[Dixielandjazz] Great Moments in Jazz (or not)

[Lowell Busching]

I found the first email that came through on my so called "Digest" DJML 
post from  Bill Haesler to the list and  Marek Boym (Yes Marek, I 
believe I got the whole message from Bill and not a condensed version..) 
, to be very interesting, and "right on" as they say concerning the 
legends in their own time or mind..

The fact that there are any number of people in the audience that agree  
with these musicians, and they would not care if the musicians  played 
into the next two sets or more, does not help.  I essentially decided to 
give up doing sound "reinforcement" at a couple of west coast festivals 
not just because of the distances involved  for me now, but because the 
number of musicians who think audiences are there only for them seems to 
be increasing as more become highly  proficient  on their instruments or 
vocals.

They are like a person who likes to hear their own voice, or see their 
own writing. :-)  But you can not easily walk away or delete them..  You 
are likely to get a comment from them if you leave early.

.In addition, their fans (short for  fanatics) can get downright hostile 
if you even try to cut them off at the proscribed time to stay on 
schedule.  Neither they nor the musicians themselves  feel you are the 
least bit justified in trying to stop them! They are ARTISTS. Who are 
you to tell them to stop playing to a cheering crowd?  See what Bill said.

I should quickly add that the vast majority of  such "legends" are very 
responsible as to time, or at least the leaders of the groups are.  
There are some who are so good at it that if  given one time warning 
they can finish a set on the second,  no matter how hot the players are 
at the moment.   However, there are a few to whom time and space mean 
nothing.  They need to grow up no matter how old they are. It is a 
business and not just theirs.  We are all part of the show.

I came as close to being physically attacked  by a fan for attempting to 
stop a musician in the middle of  a very long extended solo  as I care 
to get. The attitude by both the fans and the musician was that YOU can 
not do that to an ARTIST!   They are wrong. I am out of here..

This is already long enough, but I want to quote  what Bill said again, 
in case there might be a musician out there that did not read it the 
first time, and add my comments from the "floor" end.. :-)

Bill says to Marek

Maybe great for you (and the lucky audience) but what about the 
unfortunate bands scheduled to follow on?

I add.

Especially so if the next set is a tribute set, presumably well organized and requiring set up. The upset musician stopped in the middle of a phrase and also berated me.

Bill says.

And the organizers, who have to pick up the lost time for the  
remainder of a tight concert program?

I add.

If you are doing the sound and/or stage craft like myself you are even more directly involved.  Will the organizer hold it against YOU if you do not keep the bands on schedule?  That IS your responsibility supposedly.

Bill says
I have experienced this numerous times here in Australia, both as a  
bandleader and an organizer, and consider the offending, self- 
important, musicians (however famous) to be arrogant, conceited,  
unprofessional and downright rude to the other artists.

I add.

And that is just the musicians themselves!  Their fans can be even worse. They feel everyone has come to hear ONLY their musicians. The rest are fill ins. Unfortunately some of the musicians support the offender, especially if they ARE well thought of.!!!!

Bill adds.

If, however, these headliners are the sole concert performers, then  
fine. It's their overtime.

I say

That is exactly how I felt about the incident I refer to. This set was right in the middle of the evenings schedule.  The next group had to finish early to stay on schedule. Fortunately it was an ad hoc group willing to do so.  This is not always the case with a more organized band. They want their time also in full.

Bill says
If not, then it is extremely selfish and inconsiderate to the promoter/ 
organising group, the other bands and those in the audience who rely  
on public transport to get home, or are tied to a parking station  
closing time or the like.

I add.

Not just those mentioned, but also workers trying to get their jobs done and go home or to bed also. Not to mention parking structures closing before you can get there after extended overtime finishes.

Bill says

There now. I feel much better.

I say:

So do I.  But it took a lot more words!  Sorry Ringwald.

<grin>


Lowell aka Mad Dog.