[Dixielandjazz] Jazz, seniors, and miserliness

Fri Dec 29 14:37:12 PST 2006

The responses are the same here but because they are my parents generation I 
share very little first hand experience with the greats.  I was just a small 
kid when my parents were in their middle age.  I was the last kid of the 
last kid.  I do know what the depression mentality was and it helped kill 
the band business although there were a lot of reasons.

Unfortunately there were, demographically speaking, very few of us born in 
'37-'40.  The baby boom happened four or five years later.  People slowed 
down having kids in the depression.  I have almost no friends or 
acquaintances in my age group.   As a result we had little influence on the 
big picture except to usher in Rock and Roll.  The baby boomers on the other 
hand have much more clout economically.  Those of us who heard OKOM as kids 
still like it and see the older music and rock as a continuum.  I don't 
think that it's true of people even five years younger than I.  They have 
been steeped in R & Roll to the exclusion of all other music.

When it came time for us to assume the leadership roll in our jobs and the 
arts the baby boomers forced us out, simply turned their back or were 
promoted past us.  I suspect that there is more than one person out there 
who has had experiences with this.  One band leader wanted me to dye my 
moustache because he thought I looked old.  He also didn't want me to wear 
half frame glasses on the stand for the same reason.  I will be gone from 
that band if and when my hair turns white.  Fortunately my dad's hair didn't 
turn white until he was 85 so I'm still OK in that department at 67.

The baby boomers seem to be more willing to spend money on entertainment 
than their seniors even 10 years older than themselves.  That's great except 
they don't want what most of us have to offer.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Suhor" <csuhor at zebra.net>
To: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>; <tcashwigg at aol.com>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz, seniors, and miserliness

