As I write this, 45 Portsmouth-area bands/artists have committed to recording an album by the end of February. That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of previously unrecorded original material. There are going to be (at least) forty-five new local albums by March 1. Holy cow!

If you’ve read this paper lately, it’s likely you’ve heard about our latest endeavor, Record Production Month (RPM ‘06). It’s a challenge we put forth to the Seacoast music scene: to record an entire album by the end of February using whatever means available. Why? To invigorate and inspire our musical community. What if everybody came up with amazing songs? What if there were a bunch of new ideas kicking around?

Mostly, though, we just wanted to see what would happen. It was just one of a million crazy ideas that are kicking around The Wire office after a few cups of coffee, but sure enough, it’s happening. Two weeks ago when we announced the event, could you have even named 45 musical projects from our scene? Did you have any idea there were this many out there? There are, and there will be more (don’t make me call out names!). If you’re a musician who is still sitting on the fence, there’s one more chance to get involved.

On Thursday, Jan. 26, we’re holding an RPM orientation meeting downstairs at The Muddy River Smokehouse. It’s going to be our first chance since we announced the challenge to get all the RPM acts together in one room. More importantly, it’s a last chance for any fence-sitters to get on board. Don’t write off RPM before you hear us out! Go ahead and poke around the RPM website (www.rpmchallenge.com) and watch the musical community grow before your very eyes. Watch the ideas fly.

What amazing creative breakthroughs await? We’re going to find out. It’s already happening, and we’re getting together and getting to work.  Invest in yourself and your music scene. We need you, so join in.

Jon Nolan is contributing music editor for The Wire. He’s also taking part in the RPM challenge. The RPM ’06 orientation meeting kicks off in the Newberry Room at the Muddy River Smokehouse in Portsmouth on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. For more information, call 603-427-0403 or visit www.rpmchallenge.com.