[NewMusic] Booking / 'Usual Suspects'

[Matt Davignon]

I agree with some of the things Damon says, but certainly not all of it.

A lot of the divisions in the bay area experimental music scene are
pretty arbitrary. If someone from Mills is doing noise music and
someone else from the Recombinant Media Labs is doing something
complimentary, I love putting those together. Twice as many people
come to those shows, and you succeed to exposing people to things they
like and making connections.

I disagree that offering the venue to a wider array of folks results
in a 'total waste of time 9 times out of 10'. We have good nights and
bad nights. What makes a good night is that the musicians have
something to present, and aren't just playing a gig because, "hey,
free gig".

When you offer a venue to new musicians who don't have as much
experience, you run the risk of having a not very good performance or
audience turn out. However, there are many rewarding cases, where
someone takes what they do seriously, they've brought some folks out,
and they continue to do great things afterwards. I've had a number of
times where I booked someone I thought was a total unknown, and it
turns out they're an established artist with a following, but from one
of those other experimental music communities.

Usual suspectery has its virtues to a venue - it's easy, it's safe,
and it's more time spent hanging out with friends. The downside is
that the value of a gig decreases when the musician has so many within
a frame of time. The musician doesn't have time to get excited about
it or make it a unique experience. The venue starts feeling a bit like
someone's garage. And the audience will feel less like it's something
'not to be missed'. (After  all, they can catch you again 2 days from
now.)

Like Damon said, promotion is very important, and wins you points. If
you're looking to get some new people out, write about what you're
going to do in an appealing fashion.

Matt


On 8/20/07, Damon Smith <Damon at balancepointacoustics.com> was like:
> When you drag out musicians just for the sake of the variety, you are
> going to end up with people who are not so excited to play and who
> won't do any promotion.
> Unfortunately it is a total waste of time 9 times out of 10.
>
> Musicians not doing promotion is probably the lamest part about the
> scene right now. (Other than that I am pretty excited about it now).
> If you ask one of the spaces for a gig you should promote it. Self-
> deprecation is not cute - if you are not excited about your music
> then neither am I, you can just as well stay home.
> It gets down to whether you think your music is worthwhile or not.
> When I have a gig I booked I put up a few hundred posters, make small
> flyers to hand out send it out to several list serves, my own email
> list, do a myspace bulletin, post it on, transbaycalendar, craigslist
> and other forums.
> Not only is it good for you, it is the least you can do for the
> selfless volunteers who make the spaces available.
> I am not saying you need to follow my exact routine, but do
> something. Also, Scott R. Looney is one of best friends, but if you
> ask for a gig at 1510, he is not going to do anything at to promote
> it, so you need to do all of it including enter it on to the transbay
> calendar, or don't bother.
>
> Damon Smith
>
> http://www.balancepointacoustics.com
> http://myspace.com/smithdamon
> New solo project:
> http://www.myspace.com/damonsmithsolo
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Bay Area New Music Discussion Group
> NewMusic at music.mills.edu
> http://music.mills.edu/mailman/listinfo/newmusic
>