[Dixielandjazz] Chicken Dance Revisited

[Mike Woitowicz]

Listmates,

I can't let the Chicken Dance discussion die without a comment. I find it more stimulating then endless posts about Albert system clarinets and sarousaphones.

I'm in Wisconsin (that's near Chicago for the non-USA members) and get requests for the Chicken Dance ("Dance Little Bird") periodically. Do we play it? Sure -- the customer is always right. 

Do I LIKE to play The Chicken Dance (or Bill Bailey, Basin Street Blues, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, Bourbon Street Parade, Washington and Lee March, the Beer Barrel Polka, etc., etc.)? No, in the sense that these tunes are way overdone. But Yes in the sense that I am indeed performing music and at the same time realizing the customer has heard these tunes less times then I have and has asked me to play them.

One of the reasons my Banjo Barons Ragtime Band has been able to work fairly steady for the last 20 years is that we take requests on strolling gigs. If someone requests "Dueling Banjos" or "Hello Dolly" for the fourth time in the evening, we say "sure" and let 'er rip (smiling all the time). Quite often, it means a $20 bill stuffed in my pocket as I'm playing. Even if it doesn't,  the customer is happy and so is the person writing my check for the evening.

As a matter of fact, I have a list of tunes on my practice list that I expect to be requested and I rehearse before certain gigs.  These are tunes that I don't do too often, but I find that in certain venues there is a high probability the will be requested. Besides the "Chicken Dance", this includes tunes like "Rocky Top" (try that on a four string banjo), "Tennessee Waltz, San Antonio Rose, The Anniversary Waltz" and a bunch more. This time of year, we get a lot of mileage out of a tune called: "I Love My Green Bay Packers." Hokey -- you bet. But it sure gets a lot of people paying attention to our music.

When are the jazz purists going to learn that we perform (entertain) for the audience -- not the other band members? The audience is our de facto employer.

Standing back with my flack jacket on.....


Mike Woitowicz
The Banjo Barons Ragtime Band
The Dixie Barons Dixieland Band
www.banjomusic.biz