2009 - Quite the strange year. We had a lot of ups + downs - even more than usual. More specifically, we had a lot of sharp contrast - whether it was in dollar amounts raised at shows, bands' willingness to play for the cause, venues' willingness to host our shows, etc. Our lowest total raised at a single show last year was $52.25 - our highest was a whopping $875.35, not only a high for 2009, but also a total that shattered our previous high of $713 raised at a show back in 2006.  In 2009 we received an unprecedented amount of help from bands playing the shows, not just onstage but offstage as well, such as help with promotion, donating merchandise(check out our STB store page), and in some cases putting together the lineup for the show. We also experienced a ton of rejection and/or being ignored by bands that weren't into it. Honestly, we were blown off literally about 90% of the time. Some bands in this town really need to get over themselves. We started off the year by being handed 4 Saturday nights to work with from one venue, plus two other venues giving us one show each. By the end of the year we were experiencing shows being rescheduled and/or cancelled alltogether. We had what seemed to be 3 reliable venues; by year's end we lost 1, 1 became questionable, and one remained. But then we picked up 1. I'm getting dizzy, how about you? But hey 8 shows last year - from which we raised a total of $3,037.60 for 5 worthy Boston area shelters. Some things remained the same - we're still in no financial position to open our help center for the homeless office. It may be some time before we can take this step. I think I'll stop throwing a timeline down on that, and I'll just say we will do it when the time is right, and as soon as we can. Also remaining the same is the amount of homelessness I see every day. On the upside, we had another successful Winter Clothing Drive, collecting and distributing 534 items of clothing to area shelters. We were given a few small but good promotional opportunities including a mention in the Fenway News, a short interview segment on Malden Access TV, and an interview segment for Emerson College's morning TV show. 2009 - not bad. Here's what we need to do in the short term - 1. We still need some PA equipment. DOH! While we were able to take care of part of this problem, we're still working on it. Unfortunately, with the loss of our steady venue, so too went our PA system. We will be putting on shows in March and April to knock out this problem. 2. Network more. We have come across some great people who have helped tremendously, but we still need to do more to let people know we exist. 3. Cover our own expenses better. I suppose this ties into #1. Our own personal financial situation is tight, and it has become increasingly difficult to pay for things ourselves like we used to. Therefore we will be putting on 2-3 shows this year for that purpose. There it is - the Past, Present, and Future of STB. Thank You to everybody that has helped us so far. Your help is hugely responsible for our success thus far. We cannot do it all alone. We Thank You for ourselves and on behalf of homeless people everywhere. Come on 2010.