GAS MONEY?
Maybe with luck!
The original: August 25, 2001
rweaver@*.com wrote:
Larry Rhodes, director of dance at The Juilliard School, agrees.
“In my experience, people in dance are never working because they are
looking for financial reward. They choose this profession because
they love it, they want and need to do it,” he says. “Dance is simply
a part of their lives and to do without it would be a great loss to them.”
Those of us who enjoy listening and dancing to music should never let a
day pass without thanking Euterpe, Orpheus, and Jubal for the musicians who
make music for the love of doing so regardless of what they get paid
for our pleasure.
————
The LyraTones is an 18-piece band (5/4/4/4 configuration) with a boy
singer and Leader Tom ??? I first heard them playing with the
outstanding Redwood Symphony, Dr. Eric Kujawsky's beautiful baby. They
also play at the Santa Clara Senior Center every Fourth Thursday
(http://calendar.yahoo.com/seniorsfo) for the pittance of a $4
admission that, from the perhaps 400 attendees, could pay them a
maximum of $80 each presuming the gig has no other expenses such as
rent, janitorial service, utilities, snacks, etc. Deduct those and
they're lucky to get as much as $60. Today's Big Bands, such as those
of Harold Jones and the Bossmen, Rudy Salvini, SaxFrancisco, Moodswing
Orchestra, City Swing, the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, the Collective
West Jazz Orchestra, Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, the Realistic
Orchestra, and the San Francisco Bay Area Big Band exist only because
the musicians love the music and challenge of playing in a big band. We
would have to pay at least $10, presuming an attendance of 400, to make
it financially worth the musicians' while. We should never let a day
pass without thanking Euterpe, Orpheus, and Jubal for what they have done for
us.
————
The August 2001 Santa Clara Senior Center gig of the LyraTones was
musically very satisfying. They swung almost every number, played
badass charts, had some good solos, and were tight and loose in the
best senses of those words. Wow! The concert aspects of the gig were
wonderful. But it was a dance gig and the dance aspects of it were far
from ideal aside from the somewhat slow, very large, floor. The tempi
were so high that I counted them. On two occasions, three consecutive
numbers were faster than 160 BPM. Even a fine rendition of ¡Oye!
¿Cómo Va? was at a blistering 166 BPM. You KNOW Tito
never played it that fast. The FoxTrots were the most suited to Swing
dancing and the so-called Swings were faster than Jive tempi normally
are. One number was close to 200 BPM. Mind you, this gig was at a
Senior Center and, guess what?, most of the attendees were quite old,
many of them lucky they could still walk much less dance
[please see How to Play for Dancing].
————
The dancing level was among the lowest I've ever encountered. Even my
girlfriend was appalled and so dis-satisfied that she wants to never
return. There were about six couples who appeared to dance well but
they never let go of each other so it's impossible to know whether they
really know how to dance or just how to dance with each other. During
the mixers they hugged the walls while the rest of us mixed. They
returned to the floor for the music and then the incredibly rude,
inconsiderate, and uncoöperative assholes unfairly huddled against
the walls during the mixing.
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