dfnw membership sucks

lmntry

So suck it up this year, buy your membership and enjoy great seats in '09.

That ,if it were so , would be palatable.

However ,
I believe if the donor/sponsor idea is carried out like theatre and the arts programs .....it will only be good for 1 year and then start over for 2009 ,2010 etc.

So this "donation" only allows preferential status for one festival.
Next Djangofest will have this all over again.
In essence , you pay extra for decent seats..plain and simple....a true donation has no strings.

I hope I'm wrong...but theres so little information on this...like how many tickets can a donor get per festival etc.

I know that I for one will definitely think more seriously about Django in June back east...they have been getting top acts the last few years ..like Andreas,Kruno,Rittary,ensemble zaiti ,Dennis Chang etc.
and they still keep prices around $20....plus the bootcamp package.

I paid $50.00 for the Schmitts , and those that were there know how much that show at the school was worth. :roll:


David

Phil

As an attendee at all of the DFNW’s to date from it’s inception in 2000, this festival is a wonderful event and an annual pilgrimage for all us Djangophiles, to meet up once a year and catch up with old and new friends and share new licks and see how we’ve all progressed. It’s always a great get-together and reunion. I always have a great time, playing this great music and seeing the top artists is the best tonic for escaping from the normal routines of our daily working lives. Even when I’m not working, there’s no better tonic than listening to this music in the car on the drive to and from work.

The festival began in 2000 as a 2 day event, with just Pearl Django and Robin Nolan. In 2001 Robin Nolan made a generous return whilst dealing with the post 9/11 tight airport security issues and as always he put on a helluva show!

The festival has out grown it’s early days, when it was only held in the great intimate setting of the WICA theater, to now hosting the major artists in the Whidbey High School auditorium. In doing that, it has lost the intimacy of the small venue along with the great sound that of the WICA theater. Sure there have been some sound issues at WICA but not what we’ve experienced at the High School, which along with the high $$$ ticket prices, has been unacceptable for both the performer and the patrons. At the Schmitt show in the high school in 2006 for both shows, at $50/ a ticket, the sound was simply terrible…it was so bad a one point Serge Camps who was in the audience stood up and shouted his frustration, which though I don’t speak French, clearly came across as the crappy sound being disrespectful to Dorado, Tchavolo, Samson and their band.

Prior to 2006 the major artists, which included The Ferre Bros, Angelo Debarre w/Serge Camps, Alma Sinti, Samson Schmitt, all put on superb, memorable performances at the WICA theater.

The move to the high school, whilst regrettable, is understandable in that the school holds many more people and therefore more seats can be sold, if they do sell, and therefore more money made to keep the festival alive. In looking round last year, I didn’t see the high school shows as being sell outs and interestingly, there were many seats on the very front row which were not taken in both 2005 and 2006. Did those with the money to pay for a package in advance, who don’t know these great artists, just not show up?

Costs have increased for all of us, what with the ever increasing price of petrol and gasoline etc…It’s a huge cost to pay for the travel expenses to bring international artists over from Europe to the USA, so it’s great to see The Rosenbergs as well as returning French artists Sebastien Giniaux/Mathieu Chatelain on the schedule.

As an annual supporter of DFNW, I have no problem with paying the $60 ticket price and will gladly pay this to see the great Rosenberg Trio, but would really like to hear that the sound issues that have plagued the shows at the High School have been corrected, as to not do so, is disrespectful to not only the Rosenberg Trio, but to your hard working paying patrons who help keep DFNW alive by coming to the shows.

gipsygirl

thanks for all the replies, some very good points have been brought up. how bou't this, ok, members get tix first, but only for say a week. after that the rest of us should be able to buy tix for any days we want. having to wait a month is what makes it unfair in my view. and i agree with phil about the high school. sure was nice at wica. i would gladly pay $100 to see the Rosenberg trio at wica. instead of$60 at the LHS where the sound is terrible, cold and informal. of course this is all mute , just conversation.
one other thing i don't think is quite right, is that if your not at the venue more then 5 minuets before the show, they can resale your tix,not right, especially when we have to go way out to the LHS. any opinion about that?

