[Dixielandjazz] More Gig Tips

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Normally I wouldn't talk about religion on a list for fear of offending some
people but OKOM is sometimes religious in nature and sometimes we perform
for churches and other religious groups.  So here goes.

Anyone that asks for a kickback, no matter what the name of it is, is a
crook.  They put people in jail for that in any other business.  Asking your
religious preference is highly unethical.  The state of someone's soul or
religious preference is no one's business but theirs.  If their toilet is
backing up do they ask the same questions of the plumber?  I don't think so.

All but the extreme religious right would welcome the chance to witness to
the faith.  The problem with them is it's more like an exclusive club with
secret handshakes and code words.

Some years ago a friend of mine took a Band Director job at a High School
in the extreme southern part of central Missouri.  He was and is a
practicing Catholic.  The area is very fundamentalist Christian.  The very
first thing his students asked him was is he saved?  Not Hi or how are you.
His life was made miserable and he beat feet as fast as he could out of
there.  They do that.  Many are very clannish and almost cult like.

My first teaching job was predicated on if I went to church.  It was one of
the interview questions.

It's just this kind of junk that gives religion a bad name and gives
everyone a bad taste in their mouth.  Oh and by the way If you pick any band
you will probably find about the same mix as you would find if you picked
six or so random people on the street.

For the past 10 years I have taught band at a Lutheran school and when I
took the job the first thing I told the band director is that I was a Mason.
It's one of the groups that Lutherans don't like very much.  It was no
problem.

I was at a friends house yesterday and he books some high end jazz things
with the best players in town.  They were doing a weekend jazz event at a
local church and the catch came when they insisted on their drummer for the
gig. (probably free).  He was a Rock drummer and hadn't a clue about jazz
and big band.  The job went downhill fast with all the jazzers crying a lot.
The leader suggested some things to the drummer because he was destroying
the group and the minister took him into his office and forbade him to tell
the drummer anything unless he had cleared it with him first.  Needless to
say that the gig was a disaster from the word go.  Guess who will probably
be blamed!

Having said all that my new vocalist is Jewish.  Since we have a dozen or so
Christian tunes in the book I was planning to try and book some of the
churches in the area that have regular musical events.  Any advise on how I
should approach her on doing them or just forget about it?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Zenith Sydney" <zenith at ans.com.au>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 4:21 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] More Gig Tips


> > A church gig is one way of getting jazz musicians to church...
> >
> > --Sheik
> >
>  MORE GIG TIPS
> We didn't get the gig because most of the band didn't attend church.
> If you attend church regularly please don't delete and read
> Extract from Zenith Tales:  Also available at
> http://www.euroclubdejazz.com/corepage.htm
> Go to LHS links to "associate sites" then RHS jazz links -
> Musicians/SydneyZenith/click interview
> and read from green font heading "Wesley Mission, Sydney"  (towards end of
> interview).
>
> WESLEY MISSION, SYDNEY
>
>                    The Zenith were approached by the Wesley Mission (Pitt
> Street, Sydney) in November 1991 with a view to using the band in their
> "Turn Round Australia" early Sunday morning TV program.
>
>                    Producer Martin Johnson wanted some new ideas for
>  promotion of the Wesley Mission image in Australia in conjunction with
the
>  Reverend Dr. Gordon Moyes. After attending a Zenith gospel service at St.
>  Simon & St. Jude in Bowral their financial development director Stuart
>  Storrar approached Tom for a copy of the service which Merle had videoed.
>  Stuart wanted it for presentation to the church and consideration as a
good
>  example of what could be done if they hired the band.
>
>                    By coincidence, the band was meanwhile engaged for the
> gospel service at the Montsalvat jazz festival over the Australia Day
> weekend in Melbourne. This had live simulcast coverage Australia wide on
> channel 2 with a large emphasis on audience response and the band was
> looking good for the weekly Sunday TV show. However, this was not to be,
as
> no gig eventuated. At the seventh hour the Wesley Mission interviewed the
> band in the prayer room and asked whether all members were Christians. Tom
> foolishly told them the truth about the assorted cardinal sinning band of
> atheists, agnostics non-practising Catholic and lapsed Protestant's.
>
>                    They didn't stand a chance, became indignant and failed
> the final test. Furthermore they wanted the band to donate the bulk of
their
> TV playing fees back to the church. This combined with the early Sunday
> start for the program was the only conciliation for potentially missing
out
> on one of the best possible gigs in town. The band had no interest in
> organised religion and therefore lost a good weekly gig playing on TV.
>
>   --------------------------------------------------------------
>                    Mike Cook is a former Fleet Street journalist and now a
> freelance music and film reviewer and writes for numerous magazines and
> newspapers as well as working for the EuroClub deJazz website.
>
> Cheers,
> Tom (nearly famous, failed entrepreneur) Wood
>
>
>
>
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