[Dixielandjazz] Playing for the Old

[Steve barbone]

Wow, the NY Times now recognizes the musical market at Retirement Homes. As
Larry in St. Louis has posted, these facilities are a great niche market for
OKOM if you do not want to play for the young. Here this guy is, a single,
earning $300 to $700 per show, plus sometimes room and board, traveling to
make the gigs.

We do about 25 a year locally from $650 to $2600 per show with anywhere from
a quartet to a 6 piece band.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Singing for a Crowd That May Nod Off By JOHN LELAND
Published: May 7, 2005 - NY TIMES

A little before show time in Rock Hill, S.C., Ken Lelen took a break from
his guitar to promote the gig.

"You going to come for the show?" he asked a man standing nearby. "Or you
going to take a nap?"

The man, Miller Tucker, thought about it. "I'm going to take a nap," he
said. "I wish I could stay, but I got to get my rest." Mr. Tucker, 89,
pushed his walker toward the exit, vowing to catch Mr. Lelen next time.

The music industry is desperately chasing Internet-wired teenagers, but Mr.
Lelen, 57, a former journalist and waiter, believes he has found a niche at
the other end of the market in retirement communities. For the last four
years, he has traveled from his home in Titusville, N.J., up and down the
East Coast, playing up to 140 one-night stands a year and developing a
contact list of 2,000 communities for the aged. His bookings run until
November 2006.

This particular road, he has learned, can be a trying mistress. "It's common
to look out and see people nodding off," Mr. Lelen said. "I don't take it
personally."

Music industry trade magazines do not track the retirement community
circuit, where gigs rarely pay more than a few hundred dollars and the
chances of being discovered are slim. Some of the performers are
part-timers; some play free. Most don't have agents, roadies, recording
contracts or groupies. But in recent years, as the nation's population has
aged, the number of performers who specialize in homes for the elderly has
grown to a few hundred, according to the activities directors at three
communities. 

"There's most definitely a circuit," said Jennifer Tillett, who hires about
60 performers a year at Charlestown, a continuing care community of 2,500
residents in Catonsville, Md. "My residents have quite discerning tastes,"
Ms. Tillett said. Most of the performers who solicit her understand this
audience, she said. "The others, you can tell they see a captive audience
and are looking to cash in."

Mr. Lelen, who has been playing the guitar since he was 16, stumbled across
this market in 2001. He left a job as a real estate reporter for The
Washington Post in 1999 and was singing folk songs on open mike nights at
New Jersey bars. "I was looking for a career niche," he said. His mother,
who was then in an independent living center, suggested that he perform at
her community. Mr. Lelen came up with an act, singing hits from the 1920's
to 1940's and playing guitars from the same period. He made $200.

"They never booked me again," he said. "I found out later they only booked
me because of my mother. But I liked playing for that audience, and they
were fabulous for these songs. I realized I could create a business
marketing myself to these communities."

He learned that the circuit has some unique wrinkles. Most of his gigs are
at continuing care retirement communities, which offer different levels of
care, from independent living sections to skilled nursing or dementia units.
For performers, he said, the money is in independent living, because they
have the biggest budgets. He earns $300 to $700 a show, plus a free room at
many of the communities.

"I have musician friends who, when they hear what I'm up to, say, 'I gotta
get a piece of that,' " Mr. Lelen said.

Audiences can be tough. "My residents are very vocal," said Kelli M. Carson,
activities director of Rolling Green Village, a sprawling community of beige
clapboard cottages in Greenville, S.C. "They tell you what they like and
don't like. Like Ken - he tells stories about all of the guitars. If he just
played for an hour, it wouldn't go over well."

Mr. Lelen is a genial performer, with a pleasant tenor and touches of a
Southern accent that he did not acquire growing up on Long Island. At
Rolling Green Village, a widow named Marion Eskew, 77, sat with friends at a
table up front. On Mr. Lelen's previous visit she had sold him a 1940's
guitar that had belonged to her husband because she thought Mr. Lelen would
appreciate it.

"The songs he plays will never go out of date," Ms. Eskew said after his
performance. "They tell of a time when life was gentle. They don't speak of
anger. And they were so kind to women. Can you imagine Eminem singing songs
like this?"

For Mr. Lelen, performing for retirees serves as a connection with his
mother, who now lives in a skilled nursing facility. He talks about her
during performances. Watching his audience, Mr. Lelen said, he could see the
life his mother had led before her strokes.

"I don't feel uncomfortable; in fact I feel very comfortable with this
audience," Mr. Lelen said. "I can relate to their circumstances because of
my experiences with my mother. It's like bells going off in my ears all the
time. Seeing them reminds me of her passage from widowhood to a retirement
community, and from independent living to skilled nursing."

He has ambitions to expand the business: to perform at public events, sell
CD's, maybe to manage other acts.

"Sometimes people will say, 'Do you remember this song from 1936?' " he
said. "I'll say, 'I wasn't there then.' The first time this happened was
awkward. The second time wasn't awkward."



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