[Dixielandjazz] Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band

[Steve barbone]

Hi Karen:

Venus and Mars. It was tongue firmly in cheek, (e.g. the :-) VBG) and
speaking mostly about the males in the audience.

The message between the lines is three fold.

1) They deserve to be heard because they are NEW, YOUNG and EXCITING. And
OKOM needs 
   those three attributes.

2) There is NO downside risk for their being hired because the audience will
love them.
    Especially the men.

3) Bands that also put on a show, or otherwise connect with audiences are
those that most 
   folks in OKOM audiences love. e.g. Blue Street, Titan, Igor etc. The
girls WILL CONNECT.

I do give the audience credit. They are the raison d'être for most musicians
including me. But I also believe that the musical presentation is visual as
well as aural and those bands that realize this and also present visually,
are those that speak to audiences in this day and age. IMO, the most sought
after OKOM Festival bands prove this time and again.

About most people in audiences; (this from a musician's point of view) They
may listen, but do they really "hear"?  The answer depends upon whom you
ask, and who is, or is not, willing to speak plainly. When many OKOMers
describe Rock, or Avant Garde jazz audiences, we say they are musically
challenged. Why then, should not OKOM audiences be the same? Are we so
musically elite? Perhaps  not, as again IMO, OKOM is one of the simpler
forms of jazz. :-) VBG.

Cheers,
Steve

on 11/16/05 12:26 PM, Coastsidegiraffe at aol.com at Coastsidegiraffe at aol.com
wrote:

In a message dated 11/15/05 8:09:52 PM, barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

Mr. Barbone writes:
"Are they fantastic? Why worry about it? You can bet every nickel you have
that they will draw a crowd of admirers whether or not they can play jazz.

And that is the BOTTOM LINE. Good music would be an added bonus, but not
necessary because your audience will not really be listening. :-) VBG."

Come on Steve - give our audiences (at least those out here on the left
coast) more credit.   We flock to hear this band because of its outstanding
musical talent.   We don't have time to waste on spending a musical set
looking and not listening.   We women of OKOM don't flock to see Bob
Schulz play his horn because he's so good looking.   We flock to hear him
play because he's such a wonderful musician.   I think the men of OKOM
appreciate the talent of Mighty Aphrodite first.   The good looks are an
added bonus ( in both Aphrodite and Schulz!).