[Dixielandjazz] Giving it away and nonresponsive link

[vaxtrpts at aol.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: woodlanders <woodlanders at free.fr>
To: vaxtrpts <vaxtrpts at aol.com>
Sent: Sun, Oct 27, 2013 12:33 pm
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Giving it away and nonresponsive link



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/opinion/sunday/slaves-of-the-internet-unite.html?nl=todaysheadlines&_r=0
 
Try this one. It just worked for me .
Best,
Louis
________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks Louis.
Norman Vickers put it on his chat page and I was able to read it.
Here is what I wrote back to Norman for his readers to see.  I would love to hear comments from some of you on this list.


 I LOVE this essay!!!
It is exactly what I have been preaching for nearly 50 years.
Where I live in North Central Arizona is one of the WORST places I have ever seen for this mentality.  Everyone wants you to give away your music (art) for "such and such a good cause."  And the problem with living in an area of many retired people is that there are many retired musicians who will play for free or practically nothing, and then brag about how many "jobs" they are doing.  
I may have mentioned this before, but our City Fathers do not help the situation.  From June through early September they have FIVE nights a week of free entertainment in our city center.  They have created a whole cadre of people who don't buy tickets to music events because they can get it for "free" downtown.  They put on a Bluegrass Festival and a Christmastime evening event where 5000 people crowd into downtown because it is FREE!  And - they are proud of the fact that NONE of the musicians get paid.  There are around 100 musicians who perform in all the downtown businesses and "donate" their time.  Now right in front of every band, there is a tip jar.  NONE of that money goes to the musicians.  It all goes to a local foundation who can then look really great by donating that money to education.  But it is done ON THE BACKS OF THE MUSICIANS!!
As part of the summer series, there is a "jazz" night every Tuesday evening.  I put "jazz" in quotation marks because in the last couple of years some of that music is VERY "iffy............"  Why?  Because the City Fathers, in their infinite wisdom decided that even though they had paid the musicians for about 20 years, they would just stop doing that.  It was basically presented by a new city employee who was trying to look good by saving money, I think.  Well, when that happened, many of us said "no" to the invitations of that employee to play for free and put out a tip jar.  A tip jar at a city sponsored event????  Shouldn't that be a bit embarrassing to both the city and the musicians?
And then there is the local restauranteur, who is basically a good guy and loves jazz, who decided that he would pay his friends to play these Tuesday night concerts, but not "spread the wealth" to other musicians.  And this person even had the gaul to tell me that I wasn't "dedicated enough" to supporting the local arts scene because I spoke out against what was happening with the Tuesday Night Jazz Series.  (So let's see - putting on a jazz festival for 13 years, playing free concerts for over 3000 students in schools in the past three years, and many more such things - mean that I am not a good guy for not playing for free on Tuesday nights???  Whew!)
Well, I could on on even more, but I think you get my "drift."

 

 

Mike Vax
Friends of Big Band Jazz, Prescott Jazz Summit, 
Stan Kenton Alumni Band
www.mikevax.net
www.bigbandjazz.net
www.prescottjazz.com
www.getzen.com