> Wow. A great meditation, Larry, on money and miserly seniors (as you say, 
> a lot of them, not all). Those of us who are of an age and have inherited 
> the depression mentality have to guard against it in ourselves, understand 
> it in others, and refuse to yield to poor-mouthing, stereotypes about the 
> impoverished old, or a mindless political bloc mentality. The latter will 
> strengthen as the boomers move into old age and AARP, who can do great 
> work, moves more and more from a defensive to an offensive mode.
>
> One very positive point. When I do talks on jazz history at senior sites 
> and events, I get great response because, after all, these folks were 
> THERE for a lot of it. You grow old enough, you get to be history. Just 
> don't get mired there.
>
> Charlie
>
>
> On Dec 29, 2006, at 12:24 PM, Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis 
> wrote:
>
>> Blue haired or no haired folks sitting
>> around tapping their toes for $3.00 to $8.00 a seat and complaining
>> about the music is too loud or they don't have a Banjo so they are not
>> Traditional Jazz, or they didn't play such and such like Delbert and
>> the Dippity doos did it in 1933,
>>
>> Hey Tom where do you find Seniors willing to pay $8.
>>
>> Personally I get tired of seniors pleading poverty.  Since I am a Senior 
>> I
>> know a lot of them and they afford what they want to afford.  The 
>> depression
>> left scars on many people of my fathers generation and at least I can
>> understand their tight ways but they are for the most part all passed on.
>> My mother and father did not spend a lot of money on entertainment or non
>> tangible things.  My mother thought that unless you had something in your
>> hand at the end of the day you spent your money foolishly.
>>
>> You can go to any casino in the country and walk down the line of slots 
>> and
>> you will find the Blue hairs sitting there.  My wife and I attended a
>> concert last year at $125 each.  Guess what, almost everyone there was in
>> our age group.  I attended the Philharmonic Christmas concert  sponsored 
>> by
>> AG Edwards.  Now you don't deal with that company unless you have a few
>> spare bucks laying around.  What do you think was the predominant age 
>> group?
>> A clue -- it wasn't the 20-30 year olds.
>>
>> One of my friends who retired a year or so before me was extremely 
>> frugal.
>> When we would go out to eat at the local burger emporium he would have 
>> the
>> smallest cheapest burger and water.  That man has about every cent he 
>> ever
>> made in the bank.
>>
>> It is true that some and possibly many seniors are on fixed, poverty 
>> level
>> incomes and need help.  To that end I will give a senior facility a price
>> break if the majority of the people there are on Medicaid but what about 
>> the
>> upscale senior residences that charge $6K and up a month per person. 
>> They
>> plead poverty too and everyone knows that by saving a buck they increase
>> their corporate profits.
>>
>> Personally I have run across a lot of seniors who can buy and sell most 
>> of
>> us several times over who really believe that they are poor.  These are 
>> the
>> same ones that will sit there and gripe about how much they paid in 
>> capitol
>> gains last year or how much they enjoyed their cruse in the Bahamas or
>> gambling trip to Tunica.  I have toured on the Mississippi and American
>> Queen steamers and almost everyone there is over 60.  They are paying 
>> from
>> $350 to $1600 a day for those cruses each.  There is a band leader here 
>> that
>> takes those cruses several times a year, takes a suite cabin,  eats with 
>> the
>> captain,  who is a very wealthy man and to hear him tell it hasn't a cent 
>> to
>> his name.
>>
>> I have played for events that were subsidized by cities and the Seniors 
>> pay
>> maybe $2 or $3, sometimes less, to get in.  They have lunch and get some
>> entertainment.  Some of those people, who I know live better than I, are
>> sitting there sucking up an almost free afternoon. This is right at the
>> price of a burger at most restaurants!
>>
>> I think that Senior poverty is pretty much a myth but many seniors even
>> though they are wealthy or have good incomes believe it.  On the other 
>> hand
>> I guess I don't blame people for taking advantage of a good deal.
>> Larry
>> St. Louis
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <tcashwigg at aol.com>
>> To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 9:44 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz is not a museum piece . . .
>>
>>
>>> It's actually easier than that guys:
>>>
>>> All we have to do is expose new younger audiences to it and it will
>>> survive very well and take care of itself much better than the Jazz
>>> Preservation Societies have done with all their valiant efforts to keep
>>> it localized and private club oriented, while the musicians themselves
>>> have sat around on their butts and done nothing but accept that as the
>>> STANDARD of the Industry and be happy that they had built at least
>>> enough of a reputation to continue to be invited as an ALL STAR  even
>>> if they can't bring their own Band because it would just cost too much
>>> and they would have to raise the admission price too high and the
>>> audience of yesteryear would simply not pay that for good and quality
>>> entertainment even though they do pay $3.50 a gallon for gasoline, that
>>> they used to pay .15 cents for  and $3.00 a loaf for the bread they
>>> used to get for .05 a loaf.
>>>
>>> Musicians are supposed to be better at Math that That,  So much for
>>> that Myth Huh ??
>>>
>>> Ask me If I would rather go play to a screaming crowd  of young Turks
>>> with ears, lips and eyelids pierced and wearing funny clothes willing
>>> to pay $35.00 to $ 50.00 each to attend a concert or would I like to
>>> play for a bunch of nice polite Blue haired or no haired folks sitting
>>> around tapping their toes for $3.00 to $8.00 a seat and complaining
>>> about the music is too loud or they don't have a Banjo so they are not
>>> Traditional Jazz, or they didn't play such and such like Delbert and
>>> the Dippity doos did it in 1933,  Hell folks we weren't even born then,
>>> and most of us never heard of DELBERT TILL WE DISCOVERED THIS LIST and
>>> eventually figured out what OKOM music was, and we are a minority
>>> amongst the 600 members. here.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Tom Wiggins   Who played Rock & Roll in a Pizza Parlor when they fired
>>> the banjo band, and now only goes to by take out Pizza from a take and
>>> Bake, which by the way is still a cheap meal at about $10.00, to take
>>> it home and drink your own store bought Beer.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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