[Dixielandjazz] Musicians In Search Of Discovery

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Hi Steve:   Something that the article did not state is that most of 
those Bands PAID to get on one of those showcases, except the Big Names 
of course, who are invited and paid to sell all those wristbands to the 
wannabes, trying to get up close and personal and get their demo to 
Neil Young or Nora Jones or whoever.  I t does not happen, that way and 
most of them find they can't even get into the event their favorite act 
is in because the line is so long.    I got an email two days ago form 
a friend there who stood in line for two hours for a showcase and they 
maxed out the capacity four people in front of him, and he had All 
ACCESS WRISTBANDS AS A PRO.

I also saw showcase spots for 20 minutes being offered for $1,400.00 
each to bands, plus they had to pay all their own expenses for travel 
food, lodging etc.  and no guarantee that there would be anybody in the 
showcase to even see and hear them.   These events of this size are 
indeed difficult.   Record labels & Top management and Agencies get the 
best showcase rooms and put their acts in them.   They are also the 
ones that attract the Professionals to party while many of the wannabes 
are sitting in a bar with more wannbes and no clout to do anything for 
them, so they all just party and hold mutual admiration society 
meetings in all the other bars they can get into and spend money to buy 
Beer and Food etc.

  Most OKOM Bands are much to conservative to participate in anything 
like this, but yes there is a strong presence of New Orleans bands 
there although most not considered OKOM.   We must remember that there 
is a lot more Music than OKOM and Dixieland & Jazz in New Orleans.

Heck I would love to promote such an event for Dixieland but  it would 
take so long for us to get such an event organized and all the 
societies to participate that we would all more than likely be dead 
before we could start the promotion. :))  Unless we could Get AARP 
Geritol and Viagra to sponsor it and put up a couple million in advance.

I doubt anybody would show up on the Left Coast if we charged more than 
$6.00  even if it would produce a great shot in the economy for where 
ever it was held.   The Dixieland crowd is in my opinion simply split 
off and splintered into far too many small organizations in regional 
areas that compete with each other for the same audiences that as we 
have said many times before on this list that are rapidly disappearing. 
   If we could get all the organizations to work together for the common 
good of the music and overall health and expansion of the music and 
marketplace it would have a shot.   But I have come to realize on this 
list in the past three years that that is highly unlikely to ever 
happen unfortunately.

At least not until we get Young folks turned on to the music and 
dancing again, but that would mean we all have to TAKE it to them  they 
sure as heck can't find us the way things are currently being 
advertised and promoted.    My personal view of the scene is that it is 
made up of a lot of small churches and fans of certain bands and they 
are happy to be Ministered to by those same bands over and over again.  
  All one has to do is read the Band lineups for all the festivals in 
the Rags and it is pretty much obvious, many of them simply look at the 
bands they have this year and say Same thing next year OK done deal  
see you next year.

I also see that the bands also seem to just follow each other around 
and try to book themselves into and onto the Same shows that the others 
are playing on, rather than going out and searching and creating new 
venues and opportunities of their own to play this music which would 
expand the market substantially.    It is far too easy for a band to 
see or hear that a band in their region has opened a new place that 
will present OKOM, and rather than take their band down the street and 
book it into another venue they line up to try and play the gig that is 
already presenting OKOM.   This scenario is of course nothing new to 
the music business.

Well that's enough rambling and ranting for one day gotta go find some 
new places to book my show.  :))

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band





-----Original Message-----
From: Steve barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: DJML <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 09:15:20 -0500
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Musicians In Search Of Discovery

    Here is a write-up on the Austin, TX Music showcase. 1400 bands. 
While not
much OKOM, it seems, the quote that got me is: "Music from New Orleans 
also
had a strong presence; many of that city's well-known musicians ended 
up in
Texas."

Question for Dan A. Did you go? If so, any real OKOM or "New Orleans" 
music?

Also, it looks like these bands play for free. Question for Tom W. Why 
don't
you and I promote a similar showcase for Dixieland? Say in Parumph NV 
or the
Bunny Ranch in Reno? Or somewhere in between?  :-) VBG.

Cheers,
Steve

Musicians in Search of Discovery
NY TIMES - By JON PARELES - March 20, 2006