[Dixielandjazz] "Dixieland" as a pejorative term

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Hi folks:  hear is an example of what Steve is talking about, although 
the word Dixieland is not used in my discussion, and for the reason 
cited by Steve in his post.  I try at all costs to avoid the negative 
connotations associated with the word when approaching potential 
clients that have already been poisoned against the name and the genre 
by previous generations.   This short conversation however will show 
you just how ignorant and or naive, many of the so called Talent buyers 
and event co-ordinators are about music.

I sent this lady our electronic press kit with audio samples, photos, 
and every thing she could possibly need to determine if she would like 
to hire the band for an appearance at their event which is most 
definitely suited for inviting us to participate  note her first reply, 
  WE FOCUS MORE ON DANCE BANDS.   She obviously did not listen to the 
music at all, or would not know a Dance band if it bit her in the butt.

I of course gave her reasonable quotes for an appearance there based 
upon what I know they say they pay bands, and yes we were definitely at 
the top end of their scale and often well above it she could have made 
an offer if they really wanted to do so and it might have been possible 
to work out a suitable situation.   However she is obviously shopping 
merely upon cost and would rather hire the cheapest bands she can find 
rather than discussing how she could actually afford to get a larger 
and higher caliber act.

Had I started by calling us a Dixieland Band I am certain I would have 
gotten no reply or an offer for $250.00 if I could convince her that 
Dixieland music was Dance band music.   They just don't know folks.



Dear Tom:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding Fiesta Days.  The press kit is 
impressive, but I am not sure if Fiesta Days would be the right venue 
for your group. We focus more on dance bands.  However, just out of 
curiosity, what kind of $$$$ are you asking?

My reply:

Thank you for the reply, we are a Dance Band  and play almost all 
genres of Dance music, The New Orleans style of Dance music has people 
Dancing in the streets all over the world and has since 1906 when Jazz 
Dance bands were first created.

If you take a few moments and look at our SET List of songs, which 
stretch over a 100 year period of American Music it becomes quite 
obvious that we play danceable music.    We can also adapt to 
electronic styles if needed since many of the band members are multi-
instrumentalist and vocalist.    You can also click on the audio icons 
and listen to at least six songs of danceable music in several styles.


We are a top level touring International band of professionals who do 
this for a living and therefore compete with quality not price, we are 
not cheap but we are certainly reasonable and try to work with every 
organization possible to arrive at a reasonable price for the situation 
and travel and expenses of our operation to present exactly what the 
client wants.  The distance, time, date and length of the performances 
determine the costs necessary to mobilize this great show and deliver a 
high quality performance every time.


Her reply:

Dear Tom:
Thank you very much for your reply.  Unfortunately, your prices are far 
too much for our budget.  I have passed your info on to the Special 
Events Coordinator for the City's  Concert Series, thinking perhaps she 
might be interested.

Wishing you all the best.

Respectfully,


I hope this is helpful to some of you in trying to book gigs in your 
markets,  ya gotta work hard to get the Money:))
So many band leaders would simply say oh well if all you have is 
$250.00 we can do it.   Then the guy might show up with three guy 
instead of the 8 in the photo of his band, or worse yet take all 8 of 
them for that low offer.

I have another major event that has a policy of paying $150.00 for a 
Band for their event every year, It does not matter if there are two 
people or it's a solo act or if there are fifteen in the band the pay 
is the same :))  They ask us every year to perform and every year I 
tell them no.  Heck I even tried to tell them to hire all ten of us as 
one man bands and we would do it ,  nope not the policy, gotta do it 
her way or no way,  I choose NO WAY.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins


-----Original Message-----
From: barbonestreet at earthlink.net
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 8:37 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] "Dixieland" as a pejorative term



At many of Barbone Street's summertime park concert prospecting 
efforts, we
are faced with presenters who first say to us "Dixieland? That's out of
fashion now" and I must spend a bit of extra time pointing out the large
audiences that we draw to hear us play Dixieland. Supplying references 
etc.,
to prove to them that our performance will be one of the best attended 
that
they produce all summer. (Many townships, boroughs, towns, produce 
summer
concerts in our corner of the USA)

In fact, what I do now in our proposals is supply the "proof" of our 
music's
popularity in advance so as to eliminate the objection before it is 
made. It
is very satisfying to have those once doubting presenters come up to us
after a successful concert, compliment us and say they had no idea of 
how
popular Dixieland was with audiences. And then we get invited back.


Cheers,
Steve Barbone








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