[Dixielandjazz] On being an opening act for a "nationally prominent group".

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

When That happens with our shows and the festival folks get paranoid 
about it, I tell them quite simply that next time you decide to pair us 
up together let them open for Us, not a problem, if they can't stand 
the heat then maybe they should improve their act or get out of the 
kitchen.   Unfortunately it sounds like those particular Festival 
powers that be are a bit one eyed in their personal taste of New 
Orleans Music if not Star Struck about hanging out with Name National 
Acts with a Name and sometimes not much else.  Like Preservation Hall 
Jazz Band.   I have simply Never seen a Strong contingency of them,  I 
recently had a promoter tell me that he had bought them strictly for 
the name value but knew they would not be very exciting.

We have discussed before how many event producers and promoters have no 
clue what they are doing either, and get sold a bill of goods by agents 
all the time all in the name of booking NAME acts, many who are long 
gone has beens and in some cases never were's.

Like I always say it is a tough business on many fronts and you need to 
keep your wits about you to stay in it and make a living.

Some of the material Saint Gabriel's plays would probably irritate 
staunch Hard Core Dixielanders in the front row, but we have to stay on 
the cutting edge of various forms of music because we are playing at 
all kinds of music events and must step up to the plate and hit a home 
run at all of them to keep building and maintaining a good reputation.  
  Fortunately it has been working well for he past 7 or 8 years and we 
are getting some headline spots on some Festivals in European countries 
now, and get opening act spots on many shows.   I am always careful to 
do our thing and make a musical statement but always with respect to 
the headline act hosting us, I don't try to blow them off the stage, 
but I will always give them something to shoot for when they come out 
so that they give the audience the best they have and their money's 
worth.   NO resting on their laurels so to speak.

If they won't entertain the audience we will.   I have left shows far 
too many times hearing the disappointment from fans that paid a lot of 
money to see a headline act and felt that the act was no longer worth 
going to see and hear, yet the promoters keep trotting them out just 
because they have a NAME.   They don't have to PROMOTE a Name Act, just 
advertise it, new acts need to be promoted, there is a big difference 
between Promoting and Presenting.   Far too many promoters want to be 
presenters rather than work hard at promoting new acts and or their 
events for that matter.

The Dirty Dozen was an inspiration for my band of course, but I reached 
back and took ideas form many other Brass Bands as well and try to keep 
a balance between the Traditional sound and repertoire and the more 
modern approach of Dirty Dozen, I am more inclined to stay in the 
commercial vein than to keep pushing the envelope like they do often 
over the edge and the heads of the audience.   Great players just 
different  musical ideology.    They do a mean funeral however and can 
be as Traditional as anybody else if they want to .   I just don't 
think they want to anymore.

On the other hand Preservation Hall is stuck trying to be strictly 
Traditional and just don't reach the younger fast paced audience of the 
jazz oblivious.  In my opinion they should be headlining Folk festivals 
and play on some Blues  & roots festivals rather than Jazz festivals 
which long ago outgrew them and their style except for the occasional 
well artistically balanced event.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:50:27 -0400
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] On being an opening act for a "nationally 
prominent group".

   tcashwigg at aol.com

> I once made the mistake of putting a RED HOT Fantastic Bluegrass act
> on a tour with the Steve Miller Band back in the early 70s, with his
> blessing of course.  They came out the first night at the Berkeley
> Community Theater sold out show and Blew the audience away.  Took 30
> minutes to calm the crowd down before Miller would come out on stage 
to
> do his show.  Now Steve actually liked the group at the time and did
> not feel threatened by them or their music,  Whoops!  wake up call, he
> screamed for my ass from the dressing room and told me to get those
> &(*&@$%^@ out of the venue and cancel them from the rest of the tour,
> as he was not going to have any of that attempted upstaging shit on 
his
> tour.

AMEN TOM.

We had the good(?) fortune a few years ago, to open for Dirty Dozen 
Brass
Band at one MAJOR MODERN JAZZ Festival and then for Preservation Hall at
another. Both local Festivals and both trying to draw additional 
audience by
promoting a "New Orleans Night" during their week long programs.

Our presentations were too strong according to audience feedback and 
word
from the Festival promoters. We were told by Festival movers and shakers
that we could never open for either of them again. :-) VBG.

But, we sure as heck got a lot of local work thereafter because in the 
ears
of those who book us locally, we blew them both away.

Cheers,
Steve


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