LOL glad I live in Lafayette where we can see good Cajun bands every night of the week for F R E E. We dont have to put up with no teeth or tatts. Just good old fashion music that we all like, the dance floor is even big enough to dance on without bumping into other hoods

Dance lessons. Check. Though the hilarious part is that Amanda and I will be teaching. Guerilla marketing. Check. We have a very cool poster and are plotting on ways to get the word out as widely as possible, including that inter-webnet thingie.

We're hoping to entice some other folks to throw in with us for the next time. It's all good.

1. dancers don;t drink!

2. bar owners - they may actually have a risk -
a. they could let some other band use the place [ a band whose fans drink ]
b. they may not want to move tables or they may not have space for 120 dancers
[that is a huge bar]

if they move tables they have to turn away diners...

any SUCCESSFUL bar or restaurant isn;t going to want to give up space for 120 dancers and a loud band

so you may end up in small or unsuccessful venues

you will find that getting 100+ people to come to see live music is pretty hard even in a big city

the first time they might do it

here [atlanta] january is the best month

summer is the slowest
followed by xmas month



wle

Good point, Larry: dancers don't drink. It's really true, at least for the folks who really get into dancing. I'm still not sure what to do about that one: toss the bar owner a couple hundred? That would be pure profit for him. Have "healthy" drinks, sodas, non-alcoholic drinks on hand?

What do y'all do in Atlanta?

what do we do..

well it is the number one problem with 'we could play at the local bar'

either you play for not much money

or you find places where it doesn;t matter

like pappadeaux restaurant
place clears about $1,000,000 a week
seats 400
we played there a long time as 'extra entertainment'
for $500 and food and beer
not a bad deal
couple nights a week
BUT
they have no space inside
we were outside
under some roof but still


what else do we do
just play private parties

or
you can book it anyway
let the venue figure it out

if they gripe, eventually - just charge less to play and maybe explain it to the dancers that you will have a $5 voluntary dancing fee, honor system


you would think the healthy drink thing would work
but the dancers are also cheap
it;s not just that they don;t drink
besides the bar owner then has to have 'special' stuff just for you

it;s led to us getting fired from several places, not that they call it that but eventually someone looks at the bar tabs and figures it out then they book someone more alcoholic

what else do we do

about half our stuff is private parties

and we play for public dances for folks who put them on
atlanta has a group, atl cajun zydeco dance association
bham has one, ACME
huntsville AL, CZC

tallahassee, asheville, used to

right now we have exactly one gig booked
march 2012
though we will play 3-4 days before mardi gras at pappadeaux probably


if you get on the 'white blues' circuit, get ready to be paid $100 AND griped at if beer sales aren;t much

lot of competition there

i dunno

just saying
dancers don;t drink

wle

Screw cover charges never never never pay to get into a bar. If you have to pay a cover charge then the **** drinks should be free or at least half price.

Then how are the musicians supposed to be paid? Or, do you believe they should just play for free? Would you play for free if you were a professional and performed regularly?

Let the bar pay for the band. They make plenty on the drinks they charge for. In Lafayette La there are plenty of places to dance every nite of the week different bands each night and we dont have to pay to get in. Let the establishment pay the band charges.

awesome idea!! add some politics to it and you have the CFMA!!

Got to hand it to you, Jamey.

This has been the best thread on this increasingly mundane forum for quite some time.

I would say that Christian is right... Anytime you bring 9 or 15 or 27 people together to try and accomplish something worthwhile, especially if there is $$$ involved, about 50% of those people are gonna quickly develop differing ideas from the other 50% about how things should be done, so you quickly have 13 1/2 people wanting to book the Mamou Playboys and 13 1/2 people wanting to book the Feres Michot and then arguing about what is Traditional Cajun and what is not Traditional Cajun and does a steel guitar really belong in a Cajun band and then YOU'RE the guy they're gonna blame because it was your idea in the first place to start this band deal and now the beer is too expensive and the band only played Jolie Blon once and never did play the Bayou Noir 2-step even after my wife requested it twice and how-come we don't have a crawfish boil every month and how come it cost $ 10.00 to get in now instead of $ 8.00 like it used to and why don't these bands play a little Rolling Stones every now and then.

And I wonder What Am I Doing being an Officer Again in another Friggin' 501 C 3 Music Oriented organization. Stupidity!
I know, personal problem.
Has to be love, I guess

Oh Yeah, almost forgot about the taxes aspect.....

JB

That's funny JB.About how it went with my attempt.Good idea Jamey,it will work in some places,you proved that

Funny (and sad!) JB. OMG, I can just imagine the "too many Indian chiefs and every one an expert" scenario. Luckily for me, there are at least some advantages to being the only true-blue Cajun FREAK in my area, and one of them is everyone deferring to me about all things Cajun. They know I've been the persistent (and pesky) voice in the wilderness for a long, long time. But I can easily imagine your predicament.

You know what to do with loudmouths: put'em to work. Then they can put up or shut up! They might do the former; not likely the latter. God bless you, I can only imagine what you're faced with.

More later . . .

Agreed, Christian!

I'm a bit too far off to join in, but compliments for your ideas and your positive thinking, Jamey.
That tune project was also a great idea. It made me practice more seriously and appreciate tunes I didn't like at first.

HEY !!!

Now I understand why I almost quit playing CA for such a long time!!
Time for a new tune!
C'mon Jamey!! Put me to work again!

Hmmmm, that's a good idea, Peer. But let's it make a little more challenging this time . . .

This is especially for you hot dogs out there: Jim, Bryan, Patrick, Chris, Ganey, Jim, Rusty, Big Nick, Jon Melancon (you are definitely on the list now, buddy!) and so on. I'm going to name a tune that you may have heard, but probably don't play, or at least haven't played much:

The Poullard Special by Mr. Ed Poullard.

The only officially recorded version I'm aware of is on Les Amis Creole. It will be VERY interesting to see who rises to the occasion on this one, and what they do with the tune! BTW, if you don't have it, let me know and I will e-mail you the mp3.

Let the games begin!