[Dixielandjazz] I TOLD YOU SO (About Jonathan)

[Steve barbone]

on 8/4/05 12:23 PM, dingle at baldwin-net.com at dingle at baldwin-net.com wrote:
 
> Well, hell, Steve, since you were there on several occasions to hear the
> young man and you are so much a booster of him, why don't you write p
> the story and send it to one or the other of the Mags you just seem to
> have scolded. You won't get rich writing for them -- not at a couple
> pennies of word, but then it would be a labor of  love. I agree that an
> article on the young fellow is due -- however, it would see a little bit
> of a slap at these two publications when you write >Perhaps you might
> spend less time focusing so much effort on the past and write a little
> more about the future?<  While it is nice to keep up with the newer
> things  that arrive, I would hope they never stop bringing us the
> stories and history of the past -- if we do not know about and rememver
> our past,  we cannot understand where we are going today and how we
> arrived at this point.
> So, get your article written, Steve-oreeno, and tell us what you know
> about this wunderkind. We await with bated eyeballs!
> Don Ingle

Hi Don:

Well, it sure as hell isn't about the money. After all, as a jazz musician,
I got accustomed to poverty early on. :-) VBG

Reason I don't is simple enough. I am no where near the writer someone like
Jim Uhl or Will Connelly and all the others who write for the rags are. They
would present a much better picture of his musical talent than I ever could.

And like you, I too enjoy reading about the past and did not suggest they
stop writing about it. However, IMO, neither magazine spends enough time
examining the future and the younger players who will hopefully be there. If
they consider my actual words as you quoted above "scolding", they would
have very thin skin indeed.

No, I do not scold the rags, I merely suggest that if they, like OKOM
Festivals, wish to survive, they too need to broaden their appeal to a new
generation of readers (listeners)

You and I, old friend, and others like us, as much as we may hate to admit
it, are no longer important to their circulation growth and prosperity. We
are a dying breed. Both as players, and as audience for the Rags and our
favorite music. Once we and others our age are gone, who will read them, and
who will go to OKOM Festivals?

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS. As an aside, I did suggest, over a year ago, to both that they might
wish to investigate the phenomenal talent of this young man and do a feature
article about him. As you can see, similarly to the Festivals showing no
interest either, not much transpired in that regard since then.