[Dixielandjazz] Chicken Dance Revisited
Denny Schreffler
dennyschreffler at email.com
Sun Sep 30 17:22:38 PDT 2007
In the album notes for Qs Juke Joint by Quincy Jones, he tells about
being on a polka gig in Seattle with Ray Charles Yes! a polka gig with
Ray Charles and Quincy Jones when they were teenagers, and Ray giving
him a bit of advice that he has kept since then whatever gig youre on,
do your best; be true to the music.
Since were all way hipper than our audiences anyway ;-) why draw any
lines? In the context of most gigs, were entertainers, not artists.
A man walks into a bar and sits down beside a gorgeous young woman.
Ill give you two dollars to have sex with me, he says.
What do you think I am? she replies, Theres no way that Ill have sex
with you.
He asks again, Will you have sex with me for a thousand dollars?
Her reply was the same, What do you think I am? I will not have sex with
you for any amount of money.
He goes further. Listen. Im a very wealthy man. Money means absolutely
nothing to me. Will you have sex with me for five hundred thousand
dollars?
Well, she stammers, for five hundred thousand dollars, I will have sex
with you.
Good! says the man. Now that we both know what you are, lets start
over and talk about price.
He who pays the piper calls the tune, has become an idiom in business
and other relationships throughout western culture, but it certainly
retains relevancy in its original context.
I once got a $300 (three hundred dollar) tip on a single to play the
theme from the Flintstones!!
Denny Schreffler
Tucson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Woitowicz"
To: "Denny Schreffler"
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Chicken Dance Revisited
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:23:01 -0500
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
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