[Dixielandjazz] Pessimism abounds for saving OKOM

[W1AB at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/28/2010 4:37:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
sharp-b at clearwire.net writes:

> Ok,  Mr Doom and Gloom,  grab a bottle and swill it down and keep 
yourself in  drunken oblivion and don't seek a life jacket, cause it sounds like 
you've  decided that you are on a sinking ship and there's no hope.   . . ..  
just PARTY! , as you say. <
 
 
    My drink of choice while playing gigs  is Coca-Cola.  My drinks of 
choice at home (and on days that I ride my  motorcycle) are Coca-Cola or 
homemade iced tea (Earl Gray, with fresh Key  lime juice).  I have perhaps two or 
three alcoholic drinks per month.   I don't have time to waste on drinking.
 
    It took a bit of effort for me not to  take offense at your implication 
that anyone who does not agree with you is a  drunkard.  That comment of 
yours seemed to me to be quite a  stretch....
 

>  There's absolutely no optimism in your message, which is ok for you, but 
there  are probably a host of people who would like to see something 
happen, find a  plan and implement it.  Work it through - --  just to 
perhaps  see if something can't be done to at least.  Optimism tells me to 
"grab a  lifeboat, and float to a new shore."  You aren't apparently on the  
lifeboat's passenger list. <
 


I, like you, surely would like to  see something happen, but all I see, 
hear, and read is cheap talk.  I  try to be a realist, and a truthful reporter 
of the current scene.  If I  see something good happen on the traditional 
jazz scene, I will be among the  first to present kudos to the person who made 
it happen.
 
    Speaking of cheap talk, let us keep in  mind the lyrics of the chorus 
of "Pick a Little, Talk a Little," from "The Music  Man":
 
Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little
Cheep cheep  cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more
{Three times}
Pick a little, talk a  little, pick a little, talk a little
Cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep  cheep cheep

The new shore that I've found, as a  player, is in other kinds of music, as 
I mentioned before.  Dixieland gigs  are drying up.  Back in the 1980s I 
was playing between 8 and 20 Dixieland  gigs a month (while working a day 
job).  Nowadays, I average about 3 a  month.  Facts are facts.
 
    Finding a plan is difficult.   Implementing one seems to be beyond the 
scope of the traditional jazz  community.
 
    Bill, please tell me something that  would raise my level of optimism 
about the future of traditional jazz.  Not  speculation of what might be but, 
rather, a hard fact or two about how this kind  of music is turning around 
and gaining popularity among the general  public.
 
    We don't need a lifeboat.  We  need to keep the ship afloat.  (I think 
those words were first said by  Captain Edward Smith.)
 
                                                            Al (sober as a 
judge) B