kidtulsa

I think we should re-focus the conversation on the question raised in the original post. I think Gipsygirl has a valid point, to a certain extent. It is unfair, IMHO, if a lack of DFNW membership (potentially) precludes you from getting a good seat at a show (or a seat, period). Say the membership thing really flies, and you don't act quickly enough to secure one of the remaining seats at a show you're really looking forward to? That does suck. It especially sucks if you have a limited amount of disposable income to put towards your DFNW '08 experience -- lodging, gas, travel time, food, etc. -- and you need to make these arrangements BEFORE you're able to (hopefully) purchase tickets for some of the performances, and a limited budget precludes you from being able to spend the additional $100 for a membership which would guarantee you a better seat, or a seat in the first place. Hmmm.
BTW, you might take the tack that membership has it's privileges, but for some folks of more modest means this "membership" isn't an option, and shouldn't be something to rub in their faces if you find yourself w/o the ability to understand this. Suck that up.
Would you want to travel 1000+ miles, spend a bunch of money and find yourself unable to attend a concert, or to be able to attend the show, albeit at $50 bucks for a shitty seat? Hmmm... It especially seems insulting if you've been a supporter of DFNW for some time and have made the effort and spent the money when Nick and Co. were trying to get this thing off the ground, right?
I think it is important to give something back to people who are willing to lay down the extra $100 to become a member -- give them a free, exclusive concert, breakfast with the Rosenbergs, whatever -- but their reward/perk shouldn't be (potentially) at the expense of others equally entitled to purchase tickets and equally entitled to see the shows. The perks should be above and beyond the quality experience that we ALL deserve as a reward for supporting this music, these artists and this festival!
My two centimes.

Klezmorim

kidtulsa wrote:

...you might take the tack that membership has it's privileges, but for some folks of more modest means this "membership" isn't an option, and shouldn't be something to rub in their faces if you find yourself w/o the ability to understand this. Suck that up.
Would you want to travel 1000+ miles, spend a bunch of money and find yourself unable to attend a concert, or to be able to attend the show, albeit at $50 bucks for a shitty seat? Hmmm... It especially seems insulting if you've been a supporter of DFNW for some time and have made the effort and spent the money when Nick and Co. were trying to get this thing off the ground, right?
I think it is important to give something back to people who are willing to lay down the extra $100 to become a member --

So, by your reasoning I should always be able to fly First Class because I've been a supporter of the airlines for 40+ years, right? What!?!? You mean I have to pay an extra thousand dollars for a good seat up front? But that's not fair! And I'm even a member of the Frequent Flyers Club!! Where's my "reward"??? Whaaaaaa!

I've also been a loyal guitar player for the same amount of time. I should be able to obtain a Dupont VR for the same price as a Martin D28, right?

C'mon, love it or hate it, that's not the way Life works. A false sense of entitlement won't serve very well. The best way I heard it expressed was like this: "Life is like a s#-t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less s#-t you have to eat."

Sorry.

If I were to attend DFNW and was told that for an extra hundred I'd be guaranteed a good seat up front, wham!, here's my Franklin! That would be the LEAST of my expenses.

As a point of concession, though, how about this: Why not *auction* those precious seats, with a reserve price just a bit above the going rate for General Admission. Then the seats will truly be worth what the seatholders think they're worth.

kidtulsa

No, you are entitled to first class if you're willing to pay for it. But, that shouldn't result in sub-par service for those who cannot afford first class, yes?

V-dub

kidtulsa wrote:

No, you are entitled to first class if you're willing to pay for it. But, that shouldn't result in sub-par service for those who cannot afford first class, yes?

I don't see how not getting first pick of seats is sub-par service. It's not like you're being denied entry by these people or anything. Just show up earlier and get a decent seat. Maybe you wont get your first choice, but you'll be fine. I think that there will be plenty of seating for all, and that this whole thing is a bit overblown.

I have never had trouble with seating for a djangofest event. Everyone gets to see the stage. That's how theaters are designed, after all.

djangology

Im looking for a front row-center ticket for Saturday nights show. Ill offer $100.

kidtulsa

I'm not suggesting not getting front-row seats equates sub-par service. I just think that the original post brought up a valid point. Some folks can't afford to become a member of DFNW, and if that results in their being unable to secure seating or at least seating that reflects the considerable investment of time and money they're making in order to attend DFNW (monies which go towards supporting the artists and the festival and the local Whidbey economy), then that's a shame.

gipsygirl

kidtulsa seems to be the only one that gets what the original post was really trying to say. his last post explains it very nicely,and goes right to the heart of the matter. (without being sarcastic).