Since mudcat is such a large community, it should be ideal for helping performers and venues find each other. What I have in mind is when a performer is planning to tour a long distance from home (I am thinking of transatlantic, but other long distances would also fit) the venues don't know they are coming in time to book them and the performers don't know where all the appropriate venues are. This would not be for "Next week I will be at X" (which is covered by the "What's On" permathread) but rather the "I am planning to be in the Northeast US in early October with a major gig scheduled for Boston on (date) and would like to explore other gig possibilities within 3 states of Boston" type postings. The other side would be a list of venues. So if people think this is a good idea, I guess I just volunteered to maintain two permathreads:

1) A list by month and location (country/section of country) of what performers are planning tours, with links to the performer's website.

2) A list of venues by state/country with contact info (as much as the booking person wants published), type (hall/club/house)and size of venue, day functional (ie. third Saturday, occasional, or whatever), type of music booked, etc.