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Kenny G. is a "jazz musician"? Since when?? (Now it's MY turn to ROTFLMAO) Sorry, that was a cheap shot. Actually, it was TOO easy. My bad.
On a more serious side, how many performers of "elitist" classical music are rich? We all can drop a few names, but the sad reality is that community orchestras have been suffering for years. Most of the musicians are either volunteers or paid a very small wage. Nearly all must "pay their bills" by teaching or working at some non-music day-job.
As a way of just keeping their orchestras together, many local symphonies sell... are you ready?... MEMBERSHIPS. It's a way of keeping good music available, but no one is getting rich from it.
I can only wish that we could build a large enough fan-base to sell memberships in local GJ-appreciation societies. I'm tempted to join DFNW even though the odds of me traveling to the festival on my own deflated dime are rather small.
Back in the 80s (before matrimony temporarily limited my discretionary spending) I used to pay for memberships in my then-local public radio/jazz station WFAE (Charlotte, NC). I paid to have a birthday greeting read for Django. I also contributed to a station I was way too far from to listen to, but I wanted to support all-jazz WBGO in NJ. I never received any trinkets or concert discounts or anything. I just wanted to keep good music on the air.
Nobody's moralizing here but I mean '...suck up and fork it over little street urchin'?.
I suggest that people take their currency elsewhere.
You do that...
Me, I just cancelled my hotel and am going to camp because I'm about to start grad school and can't afford both a hotel and the shows I want to see. (So if you were on the waiting list for the Harbour Inn, there's a new room available....)
Value is what someone will pay for something. Doesn't matter what you think something is worth, it matters what it sells for. As you can see above, some people would pay more than twice the asking price for Rosenberg tix. At that price, I would be out of the market, even saving money by camping.
Now, this will be my first DFNW. If I go and pay what I'm going to pay for these tix, and the sound sucks, I'll not do it again. And I will relate my experience here. It appears that the show has been moved to the middle school vs. the high school in an attempt to improve what was apparently not wonderful last year, so I'm taking that into account when reading the previous posts.
Personally I'm glad that Nick has taken the risk to run this event. It isn't a safe bet, and he could probably get better returns by buying Euros and waiting for the dollar to fall some more....
A local venue in Grants PAss Oregon went from "for profit" to non profit
Since then the prices are higher, their "service" is worse and the concessions are stingy and replete with attitude
I should think that not all "front row" seats be given out to first comers.. some should be held back
And someone briefly touched on a subject which has been one of my hot buttons for years
The premiuim seats are given to hangers on, groupies, media folk, relatives , friends etc.. what the heck is with that
If I pay for premium seats I don't want anyone in front of me to have comped seats .. no hairsplitting and saying others have given "in kind" or some other such babble
A friend was a concert promoter down in Carmel Calif... I was familiar with the routine...buddies and groupies first, paying stiffs last
Plus my parents were involved in the Monterey JAzz festival for years and the Monterey Pop Festival and so on... I worked there for them as well, often in the "entertainers" lounge/bar area... should have been artists and parasites lounge
How about a random drawing for upgraded seats
Back to the Britt in JAcksonville Or.. I live 30 minutes away and go every year... this year no one interested me enough in spite of me paying "up" for early purchase so $50 for nothing except to keep the thing going, which I consider important, maybe next year there will be some Gypsy JAzz
Not familiar with DFNW can't comment on the venue.. but if you don;t want sweat flying on you from the performers.. nearly every seat at Britt is a good seat...I hear DFNW is the same at least for the sound
Matter of fact we prefer the general admission lawn to the reserved front seats at Britt.. so do most of our friends
what I see here is anyone can pay the mebership fee.. so it is neither elite nor "restricted" except by your own resources and choices
I do empathise with the premise of the initial post ....I don't know enough to offer a solution
I am originally from the area, most of my family was born there, my GGF emigrated there from Bohemia in 1883 ( a contractor and musician)
My daughter lives there and I could stay with her.. I could afford the experience but don't attend because of time contraints from self employment... just simply can't get away that time of year.
