[Dixielandjazz] List Policemen etc.

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Ross said > ...............You don`t have to read them !!!!
> I for one thank Steve and Tom Wiggins and others on the list that spend a 
> lot of their time
> "Helping" other Members.
______________________________

I would like to second and expand on that.

Not every idea is practical for everyone and some ideas seem just like pie 
in the sky.  Not every formula that one person has worked out will work for 
someone else and not everyone is interested in changing what they are doing 
very much.

But! While everything won't work for everyone usually some variation of an 
idea will if you have the flexibility to change what you are doing and try 
something else.

I have talked about " Plan B" a lot of times.  Do you have one?  I'm just 
asking that rhetorically.  Should yours be the same as mine?  Maybe yes and 
maybe no.  The important thing isn't so much my solution but that you have 
one for you.

I think about and reject dozens of ideas sometimes before I come up with a 
plan.  No one's ideas are bad and sometimes I work out a plan for me based 
on several ideas.  A lot of those rejected ideas are mine.  I will also dump 
a plan the second it quits working for me.

I'm gonna tell you right now this is the only place where one band leader 
will try to help another.  No one in his right mind would sit and feed ideas 
to a rival, competiting band leader.  But it happens here because many of us 
recognize the value of trading ideas in a non competitive atmosphere.

Ask yourself when the last time another band leader who had a band like 
yours sat down and told you all his secrets, traded charts with you, told 
you where to find stuff,  instantly gave you the background on pieces you 
were doing and sometimes pass on gigs.  I'll tell you right now NOWHERE!

This is a forum that just doesn't happen anywhere else.  I would have given 
a lot if someone had given me this kind of food for thought years ago. 
Everything I know I learned at great cost not only monetarily but 
personally.  A list like this would have made me even more successful and 
saved me a bunch of bucks too.

By some standards I'm not setting the world on fire but for this town and at 
this time I'm doing OK I think and hope to do better in the future.  Some of 
that I owe to this list.

I suggest that some of you get over this contest that you seem to be having 
with Steve and others.  Simply because another man has a bigger house or car 
does not make me or you unsuccessful or somehow inferior unless we let it.

If I tell you that I worked 12 gigs in December that could be bragging but 
if I tell you how I got those 12 gigs then I am helping you.  If you played 
20 and I aspire to have 20 and you are willing to give me a tip on how to 
get them or somehow inspire me, don't you think I should thank you?

Blindness isn't only a condition of the eyes but of the mind.

For those who wish to suppress what Steve, Tom or others has to say prevents 
me from picking out those things that may work for me.  It may also cause me 
to not pass on something to the list that may help others in their quest for 
more OKOM venues or outlets.  An example is the business cards I am carrying 
right now were obtained free from a source that Tom sent me.  I wouldn't 
have known about it if Tom hadn't told me.

Some of you enjoy talking about some great player of the past.  How many 
times has Louis Armstrong been the topic.  Other than Louis was a jazz great 
he has never made me a dime or got me a gig nor will he make you one either. 
Simply because I'm not all that interested in the endless posts about Louis 
doesn't mean that you aren't.  It would be very rude of me to harp on the 
number of posts that Louis (or others) generates and threaten to drop out of 
the list or try to generate or collect posts that supports my side.

A lot of that is happening here.  I quit choosing up teams years ago and I 
suggest everyone think about what you are doing.  This list is, I think, a 
valuable resource to everyone.  If you don't think it's valuable then 
dropping off would be a reasonable thing but don't use Steve, Tom or me as 
an excuse.
Larry
St. Louis