[Dixielandjazz] Unions - Musicians - Cabaret Card

Sun Nov 5 12:03:48 PST 2006

Some good suggestions Tom
Larry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tcashwigg at aol.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Unions - Musicians - Cabaret Card


> And because most OKOM Players and Bands did not change with the times 
> and modernize their show and sound if indeed they ever had a show there 
> are fewer and fewer Watchers for OKOM  and getting fewer and fewer 
> every year folks:
> 
> Specifically why guys like Steve and I keep preaching to the choir 
> about getting out there anyway you can AFTER YOU GET YOUR ACTY TOGETHER 
> and being seen where there are mass audiences.   Better to go out and 
> PLAY for Free once a month at an event with 50,000 people attending 
> than playing for $25.00 to $40 to a die hard dying off group of hard 
> core fans in a Monthly meeting.
> 
> Now if you look at the calendar Guys and Gals there are usually four 
> other Weekends besides the one that hold the Traditional Jazz Society 
> Party /meeting of the faithful.    If all of you would take one Sat or 
> Sunday and go participate in one of those big old Street fairs or other 
> community project festivals once a month and bring your die hard fans 
> out as well to cheer you on.   Those folks who have no clue about OKOOM 
> and or your bands would get a chance to see it and hear it and also see 
> that you have some older folks coming to attend their event as well  
> HELLO   CAN YOU SPELL "NETWORK"  ADVERTISING, MARKETING, If you are any 
> good at all you will have folks coming up to ask for your card for 
> future gigs THAT PAY not just all the local BENEFITS  who try to get 
> bands for free at EVERY EVENT AND SAVE UP THEIR MONEY TO PAY A 
> HEADLINER FOR THEIR ANNUAL GALA FUNDRAISER with all the money they 
> saved by conning you and others to work for free all year long.   NOw 
> you bring out your local Jazz Society and set up a booth at these kind 
> of events and run a membership drive for your Jazz society, sell Cds, 
> cassettes or whatever and turn those 50,000 people that came to someone 
> else's event into a substantial number of converts for OKOm and your 
> organization.    Every FREE gig is not necessarily a Free Gig if you 
> know how to use it to Promote good gigs that come out of them, it is 
> called advertising marketing and deferred income, and if you sell a 
> pile of Cds and such it is a paid audition guys.     Do you think they 
> sell all those Fords just because they manufacture them :))  Build them 
> and they will come :))  nope it does not work that way in real life.  
> Ya gotta go out and work for it.
> 
>    The Musician's Union is not GOING TO CALL you and send the Big 
> Yellow Gig Bus stocked with Beer and free lunch to your house to take 
> you to the gig  and pay you.
> 
> Work with those folks, talk to them about getting your band's photo and 
> or a story about you and or the Jazz Society in the newspaper, send 
> press releases and Public Service announcements to all the radio 
> stations and Tv stations and newspapers all around you, that folks is 
> how you get recognized, appreciated and build a reputation for being a 
> great band rather than a bunch of old guys just getting together in the 
> garage to amuse each other and keep your chops up so you can maybe get 
> on the list to play that once a month Jazz Society party.
> 
> 
> This is an everyday business, treat it like one and it will treat you 
> like one.
> 
> Cheers,  Tom Wiggins
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mcclernan1 at comcast.net
> To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Sent: Sun, 5 Nov 2006 10:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Unions - Musicians - Cabaret Card
> 
>   On Nov 5, 2006, at 11:50 AM, Steve Barbone wrote:
> 
>> Mike asked about who killed the unions? And whether in my 802 days
>> you had
>> to have a Cabaret Card to work in NYC. Here are my opinions.
>>
>> 1) Greed and Corruption of the union leaders. . .
>> 2) Greed of the Club Owners. . .
>> 3) Changing live music scene. . .
>> 4) Amateur bands. . .
>> 5) Too many musicians in each market competing for too few paying
>> gigs.
>> 6) The passage of "Right to Work" laws.
> 
> 7. Our product is reproducible by mechanical means.
> 8. We have become a nation of music "watchers".
> 
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