[Dixielandjazz] Who Keeps Dixieland Alive?

[Steve barbone]

Len Nielsen <lennielsen at telus.net> (polite snip)

> I just want to say, thank goodness for OKOM, thank goodness for OKOM
> festivals, thank goodness for OKOM musicians, thank goodness for OKOM
> festival fans and patrons, thank goodness for OKOM jazz societies, thank
> goodness for all the people who organize OKOM festivals and the
> volunteers that make them operate. If there are any others that I have
> missed that have anything to do with this type of operation then I wish
> them a big "thank goodness" as well. They all deserve our appreciation
> for the fantastic efforts they have made over a period of many years.

Yes, totally agree
> 
> Without these festivals and societies we would not have half the
> Dixieland Jazz that we have now. Maybe that should be one quarter or one
> tenth or even less than that.

Don't agree. There is a huge audience, at least in the USA, that loves
Dixieland and never goes to festivals to hear it. This audience is ignored
by most of us on the DJML because we still, it seems, do not even know it
exists.
 
> For the 5 or 6 years I have been on the list OKOM festivals have been
> the whipping boys in post after post after post after post after post
> after post. Get the idea???? It's time to get the needle of the old
> gramophone out of the rut. It's been done!!!

Perhaps you missed the point of my posts. Not just knocking Festivals but
trying to get them . .  and you also . . . to realize that it is not
Festivals, not Musicians/Bands, not OKOM fans on the DJML that keep this
music alive. IT IS THE AUDOIENCE . . . IN TOTAL . . . OF WHICH "WE" ARE A
VERY SMALL PART> 

Yep 5 or 6 years of posting and trying to make this point and it still
eludes folks. Hey out there . . . WAKE UP.

Cheers,
Steve