[Dixielandjazz] Why musicians don't talk to fans

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Beam me up
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: TCASHWIGG at aol.com 
  To: sign.guy at charter.net ; rakmccallum at hotmail.com ; arnieday at optonline.net ; dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 4:40 PM
  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Why musicians don't talk to fans



  In a message dated 12/14/04 9:55:37 AM, sign.guy at charter.net writes:



    I try to be very polite to people because you don't know when that person
    will be the employer or will give your name to someone who will hire you.   I
    make it my business to talk to at least the people who are setting close to
    the band.   They love it and good PR will never hurt you but then again
    that's from the band leader, business point of view.   Sidemen don't
    necessarily share that point of view.




  That Larry is the professional way to approach the situation, and even though it is very difficult to deal with a fan like Bob, he should even be treated with kindness and tolerance, who knows how many other people he will bring to see the band the next time or cause to buy your recordings, etc.

  Yes, they can be a pain in the butt and no doubt a bit irritating to many players, but if you stay in this business long enough you learn to recognize them quickly and develop ways to slip out of the circle to go take care of some emergency situation.  I try to find two of the same kind of folks if possible and when they show up at every gig I find a way to get the two or more of them together after the first encounter, and they can talk record numbers and sidemen compilations all night if they wish.

  I just organized an event for a celebrity from Star Trek, and watched a master of 35 years do it for two hours straight at an autograph session.  He tolerated some real jackasses who kept getting back into line trying et him to sign everything from playing cards to downloaded photos from the Internet.

  This artist was wonderful, and never lost his cool or his temper even when he looked up from the article he was signing and recognized the same overzealous fan again, he also graciously posed for photos with anyone who asked, shook hands and wished them all well.   Yes, he said it was a pain in the butt, but liked the way I had organized it to keep the chaos down and the Treckies under reasonable control so that other regular fans and their children could get a chance to meet him and get a photo.

  His explanation to me was that it was part of his Job and it was the least he could do to make some people happy.  Yes, the freakies who were getting everything signed were doing it to post it on EBAY TO SELL AN HOUR LATER, THEY BUGGED HIM, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE HIM RUDE even to them.

  Cheers,

  Tom Wiggins