Hi Diane,
> I'm thinking about trying to get a venue of this nature off the
> ground in our fair city. But naturally I'm wondering if I can
> achieve any success where none has apparently been achieved
> before. Any hints/suggestions?
The roots music scene used to suck -- at least as far as out of
town acts were concerned -- here in the Northern Ky/Cincinnati
area. One promoter has been the catalyst for that, and he's not
even an industry weasel. Basically, he got tired of not being able to
see the kind of music he likes, so he started booking shows. He's
been very successful, and now nearly every good roots artist
passes thru town when on tour.
One thing that I think really helped was his scheuling several
shows at once. Rather than doing hit and run shows here and
there, he basically settled on one main venue (with another venue
for smaller shows), and schedules/announces anywhere from five
to ten shows at a time. He's built up a reliable identity and a strong
mailing list. I know people who go to his shows that would never
venture out to see, say, Alejandro Escovedo on a whim, but they
know from experience that they'll have fun when they go to his
shows. Now granted, this depends a bit on having the cash to
guarantee five or ten bands a certain amount of money, but I think
it has definitely helped his cause.
And, as Kelly noted, it helps to have the local public radio station
on your side. WNKU, the local Americana station, co-sponsors all
of his shows, and promote the hell out of them on the air.
One thing he hasn't done, which I think has hurt him in some ways,
is tie into the local music scene and rely on the assistance of
others. There have been a handful of times when any fool would
know that a certain act isn't going to draw on a cold Wednesday
night.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Dave
***
Dave Purcell, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Northern Ky Roots Music: http://w3.one.net/~newport
Twangfest: http://www.twangfest.com
