[Dixielandjazz] Letter on Sacramento Jubilee

[Robert S. Ringwald]

Greetings from Jolly Ol' England.

Mike Marois Mike.Marois at hirelivemusic.com
wrote regarding the recent financial difficulties of the Sacramento
Traditional Jazz Society & the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee:


> Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a big factor in the financial trouble
encountered by the society the fact that they "invested" in these "other"
types of jazz festivals and they lost their butts!



No.  We did one event the Old Sacramento Mardi Gras, that lost money.  That
is all.

The trouble that the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee encountered was from over
spending.  The ticket sales went up each year, but so did the spending.  It
was poor bookkeeping, the Board of Directors that didn't get the correct
financial information in a timely manner & did not raise hell.

  The audits were not being done in a timely manner.  The firm, when the
audits did get done, was too closely related to the Society.  The books were
really messed up, etc.

Luckily, several of us smelled a rat, stepped in, got a new President &
Board of Directors elected, got audits done, got the books corrected &
insisted that the budget reflect real numbers and that it be adhered to.

We saved the Society and the Festival.

The monthly Jazz Sunday concerts are now in the black.

The Youth & Adult Jazz Camps are very close to being in the black.

The attendance this year at the Jubilee was down a bit, but so was the
spending.  Thus we made it with enough money to pay our bills, our loans &
start up next year's Jubilee.

The drop in attendance is directly attributable to the bad publicity we
received.  This was begun when Roger Krum, The Jubilee's Executive Director,
appeared before the Sacramento City Council and asked for a loan from the
city.  The newspapers jumped on it with both feet.

There was many articles in the Sacramento Bee with some pretty outrageous
and faulty information being reported.  One local columnist was
unnecessarily pretty brutal.

Of course, the word got out on DJML & in the various Jazz publications such
as the Mississippi & American Rags.  People didn't know for sure if there
would be a Sacramento Jazz Jubilee.

It is a proven fact that success breeds success.  If something such as the
Jubilee looks, to the general public as if it is not successful, people will
shy away from it.

However, even though the attendance in 2004 was down a bit, the Jubilee was
hugely successful and is on the way back.  We expect a great one in 2005.

I predict that in 20 years, our listmates Wiggins & Barbone will still be on
DJML predicting the demise of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, while the Jubilee
will still be going strong, bigger & better than ever.



> I date back to probably the 3rd or 4th festival and it's always been the
Sacto Dixieland Jazz Jubilee!  Seems that these other types of jazz aren't
as successful as they think they are and they need to be parasites on the
Dixieland genre to get some air time.  The truth is that by bringing in
these other types of jazz they're only hurting the Dixieland movement.



Again, wrong.

The other types of music (closely related to Jazz) forms of music that have
been added to the Jubilee has helped the attendance.  It has brought in a
more diverse cross section of the public.

While we have Zydico, Blues, Western Swing, Swing, Big Bands & even comedy,
we still feature more "Dixieland/Traditional/Classic Jazz" bands than any
other Jazz Festival in the world.



> I do have to say that there is a batch of BS in the band selection
process.  I've been a professional musician for over 25 years and my
family's been in the Dixieland business since the early 1920's.  I still
can't get my Dukes' band into the festival.



While I do not always agree with Roger Krum as to which bands are selected,
whatever he does, or however he chooses the bands, has been successful.  If
he brought every band who wanted to come, we would have over 900 bands.

I am sure that no matter what Roger decides, someone is not going to be happ
y & will disagree with his choices.  He can't please everyone, all of the
time.  I'm sure that if I were choosing the bands, there would be many
people who would be unhappy with my choices also.

 --Bob Ringwald
Member, Board of Directors,
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society

The views stated above are my own views and not necessarily the views of the
Society, its Board of Directors or of its members.