[Dixielandjazz] BOOKING

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

A few minutes ago I booked three more jobs from my mailing a couple of weeks ago,  This brings it up to ten which is about average for my mailings.  This one is with one of my regulars but the good thing about these three jobs is that they are on days that are before or after busy dates.  One is for November 9 to celebrate veteran's day.

Days like Veteran's day, Mardi Gras and some others book a year or more in advance and since bands can't usually do more than one in a day, switching days can be really important.  Over the years I have conditioned the recreation directors to the idea of having events on other days which is good for both of us

I also have several complete set ups and I sometimes set up my equipment ahead of time at the second gig site.  Then if I can schedule an hour between jobs I just drive to the second one and it's ready to go.  Then after the job I go back to the first one and pick up my equipment.  I have in the past done three new year's eve gigs in the same day.  An afternoon, an early evening and a late gig.

Many Senior living homes are divided into nursing and assisted living facilities.  Occasionally I book both where I play one and then the other but to do this you need a second set up.  So far I've only booked one double for next year.

Around St. Louis there are 135 Senior homes with an average of five opening each year.  To get in on the ground floor with the new ones, go to the on line job services and see who is advertising for nurses and other help.  They start hiring several months before opening and they often have grand opening events.  I'm tracking one right now.

Recently I found 30 senior groups on line in my area that are sponsored by municipalities and I have added them to my mailing list.  Adding just one to my play list will make it worth it and I might get a couple from it.  Municipalities sponsor lunch parties and that means I can do one and have plenty of time to make it to a second gig in the afternoon which around here is usually 2:30.

The trick is to generate effective mailing lists.  It takes some work but you only have to do it once.  My first mailing list took a couple of afternoons to generate.  Now I update it a couple of times a year.
Larry
St.L