[Dixielandjazz] Standing / Sitting

[Stephen Barbone]

List mates:

Since our band is made up of 'Old Folks", most of us sit, while playing
ensemble. We all stand while playing solos, except guitar who sits most
all the time, unless accepting kisses from rowdy female fans.

Front line on tonight's club date gig is trombone (72), Trumpet (79) and
me on clarinet (68). The two others sit because of age. I sit because I
have fallen arches. However, we do not use low chairs. We use bar
stools, about 30 inches high which make it easy to slide to a standing
position when we solo.

As we see it, the bar stools add to the charm of the band. Audience
reaction is something like "Hey, these old guys can barely stand, but
listen to what's coming out of their horns."

The bass player (72) also uses a bar stool full time, but still hauls
his 100 year old full sized German made bass to all of our gigs. The
drummer and guitar player are both only 64 and sit because that's the
way they play.

Invariably, I start to stand more and more during most gigs, and then
come home with feet that are really sore and need to take 2
Ibuprofen's.  Worse if we did a double. So please excuse the older bands
if we are wearing comfortable shoes, or look slightly bedraggled on rare
occasions.

As far as Barbone Street is concerned, folks tell us we project more
energy than all those young kid bands we compete with for gigs, so I
guess it doesn't matter whether we sit or stand. It is how you sit or
stand that counts.

As long as we don't slouch and look like we wish we were somewhere else.
I've seen many musicians and bands project that "Ho Hum, why am I here"
attitude and there is no excuse for that type of audience insulting
behavior, no matter how old or how tired the musos might be.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS. You can get a folding metal bar stool from Walmart for less that $20
if you need to save space, or don't like carrying big wooden ones
around.