[Dixielandjazz] Re: The economics of OKOM

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/5/03 11:01:05 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

> 
> >A new company has purchased the Carlyle and the new policy is, "Everyone
> >pays the cover."  The musicians can no longer sign you in.  They cannot 
> even
> >bring their wives.
> >
> >Cover is $50 at the bar &$75 at a table.
> >
> >We sat at the bar.  I had one glass of sparkling water with a lime &my
> >daughter Molly had one glass of wine.  Our tab was $160.
> 
> Questions:
> 
> Who said you can't charge long green to hear OKOM? ;-)
> 
> 

Sounds to me like the Carlyle has been purchased by Le Meridian Hotels, and 
they are being typically French, raising the prices and charging the Americans 
to hear our own music and buy our own booze at Paris prices.

Very similar policy at Le Meridian Hotel in Paris in the Lionel Hampton room.

They did however pay me $100,000.00 a week for Fats Domino & his 20 piece 
band, plus single rooms for the band. ( 1990) They offered the band meals at the 
hotel at 1/2 off as well as drinks which were $80.00 for the first one and 
$40.00 for the second one, even bottled water.  Fats paid the band $3,000.00 a 
month each man.  The band did not eat there, but opted to find a McDonald's for 
their meals, and some of them even had hot plates in their luggage and cooked 
rice and noodles in their rooms, with canned tuna, and spam
 (the meat.)

Fats and I went out for a walk one day to a French outdoor market sort of 
like a fisherman's wharf, and he found New Orleans canned Crawfish for sale there 
and bought a case of it to take back to New Orleans to show his friends that 
he bought crawfish from home in France.  ( carried the damned case of crawfish 
all over Italy and Sicily for a month )  :))

He also bought 200 pairs of Italian shoes and a couple of trunks to carry 
them around in, and schlepped them all over the tour as well, ( and he wore the 
same pair of Shoes everynight on his show for the entire tour)  :)

The hotel made money and brought him back again a year later and this was in 
1990, it also launched a great tour for us in Italy for the World Cup Soccer 
playoffs for which I produced 200 shows in 90 days.   

Musical content  "IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR"

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins