[Dixielandjazz] $1,000,000.00 ?

[G. William Oakley]

Gordon writes: "With few exceptions the thread's posts was a dirge of trivia
about festival
directors, their decisions on band hiring,  boring or duplication of
festival
lineups, money...etc. blah. blah. blah."

Gee, Gordon,  I am truly sorry to have bored you with my response to
someone's query about festival directors.
>From this moment on I will dedicate myself to "thinking deeply and
commenting about a subject dear to us all."

As a theater professional (40 years in the business, working from Broadway
to Denver to St. Louis to Los Angeles, as a producer, director, and a
published and much produced playwright) I can tell you this about
performers.  And musicians are performers.  There is no answer (how's that
for deep?).   I can't tell you why an Imogene Coca can walk out on a stage
in a trench coat and reduce the audience to tears of laughter.  She did this
in a production of mine and I can laud myself for having the good sense to
hire her but,  I can't tell you why they laugh.  After a career of writing
funny material I haven't the foggiest as to why it was funny.  It just was.
It must have been since people laughed and they paid money (there it is,
that old bug-a-boo "money...etc. blah. blah. blah.") to laugh at it.  I
guess the most astute conclusion I can arrive at is; some people are funny
and some aren't.
When I brought the Hot Frogs to St. Louis people stood up and cheered them.
Did I know why audiences stood up and cheered them?  No, I didn't.  I did
know that audiences in Sacramento stood up and cheered them and being a
"brilliant" producer I thought, "Boy,  I'll bet they will stand up and cheer
in St. Louis."  And they did and I made money. We can assume that with
musicians: some are charismatic performers and some aren't.

As to your "Conclusion... no one is interested in analyzing this... no one
cares.... no one can figure it out.."  I have spent 40 years analyzing it so
I must care but I can't figure it out. The best I could do was to hire the
ones who made me laugh or played music that moved me  and it worked out well
for both sides of the equation.  They were good and they made me look good.
But, the why...I dunno...

Respectfully submitted,
G. William Oakley