dfnw membership sucks

Phil · June 2008

Seems we are all passionate about this music and about the festival and many valid points are made...however how do we bring these points to the attention of the people that matter; such as the festival organizers, so that they can hear and respond to our concerns? Is Nick Lehr a member of this forum? ~ Cheers, Phil

djangology · June 2008

the fact is that none of us have any control over how Djangofest is organized. i completely sympathize with you but Djangofest is a for-profit enterprise and we are not shareholders. none of us can understand exactly what Nick goes through to organize this and so who are we to criticize how things are done? we can't expect him to change things on any persons suggestion (although he has done so in the past I think).

what really should make you feel better is that I am almost 100% positive that Nick is on this forum and hearing what we are saying and so your post is most likely not going to go unnoticed.

billyshakes · June 2008

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.

I think it is wonderful for our gypsy jazz community that there is so much interest and concern over not being able to get tickets. That can only lead to higher attendance, larger venues, and bigger & better acts.

However, this model of members getting the option to purchase tickets early is employed by many mainstream pop music acts who regularly sell out venues in a matter of hours or days (i.e. Dave Matthews Band). I have attended 2 DFNW concerts in the past when I was living in northwestern Washington. By the above logic, since I didn't spend an extravagant amount of money and time to reach DFNW, should I have been entitled to lesser quality seats? Now that I live in Istanbul, should that qualify me for front-row center tickets?

As stated earlier, this is capitalism. We decide what price we put on the experience. If one can only afford airfare and lodging at the site and can't afford tickets, it is up to that individual to make their own cost-benefit analysis as to whether it is worth their time and effort. Additionally, whether one waits a week or a month before tickets are released to the general public shouldn't make much difference in my mind. If you are not able (or willing) to purchase the membership to give you early access to the ticket pool, you should then be especially cognizant of the general ticket release date.

I'm not trying to target this message specifically to any one sender, only the logic used in the argument. I don't want DFNW to become an elitist event where only rich patrons of the arts can afford to attend. However, even opera and symphony concerts have limited numbers of discount or student tickets available. They tend to be sold out shortly after release. The same logic applies to Nick and DFNW.

Finally, if you are in WICA, the sounds and seats are great anywhere. At the present time, ticket prices are all equal. However, he could just as easily have stated that the front row center section tickets are now a higher price (say $100 more for the whole festival) and have a tiered pricing plan. This membership business essentially amounts to that and it is fairly common everywhere. I fail to see the unfairness in the ticketing plan.

Ampsmasher · June 2008

Is there gonna be a flat out war on the front seaters at the concert?

djangology · June 2008

Yeah, I frequently buy concert tickets and because radio stations usually get all the good tickets first, I have never seen a front row ticket even when I try to buy them the moment they are on sale. The world works like this for all music acts.

gipsygirl · June 2008

good point about not wanting dfnw to turn into a elitist event,maybe thats where its headed. how many of you would not be a member (donate) if it did not include first choice at seats? would not the discounts, gifts, info, updates ect.. be enough? donate means helping with out expecting some thing in return. i will try to donate next year but not because of the seat system, because i support the music when i can.
it dosen't really matter what other promoters are doing. we all support djfest and deserve the same opportunity to purchase tix. it doesn't mean first row, just means a fair system for all, rich or poor.
all seats at wica are good, but LMS is not a good place for a concert.

Bob Holo · June 2008

I want to take a moment to dispell a myth here that seems to underlie this thread. No one is getting rich off of gypsy jazz. You couldn't make this 'elitist' if you tried. ROTFLMAO. This isn't Rock & Roll. This is Jazz. Jazz is not played for money, it's played for posterity and tips. If I had to guess about why the membership is there - I would say it's because hiring the Rosenbergs put the whole thing over budget because of the increased cost of travel and the decreased value of the US dollar relative to the Euro. It's not a big stretch of the imagination to see why they had to find a creative way to get things shoehorned into what is undoubtedly a very thin and tenuous budget. Ask Andrew how much money he makes off of Django in June, or Dennis Chang how much money he makes bringing people to Canada. Not much. Last time I checked, neither of those gents drives a Cadillac - nor does Nick.

My suggestion is that if you want good tickets you should dig around and find $99 and then before you use it to buy a membership take some time to reflect on how cool it is you don't have to get on a plane and fly to Europe to see some of the top GJ acts in the world. Above all - stop whining about what is fair. It is what it is. It costs money to bring people here and unless you're willing to put your money on the line to hire a top band and hope to god you sell enough tickets to break even, then you need to pay the price that's asked.

By the way, this thread motivated me to buy a membership and I'm not exactly swimming in dough.

billyshakes · June 2008

Bob Holo wrote:

I want to take a moment to dispell a myth here that seems to underlie this thread. No one is getting rich off of gypsy jazz. You couldn't make this 'elitist' if you tried. ROTFLMAO.

Bob,

I had to laugh when I re-read my post in light of your comments. It does seem to suggest that I was envisioning an elite future for this music.

Yeah, nobody is getting rich playing this music (other than to enrich their musical vocabulary!) and I side with you that I'm sure increased costs in bringing over top notch European acts called for creative measures to ameliorate them.

Actually, if you get down to it, the membership option allows the promoter to increase revenue and cover costs while still keeping the prices for general admission tickets low. Great idea!

Here's wishing for the day when all the cultural cognoscenti have pencil-thin mustaches like the guy at the top right corner of this webpage and neatly drop Roma words into conversations as if they were part of the English language! Does anyone know how to say "tres chic" in Roma??!! Ha!

Phil · June 2008

...Absolutely, jazz musicians don't get rich...unless your Kenny G!

...I'd be all for paying the $100 DFNW membership if I knew it would secure me close to front row center seats for the top artists at the WICA theater and not the middle school. As someone mentioned, I'd rather pay $100 to see The Robenbergs at WICA theater than $60 at the middle school.