It is difficult to explain in words the scene surrounding jambands today. There is no doubt that one exists. It is probably best described as a network of musicians, fans, managers, journalists, agents, talent buyers, roadies, promoters and friends. In fact, much of the scene revolves around this very web site. Before I began working at Gamelan Interactive last month my primary exposure to jambands was mainly as a fan and also as a small-time band manager in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had no real perception of a larger "scene" beyond attending shows and discussing great music with friends. In just five weeks at Gamelan I have been submerged into the jambands world and I can safely say that a very real web of relationships exists.

That being said, I welcome you to my column. As I began working at Gamelan it seemed obvious to me that someone from our company should contribute monthly to jambands.com. After all, many of the bands we work with on a consistent basis are featured regularly on this site. In the past month alone, we've done shows with Jazz Mandolin Project, Soulive, Deep Banana Blackout, The Slip, the New Deal, Fat Mama, Uncle Sammy, Jiggle the Handle, Foxtrot Zulu, Project Logic, and Addison Groove Project, just to name a few. My column will take you, the reader, behind the scenes and closer to the music. Each month I will feature a crazy occurrence from the road, a funny story from a show, an unbelievable backstage event, an interesting business transaction, a rehearsal gone wrong, or any other kind of event which seems interesting enough to write about.

For my first column, I think it is only appropriate that I elaborate on the fire that destroyed our company's office building and received coverage on this site. This story is a perfect example of the type of forum I am seeking to create with this column. It is one thing to hear that our office was destroyed, but it is another thing to try and understand what the experience was like.

I take you to Wednesday, February 9th…it was noon…our fourth-floor office was busy as usual. Jenny, our office manager, was sick of waiting for Todd, our head agent, to get off the phone so she decided to get some bagels by herself. Andrew was in the back of the office on the phone with Al from moe. and Howie and Steve were doing their thing in the marketing department. A couple of minutes after Jenny left, the office started to get a faint odor of smoke. Howie, Steve, and I stopped what we were doing and started investigating. We looked out of our window and heard faint alarms coming from the ground level. There were two women standing in the parking lot looking up at the building. Howie immediately checked the hallway and found an enormous amount of smoke. He quickly made the announcement to us: "Guys…fire…out… NOW!!"

Not really thinking anything of it, I grabbed my jacket and walked down two flights of stairs out of the building with Howie and Steve. While walking through the hallways I covered my mouth to avoid inhaling the smoke. About 30 seconds after us, Andrew and Todd left the office and the smoke had already gotten much worse. Todd instructed an older man not to take the back stairwell and probably saved his life. We all met up in the parking lot out front of the building and began to watch.

Within five minutes, there were approximately ten fire trucks on the scene. They immediately began rescuing people from the top floor of the building with the ladders on the trucks. The building's vents were oozing with black smoke and some flames were beginning to become visible. Within another ten minutes, at least four television helicopters were circling the area. The situation was extremely frantic and people began hoping out loud that nobody was still in the building.

Everyone from Gamelan (minus Jenny) walked around to the back of the building to get a better look at our office. We were still hoping that some items might be saved. As the fire began spreading, the fire trucks used their ladders as a tool to smash all the windows as a way to decrease the pressure inside the building. It started to occur to me that I would probably never step foot in our office ever again.

At this point Jenny returned from her lunch in tears. I can't imagine what it must have been like pulling into the parking lot to see the building surrounded by smoke and flames. She searched for us out front and then finally found us in back of the building. Todd's girlfriend, Kristen, arrived on the scene at about this same time because she was home and saw the fire on the news. For the next hour or so, we all just watched in complete wonder.

The building began to develop seams as the flames and smoke poured out. The firemen worked diligently, but the water appeared to be doing nothing. Huge pieces of the walls fell off the building and the roof collapsed. The situation was made more surreal by all of the surrounding photographers, cameramen, and reporters. "I have absolutely never seen anything like this," I kept thinking to myself.

Eventually, we all decided to leave and regroup at one of our partner's apartments around the corner. We began the mental lists of what was lost: computers, countless CDs, irreplaceable artwork, furniture, cell phones, band press kits, photos, etc. What still remains, however, are the relationships Gamelan has developed over the years. Within an hour or two, the phone lines at the apartment were all busy as we were conducting business once again. I can't begin to tell you how strange it is to be doing business in someone's apartment while your office building is burning down on live television.

A little bit later in the day, at about 5 PM, the news reported that one man, Gerald Kaplan, was confirmed dead and that four other people were still missing. On Saturday afternoon, the bodies of Virginia Lewis, Robert Lewis, Lynne Brady and David Stulin were found, raising the death toll to five. Kaplan's office was directly across the hall from Gamelan's. Knowing that lives were lost has made all of us realize how lucky we were to have left the building when we did. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who perished in the blaze.

In the wake of such a tragedy, I have been amazed at the focus that everyone at Gamelan has shown. In the music business, if you sit back and take time off (no matter what the circumstances are) you will get lost in the shuffle. As jambands.com reported on the day of the fire, all of our shows will go on as planned and all of our bands will continue to be represented with the same service they have come to expect from Gamelan.

I began this column with a discussion of the scene that surrounds jambands today and how it really is a network of relationships. The tremendous support we have been offered from people all over the country is a testament to the strength of those relationships. The amount of phone calls we have all received has truly been astounding. On behalf of all of us at Gamelan Interactive, I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who has been so gracious and understanding of our situation.