Go, get a ticket at whatever price you can afford, and enjoy. Hang out in front of WICA before a show and you might be able to snag a ticket below face value. I have. My wife doesn't care to go to the shows so I usually get a single ticket. What WICA usually do is stick me in one of the spots a single will fill in. It has worked great. I've sat just about everywhere in the WICA theater. It only seats 250 at the most. No bad seats folks.
Now a plug for the WICA people. Volunteers. They do a great job. It was bad data posted that tickets were available on a Monday or Tuesday. They're only open Wed-Sat after 1:00pm. Every year i call and leave my request and required data. Every year they call me back, confirm my request, and make it happen. It's all good.
This year it moves to the middle school for more seats. We'll see how it works out. I'm hoping for great, will settle for good.
and now for a semi-related question.... I'd email Nick but he's busy I guess. This will be the first year Robin Nolan will not attend. Kevin's playing with Jorgenson. Simon plays with everyone as he is always doing. Where's Robin? He will be missed.
and now for the disclaimer... I am fortunate to live on the Island. It is sooo easy for me to go and enjoy. I truly admire the people that come from afar to enjoy as well. Welcome, enjoy.
John
Robin has a gig in China so he won't be able to make it this year...
'm
Then there are the gypsies whom we hold in such high regard. Talk about sense of entitlement - the guy we all worship felt entitled to other people's chickens. Gypsies have a reputation for being grabby with other people's goods. Now of course that's not a fair assumption to make about gypsies, but the reputation is also not entirely undeserved either. I don't bring this up to make a point about gypsies, but rather to point out the irony in berating someone ("whiny-@55 street urchin") for expressing frustration at the prohibitive cost of participating in a gypsy jazz festival. Historically, we get more great jazz musicians out of street urchins than weekend warriors.
I see shades of gray. As a self-employed person, I know the value of a dollar and I feel good about spending dollars on things which give me value in return. I also know what it feels like to be broke and barely make my rent payments and have my electricity shut off. It's frightening and deeply frustrating. I've never been the ultra-committed musician I've dreamt of being, but I think those who take that path will experience something equally frightening/frustrating along the way, trust funders excluded.
This year for the first time I'll (barely) have the resources to attend DFNW. Personally, I'd like to see it more accessible to everyone, but I understand why it can't be ultra-accessible in a capitalist society. Yet maybe it could be mainland instead of on an expensive island. Camping is cheap, but it could be quite cold that late in September and good camping gear is expensive. Same goes for DF Colorado. I'm thrilled to see DF come to my state, but why have it 5+ hours from the bulk of the population of Colorado?
I think GJ in North America could use some youthful energy, but as long as our culminating events are expensive and out of the way, I think they'll be limited more to the weekend warrior types, like me. I want to see GJ grow in this country, but when the main fests are difficult to attend, I fear we'll be limiting attendance more to the already-converted and their spouses.
I hope I haven't ruffled too many feathers... I really can see both sides of this coin and this is simply what I'm feeling at the moment.
I agree with that one. Why would I want to fly all the way to Colorado and then drive 229 miles to get somewhere? Is this the explanation of why the price of Djangofest NW has risen so quickly? Do we finance these other Djangofests? Hmm. Just a thought, probably not actually true.
I hear you brother...
I used to go every year...
Now I stay home and save my dead presidents for gas and food...
Say hello to Dexter for me!
pm email me with your off group email address as I will send you something that will make you pee down both legs at once!
A.K.
Oh Yeah Jon...
Iv'e flown 4 times to Sea Tac, rented car's, payed for tickets and workshops, B&B's ( Lodging ) food and libations...
Never again unless this fricking economy changes!
I could buy another guitar with what I drop coming all the way from Tucson!
Got my 'puter front seats for the show when its posted on all the video's people post following a gig!
BTW, Marc and I are Djamming and he's moving to Tucson next year...