[Dixielandjazz] Hire a Hall - was What we Lack

[Steve Barbone]

 "pat ladd" <pj.ladd at btinternet.com> wrote:
 
> In my teens I used to hire a hall, usually a church hall,  for about ?7 or
> ?8  a night,  get a local victualler to supply the beer in exchange for a
> payment to me of about half the cost of the hall (He kept his profit)  I
> hired a drum kit for about 5 shillings (thats a quarter of a pound sterling)
> because I couldn`t afford to buy one.
> Hand wrote some advertising posters, sold tickets at about 2/6 (thats an
> eighth of a pounds sterling) I usually used the packs of raffle tickets that
> cost a couple of pennies for 100. Got the boys together and played dance
> music. The band (?) split the take equally.  We were bloody terrible but we
> were playing to our own age group and they forgave us as long as they could
> dance to the music.
> 
> Now it would be almost impossible to hire a hall. They don`t exist. The
> churches have either closed or don`t have youth clubs attached with meeting
> halls.. They certainly do not have a large room which is almost unused which
> they can hire out.  Hotels no longer have partially unused large rooms.
> Accountants do not allow any asset to lay fallow these days.
> There used to be  at least a dozen halls we could pick from. Now in spite of
> the fact that the town has more thasn tripled in size there is only one good
> one. That is owned by the local Council and they charge the earth. They
> gotta maximise the profit. In the old days the supply of halls by the
> Council was looked on as a public service and the charge was minimal.
> 
> We had the best of it without doubt. I wish we had known it at the time

Hi Pat:

There are a gazillion places to play here in the USA. Halls? Oh my, we've
got American Legion, Veteran of Foreign Wars, Elks, Moose, etc., They own
Halls all over the country. Used to be THE place for music after WW 2. Now,
they sit empty much of the time. In the Phila area, one can rent a hall like
that for very low fee. Same thing for all those towns in the boonies.

Many jazz societies hold their Sunday concerts in them. Most have liquor
licenses, bar areas etc and will seat 250 people. Also, many volunteer fire
houses have rental halls, but they are more expensive.

Other places, abound. For goodness sake, all you bands who like to play
free, by all means do it at your local grammar schools, or high schools.
They love low priced, or free musical programs and you get to the kids. Or
find an Iron Hill Brewpub like I did, or find an Iron Horse Pub like Steve
did in Northampton Mass, or find an Italian restaurant in Northern NJ like
Brett Boyd did, or a Pizza Place like Ringwald did. It isn't that difficult.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month in the USA. Many of our local libraries may
have jazz appreciation programs going. I found out quite by accident that
mine does and I just booked a gig for a concert in May. (They wanted a warm
weather outdoor event). Discovered that branches in my area have jazz CDs
for listening, are busy expanding their collections and seeking input from
people who are knowledgeable about jazz. Hey, musos, that's us. Get to know
your local librarian. Mine's very sexy lady about 40 and that's a plus.

My gig pal from the 1950s, Dick Sherman, has been playing wonderful OKOM
once a week in a library in NYC for over 30 years. With top shelf players.

Etc., etc., etc.

What we lack in the USA is not places to play, but the imagination, and/or
the fire in the belly, to go seek them out and play there.

Advice from one of my day gig mentors. "YCDBSOYA" You Can't Do Business
Sitting On Your Ass. (Even if you are an artist).

Cheers,
Steve Barbone