[Dixielandjazz] "Jazz" Festivals

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/31/03 8:52:23 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
tubaman at batnet.com writes:

> 
> I do like the idea of having the bands stay in one place and letting 
> the audience move from venue to venue. So many of the California one 
> day "traditional" jazz festivals make the bands pack up and move from 
> site to site, sometimes with as little as 30 minutes scheduled for the 
> move!
> 
> Dave Richoux
> 
> 

HI Dave and all:

This is exactly one of the points I was trying to make in a previous posts 
about the Amateur Event planners out there that are making lots of mistakes in 
presenting festivals, concerts and events, They are for the most part not 
professional at all or have any clue what they are doing.  Someone in city hall or 
the chamber of commerce give them some money and they run off and throw a 
party downtown without carefully planning and researching the logistics of the 
event.  Like hiring or getting an electric band with vocals to perform in a spot 
where there is no electricity.

Moving from set to set is ridiculous, and the same principle applies to 
moving a band from club to club to club night after night.  If the band is good 
enough to draw a crowd to all of the venues it is certainly good enough to draw 
them to the same one every night.  Bands must persuade the club owners to 
program an additional night, and continue to promote themselves and build up their 
following sufficiently to attract enough folks to keep them gainfully 
employed.

Trap drum sets and P.A. Systems, bass, amps, keyboard amps, and lead guitar 
amps for those that need them should be stationary on all stages, if you expect 
the bands to rotate.
For those who may not know, this is called "Backline equipment," and you 
should have a diagram of your stage setup made and printed up to send to each 
festival or concert stage manager if you want to save time and get a proper setup 
for your microphones, drum kits, amp placements, piano microphones etc.  You 
might even get a sound check if you don't show up late for the gig.

This allows for much more music being played and less tear down and set up at 
each venue, not to mention the wear and tear on the musicians, some of whom 
in OKOM are getting on in years and can't handle all the physical labor.

Again Musicians have to step up and demand Respect, (Politely) and they 
unfortunately have to continue to educate many of the presenters and promoters 
because they simply do not know what they are doing, and never give these things a 
second thought.

That's why I went to a Marching Strolling Acoustic unit, to avoid all that 
mess.  It also gets us a lot of good extra gigs to play out into the audiences 
as a musical diversion while the major stars are going through the set changes 
for thirty to forty-five minutes every 90 minutes.  We get a lot more playing 
time and thereby audience exposure than the headliners on many festivals, and 
are often told that we were the most popular act on the festival.  That is the 
life blood that keeps us going "We connect with the Audience who bought the 
tickets, please them and keep them dancing and happy and they will all remember 
you and come back again."

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins