[Dixielandjazz] Where are the Young People?

[Stephen G Barbone]

>  <larrys.bands at charter.net> wrote to Elazar (polite snip)
>
> I have no doubt that you draw great crowds but I think there is a
> fundamental difference in people there and here.  Today the band was
> excellent but the reaction of the young people was HO HUM. . . . .
>
> I think it's wonderful to draw crowds of young people I just think  
> it's more
> difficult here.  They do watch at street fests when they happen but  
> at those
> there is so many other things happening that it's fleeting. I could  
> see that
> if there were no other attractions around, the young people would  
> have been
> more attentive.
>
> I still maintain that young people here will not pay for OKOM on any
> meaningful scale and only pay cursory attention to bands playing  
> OKOM.  It's
> still the 50+ people who support bands and OKOM.  The mayor of the  
> city we
> played for today was about 60-65 years old.  He's the one who hired  
> us.  It
> may be true that the audience is aging out and we need to do  
> something but
> I'm aging out too along with everyone that played today.  The leader  
> is 80
> and I'm not so young either.
>
> Even so I think it's worth trying and some young adults do enjoy  
> OKOM.  I
> have noticed that they do like to bring their kids up to see the
> instruments.

Dear Larry, Elazar, Listmates:

I respectfully disagree that young people will not pay to hear OKOM in  
the USA and here's why.

There is a young (25 or so now) man here in the Philadelphia area that  
plays OKOM on piano and trumpet. Broad repertoire of Fats Waller  
songs. He courts the young people his own age. He has regular gigs at  
bars, restaurants, with young band mates at lounges filled with young  
people. Here are a few venues where he plays continuing gigs with   
various sized bands

The Farmer's Cabinet in Philadelphia

Swing Dances at Univ of Pennsylvania

Historic Hotel Bethlehem

The Bookstore in Bethlehem PA

Swing dances in Pottstown PA

Like me, he has so many gigs that he must hire subs in order to cover  
them all. I get quite a few sub gigs from him. And he's subbed some of  
the older guys like Dan Levinson, Marty Grosz et al. Like me, he often  
has multiple gigs on the same night. And guess what? While I pride  
myself on the number of gigs I get, he gets more.

The audiences at these venues are mostly YOUNG people. His regular  
sidemen are mostly YOUNG people. Do you see a pattern here?

Most young people, at least here in the Philadelphia area, do not rush  
out to see us old fart OKOM bands UNLESS the old fart bands ENTERTAIN  
them. And among those old fart bands that play OKOM here, mine is the  
only one that ENTERTAINS young people. Thus I get gigs with young  
audiences.

Part of it is I tell them stories about what jazz was a century ago.  
That is was sex, booze, drugs and freedom that drew the musicians and  
the audiences. That their great grandparents who were attracted to  
jazz were exactly the same as kids today who are attracted to Rap, or  
those a generation ago that were attracted to Rock. Same S***  
Different Day

Etc., etc., etc. And we sing the double entendre songs. It's the  
message not some old fashioned arrangement that draws them.

Why don't old farts bands get gigs with young audiences? Same reason  
old farts don't get jobs in the regular day gig world. They think and  
act too old, too ready to accept defeat and become the victim..

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband