[NewMusic] discounts

[Phillip Greenlief]

I really feel for students these days. Rent and everything was so much
cheaper when I was coming up - I really have no idea how they live in
this expensive environment and have any time to practice (making the
rent is so much more difficult than it once was). In comparison to the
prices of shows today, I would just play on the street until I made $10
if I wanted to go to a show when I was in my early 20's - Keystone
Korner wasn't much more than $7 or $8 bucks during the week, and you had
enough left over to buy a beer...and rent, once again, was $145 a month
to live alone in a decent size studio.

Phillip Greenlief
c/o Evander Music
PO Box 22158 Oakland, CA
94623-9991
www.evandermusic.com

-----Original Message-----
From: newmusic-bounces at music.mills.edu
[mailto:newmusic-bounces at music.mills.edu] On Behalf Of Robair, Gino
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 4:52 PM
To: New Music
Subject: Re: [NewMusic] discounts

Despite the fact that Zorn ate a bag of potatoes a month, and Woody
Woodman
is apt to charge students extra for saying they're students, I think the
student discount is very helpful...in the real world.

I teach an intro-to-recording course at Diablo Valley College on
Saturdays,
and the students in my class often don't make enough money to pay for
the
books the class requires. (We're talking city college, not some
expensive
private school, so there are not sugar-daddies sending my homies off to
college....)

Some of the students are just out of high school and are literally
working
burger-flipping gigs (because they have no other job opportunities at
their
age in the bay area). But they're musicians in their soul, and they want
to
see shows. They take my class so they can have unlimited studio time for
something like $75 a semester. Smart kids, if you ask me. And damned
talented, some of them are.

There's no way they can afford a $75 ticket to the opera, or $25 to see
a
show at the Finger Palace. But wouldn't it be cool if they COULD be
exposed
to that music. Sadly, some of the venues have jive policies because the
grownups that run 'em have a chip on their shoulder.

And I have no compunction about telling my students to look for comps
and
free ways to get into gigs: if they can help seat the old ladies or
setup
the stage, they deserve a treat to some live music. If they know someone
who
knows someone, go for it. When I was in college, I did my share of stage
managing to see the local symphonies (before I was able to sub in the
percussion section).

FWIW, y'all. 

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