[Dixielandjazz] Squirrel Nut Zippers & Jazz Festivals

[Edgerton, Paul A]

Tom Wiggins wrote:

> Herein folks lies the problem that I laid out and nobody listens to, and I
> am sure this will piss of my friend Bob as well as a few others.

The squeaky wheel the gets grease, Tom. That is, unless it's been squeaking
continuously for so long that nobody even notices it's still squeaking. ;)

> Any Festival that grosses the amount of money that Sacramento Jubilee does

> can afford any damned headline act they want to buy.

Unless you know something magical about accounting that I don't, the gross
doesn't mean a damn thing! What matters is the net: how much is left after
you've paid the bills. As you are well aware, there hasn't been *anything*
left for several years. Finally, after much belt-tightening, the Jubilee had
enough left to actually support the society instead of forcing it to borrow
money that had no way to repay.

So really, they've done the responsible thing booking more modest acts as
headliners. In coming years, perhaps the budget will allow for better/more
expensive headliners. Then and only then will we get a chance to see if they
can "earn out" in the context of Jubilee-type event. In any case, the
expensive headliner has to compete with the Rivercats, and would expect to
be paid even if nobody showed up. All in all, that's probably more risk than
society is willing assume.

> To say that a group like the Squirrel nut Zippers are out of your price 
> range is pure BS, why don't you say it the way it really is Bob.

> They are worth more than you are willing to pay them.  And any act that
> knows what they are worth in ticket revenues and is smart enough to ask
> for it is out of the Jubilee price range.

What? That last paragraph did a marvelous job of explaining why all of the
really big draws are indeed out of the Jubilee's price range. I know you've
argued that a big name will bring in big bucks. You may be right. Tell you
what, find us backers who'll put up the money to finance one of your
big-name acts, and we'll put 'em in all the best places we have. But without
backers, we simply can't afford to take the chance!

I take what you have to say about Maria Muldaur as an informed opinion.
Frankly, I don't think she has more than a tenuous connection with the Jazz
world. That must not be what they wanted this year.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers, or the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies or even the Dirty
Dozen are indeed bankable and have name recognition, sure enough. The
Superbowl can afford 'em, but STJS can't -- not this year, anyway. The
trouble is, dropping down a notch from that level of popularity to something
more regional like, say, Royal Crown Revue buys you a lot less, and for the
same reasons you're using to argue against the choice of Maria Muldaur. They
aren't headliners in the normal sense of the word. (Actually, neither are
SNZ or BBVD.)

> Traditional Jazz societies have wallowed in mediocrity for so many years
> that it has become the norm.  If I ever found one that was actually doing
> what their mission statement said they were doing I would join it, so far
> I have not found one.

That's a hard pill to swallow. Guess we'll have to chew it first...

I agree, most jazz societies wallow in mediocrity. And yet, for the tiny
little market niche that traditional jazz clings to, those societies
represent the bulk of the market. There are expensive jazz parties and even
more expensive jazz cruises. But for most people, the opportunities to hear
live traditional jazz happen almost exclusively at jazz society meetings and
jazz society-sponsored festivals.

So haven't done very well. Well, there ain't a lot of seed corn in the silo,
so we can't get from where we are to where we want to be in one step.

> The societies have driven away most of the really great professional acts
> and players in the OKOM field because of their unwillingness to pay them
> livable fees for their services or even recognize and reward the ones that
> actually do have enough draw power to sell tickets to justify their fees.

Tell me again, please, who are these really great professional acts we've
driven away from OKOM? What is the magic number that will bring them back to
our stages? How are we going to come with that kind of money? Who will buy
Jubilee tickets to see these really great professional acts and how much
will *they* be willing to pay?

I'm not an expert. I don't even promote *myself*. But I can see that
opportunities exists to grow a better, healthier market for OKOM. Some of
your ideas will help. Once again, I would invite you to jump in and help
make it happen rather than stand on the sidelines and say, "I told you so."
There are plenty of "advisors" but not so many folks who'll get things done.
And there has to *be* some money before we can even discuss who gets to keep
how much of it!

-- Paul Edgerton