Advice CMS for 2 projects: Band Agency, Tourism

I have an account with Fantastico. I have not used a CMS before. I did write a directory script using PHP/MySQL three years ago, it was very basic. I have several sites that I think would be easier to manage with a CMS. I am hoping to avoid installing 5-6 different systems only to find it's not the right one. I've been to opensourceCMS.com, I'm not familiar enough with the wide variety of CMS features to know what they actually do. I would prefer free open source, but will consider any. I appreciate your input on which CMS would be best for each project.

Project 1:
Music Booking Agency
Currently in static HTML, over 40 artist pages. Mostly cover bands for private events.
Owner needs to be able to enter artist info in a database and generate lists over multiple categories.
Site should include sections for other info, ie. news, event planning, FAQ, testimonials, links, etc.
Mailing lists, calendar for each artist (not needed now, but in future)
Artists do not modify their own info (although this might be useful in the future)
Artist info should include:
Bio, song list, photo, flash-streamed audio or video (mostly audio now).
Client testimonials that are invisible until the link is clicked on, like they pop up, or display via CSS, or ? They would need to be in a database as well, linked to the artist to which they refer.
Might be cool if Clients could click on a box, like add to cart, and email a form with a list of Artists to the Agency.
Might be cool to add Amazon for event planning books, etc. or Artist CDs.

Project 2:
Niche directory for city tourism district
Say you had a domain like fishermanswharf.com for a mid-sized city. I'm thinking more revenue would be generated by contacting the businesses in the district directly for banner ads and live URL links (what to charge is another question). This area has an entertainment district, musuems, luxury condos, lofts, gift shops, businesses from investment brokers to ad agencies, it's a gateway for the rest of the city. A link directory seems obvious. Can you have listings in the directory and turn the URLs off and on? As in show them as text only (not live) or turn the URL off but keep it in the directory for future use (like smartpages.com)? I have the .net, .org, and .biz for this name (.com has been at a parking service for years). I messed around with phpAdsNew for the first time and thought that would do it, but can't sort the listings like I want to. I want to track all the exit clicks. Other ideas are book a hotel in the district, restaurant guide, directory of each building (for business travelers), etc. So many possibilities! Adsense & Amazon will be used on this one as well.

I have a few other domains that could use the same CMS as the tourism site, a wedding domain, others. I've got about 50 domains, most of which are undeveloped or parked on something else.

TIA for your input!
GoddessWeb

 

"I am hoping to avoid installing 5-6 different systems only to find it's not the right one."

^^^^^^^^^^^^


I've spent endless hours on CMS and found out they all have strengths along with serious issues. The best advice I can give is you copy / paste your above effort into 3 or 4 of the Open-source forums supporting the CMS's. Then the 'local faithful' will explain why they think their favorite project is best.

If there is an easy, simple answer to your post, I hope it all works out well for you.

Good luck.

 

Joomla with the http:// extensions. joomla. org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,97/Itemid,35/"]Gig Calendar Component

Use http:// extensions. joomla. org/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,450/Itemid,35/"]Jombok for booking.

Joomla with http:// www. mosets. com/"]Mosets Tree is an unbeatable directory.

You must join the links - I am not allowed to post live links yet.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and links. Surely both of these projects have been done infinitum and there's a package already in existence whether based on Joomla or something else? Joomla seems to be the preferred CMS in general at DP. But some prefer Drupal, don't know why.