[Dixielandjazz] Squirrel Nut Zippers & Jazz Festivals

[Nancy Giffin]

From: Tom Wiggins, TCASHWIGG at aol.com
<   "... If you can afford to pay Maria what she normally makes for a
festival you can certainly afford to pay the Squirrel Nuts or any other act
that could sell tickets and draw enough people to carry their own weight at
the box-office.  The problem is that your booker or committee does not know
how to buy a headliner professionally or maybe they just don't know what a
headliner is.  Heck man, in the Northern California market Lavay Smith can
draw twice as many paying customers as Maria these days.

The reason the Sacramento and other Jazz festivals don't have any real
Headliner acts is because any headliner act or any act with a real
box-office proven draw value is out of your Willing to Pay price range.
This is 2004 not 1924..."  >

Dear list mates,

I have to agree with a lot of what Tom is saying. As a newbie to OKOM, I
have been unable to get any of my friends (ages 25 to 55) to join me at
Jubilee. I think if we had a headliner like Squirrel Nut Zippers or Big Bad
Voodoo Daddy, etc., I'd be able to convince some of them to give the
festival a try.

One has to ask the question, as we have many times on this list: What is the
long term goal? Then, our choices and actions need to be in line with our
goal.  We're only talking about a headliner here -- just ONE, big-name,
crowd draw -- not the majority of the other OKOM bands, who my friends could
hear once I manage to get them to the festival.

I suppose I just lost all the same friends that Tom did.

Love and hugs,
Nancy, who needs help getting my friends to join me at Jubilee.