CMJ 2008 Bingo: One Way To Sort Of Have Fun This Week

The 2008 CMJ Music Marathon–New York’s annual mishmash of bands, brands, free liquor, and desperation–kicks off today, and Idolator will be skulking around, trying to find the artist who, despite the current economic climate and the music industry’s even worse state, dreams of being the next Annuals. (Hey, who knows, it could actually be Annuals at this point!) In an effort to bring together our readership through the power of social gaming, we’ve put together our own version of CMJ Bingo, where you keep your eagle eyes peeled for various trends, people, and other items in an effort to win valuable prizes. (Or at least bragging rights.) The full board is after the jump.

Print it out and bring it with you! The first person to send a Bingo to tipsATidolatorDOTcom wins a free can of Sparks. (It may or may not be empty.) And if you’re not at CMJ, you can always play along by reading CMJ-related blog posts on The Hype Machine, because I’m sure there are going to be a bunch of obsessively detailed accounts.

A few notes: * Single words in quotes indicate parts of band names. You have to watch at least one song by the band to mark it off. * Magazines can be marked off if you see an issue somewhere, even if it’s a single forlorn issue with pages ripped out. * Growing your own mutton chops doesn’t count. * There was free pie last year. I swear.

Special thanks to Catbird, CRLS, Lucas Jensen, and our 2007 CMJ correspondents for inspiration.

CMJ 2008 Marathon [Official site]