[Dixielandjazz] Mea Culpa -- Guilty as Charged

[Jim O'Briant]

Don Robertson wrote:

> As a board member of the Napa Valley Dixieland Jazz 
> Society, I know we are guilty of neglecting a WEB 
> site.  ... I don't think any of us know how to set 
> up a WEB site.  I would be willing to try, and will 
> investigate what is involved.  I've just now seen 
> some suggestions from listmates.   

I hope that you will do so, and that the club will make the commitment to
see that new info gets posted ASAP and old info goes away as soon as it's
outdated.  

> We do have a monthly entry in the calendar section of 
> napavalley.com/events.html, but it is buried among the 
> winery events, and probably not visible to even Google.  

In general, Google only brings up archived copies of that calendar, so it's
easy to find out what your club was doing a year or two ago.  But the
current calendar never seems to come up.

> Listmate, Bob Shoring, bless his heart, does a DJML 
> post every month reminding all on the list of our 
> monthly session, (second Sunday at "the lodge" 
> 2840 Soscol in Napa. --We're not supposed to say 
> in print the "E" word -- think big animal with 
> antlers) and who the feature band is.  

The posting to the DJML is of course a good thing, but it's preaching to the
converted.  It may attract a DJML subscriber to a particular Napa meeting,
but it won't attract new fans, because they don't subscribe to this list
yet.

Why the prohibition on saying "Elks' Lodge?"  Other trad jazz clubs tell us
that that they meet at a particular Elks' Lodge or Moose Lodge.  I agree
with Dave Richoux on this one -- if someone is trying to attend your club
for the first time, and they can't find the place, what are the chances
they'll try again the next month?

And why the prohibition on telling who the scheduled band is?  There are
multiple Northern California clubs meeting on any given Sunday, and my 
decision on which one to attend is based largely on who I'm going to hear.

(Kay is sitting here, reading over my shoulder, and she says that leaving
this information out makes the Jazz Club a more secret society than either
the Elks or the Moose.)

I hope that you will be able to get at least a simple website up and
running, as I think it will help you attract more attendees.  

Jim O'Briant
Tuba
Gilroy, CA