster a
community of like-minded music fans in the region. Administrator Brooks Williams offers
his thoughts on the site…]
The History:
On May 13, 1999 The MO Heads discussion list was launched by Richard ‘Rich
Bob’ Vining as a forum to discuss Missouri-area music. Originally, MO Heads
consisted of about 10 people — all from the St. Louis area. Since then,
the MO Heads list has grown to over 275 members, expanded to better cover
the Kansas City jamband scene and has launched it’s own website,
moheads.com.
The first MO Heads website was hosted by geocities and put together by James
Wilson (it still exists at http://www.geocities.com/jam4wilson/moheads). In
September 2000 a thread came up on the list regarding registering our own
domain. Without being asked, MO Head Wayne Hoxsie registered moheads.com
and donated the server space. I decided to take on the task of administrating
the site and on September 22, 2000 moheads.com went live.
The Site:
The site was intended to serve as a marketing tool, but it quickly became a
place where people came to look at reviews of local shows, check out our
concert calendar and view pictures. The real pride of moheads.com is the
concert calendar. Using a database as it’s backend, the concert calendar
can be updated through the website, making it easy to stay current. On
Tuesday nights there is a moheads IRC chat that can be accessed through the
webpage as well.
We also have information about local venues and links to local band’s
websites. The image galleries have become a popular area of the site and
our contributors have provided a number of great pictures of local shows.
The reviews section has also become very large and very popular.
Community:
In the year that moheads.com has existed, the discussion list has doubled in
size and continues to grow. The purpose of MO Heads is ‘to serve the
midwest jamband revolution’ and I feel that it has been successful so far.
MO Heads members have created strong friendships both on and off the list
and have recently helped bridge the gap between the St. Louis and Kansas
City scenes. Without MO Heads I would have never been exposed to bands such
as The Ominous Seapods, Umphrey’s McGee, Lake Trout and other national acts
as well as various local groups. MO Heads members include promoters, band
members, local venues and local media, which creates a great deal of unique
discussion. This fall I was asked to be a judge at Cicero’s Third Annual
Battle of the Bands as a representative from MO Heads — so we’ve really
become an integral part of the Missouri jamband community.
The Future:
The future holds many things for moheads.com. I’m hoping to improve the
concert calendar in the next year so that links to maps will appear next to
venue names and links to the band and venue websites will be included in
each calendar entry. I’m also considering an online b&p offering system.
In the next few months I’m also hoping to do a major clean up of the code
behind the site. Most importantly, I hope that moheads will continue to be
an strong member of the Missouri jamband community.
Contributors:
MO Heads would not be such a success without the following contributors:

Rich Vining (founder)
James Mullins (Local DJ, Stumble In The Dark [KDHX 88.1 FM])
Jay Mumma (Booking agent, Cicero’s)
Wayne Hoxsie (webmaster)
Brad Mitchell (site manager)
Mark Arnold (photo contributor)
Central Plains Jamband Society (sister group [cjps.org])
Brooks Williams
Site Administrator
www.moheads.com