Comments on: 10 Things I Want Musicians to Know

By: Gordie Tentrees

Gordie Tentrees — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:02:20 +0000

Hi, I came across this thread and quite enjoyed it. Having acted as both artist and talent buyer it is nice to see another buyer opening the door to conversation about all the above. I cant help but endorse your sentiments in treating every single person on a festival site with the same respect, be it the merch person or parking lot attendant. Programming a free festival is tough, and having played yours in the past years ago it is good to see it surviving still. Too many come and go. Best of luck with your last year!
Gordie Tentrees

By: Jd McCallen

Jd McCallen — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:59:18 +0000

surprised i haven’tread this yet….good points. don’t take any shit from those prima donna/ delicate orchids. i’ve been turned down for lots of gigs. I’ve also played hundreds more. I don’t bitch about not receiving responses, i understand the amount of submissions promoters/booking agents/bar owners deal with all the time….it’s unfortunate that most of the aforementioned i’ve worked with aren’t as professional as you are…thanks again for the great read.

By: Steph

Steph — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:02:06 +0000

I’m not in the biz, but this post is fantastic and I’m just stopping by to lol at the sad, self-aggrandizing nonsense that “BB” wrote.

By: Candace

Candace — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:03:40 +0000

Re: BB, Ah, the good ol’ days. I keep hearing about those. But I’m pretty convinced that the good ol’days are now.

I could put on an excellent festival with just a bunch of my friends, over and over, every year. But my responsibility is larger than just my own taste and friendships – I receive public funding, and I believe that with it comes a responsibility to think about the wider community, not just my buddies. I make new friends every year with the people I book; we’re a family extended across Canada, not just my neighborhood.

My festival’s free, but we pay performers, and we have workshops and unamplified stages and jams and lovely, unexpected moments where people come together. People from all walks of life come through the festival park, because they can afford it – young families, teenagers, large families, seniors, new Canadians, people riding their bikes on their way somewhere else who stumble across the festival unexpectedly.

I’d hire more musicians if I thought I could decently pay more; I would feel like a slimeball if I paid any less than I do. Love’s great, but it doesn’t pay for your food and gas from Nova Scotia to Peterborough.

By: BB

BB — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:07:42 +0000

I say we need more, yea, many more festivals@25 acts each ..it would seem that maybe 33 or more, to start with..I’m lucky I suppose, that I don’t have to be on the defensive when I put on our Grand Garden Picnic. I simply call acts I would like to see in the space with each other. Thats the way it was done friends..at least in the early days of festivals. Someone says..I’d like you to be here next year..and then the application is a formality to remind them of your availability.
Some Ad,s must really be uptight.. In the 10 Commandments above I see someone who really needs therapy, and a week away. It seems so pushy, like the last breath of a long day. Now, me I have a tranquillity garden …come to my Garden…any garden..
Folk fests are only one part of the music scene and there are hundreds of nice little gigs out there..I enjoy opening places up or making my own work. there’s way too much desperation in what was and should remain a big friendly family. People have forgotten the root of it all..Playing for the love of it. Sharing it. Passing it on. I really miss the little circles of music that happened between pickers in the 60s.-70.The sound systems where folky enough that you could play and hear yourself in the park .Bruce Cockburn and I enjoyed picking under a tree at Miraposa ’69 for an hour while people came and went. His,”Goin’ to the country”, must have been played 40 times that morning. I miss that “sit down and pick” thing.
The 800 left-over musicians, and only a few will come, hired or not, only need a day pass or at least a shady secure place to check their instruments, and they get to play a bit on the grounds and be part of the big picture.networking into a stronger community, future voice of the people, etc etc. I think a few song circles takes off a lot of steam, and contributes endlessly. Some musicians are bound to be discovered and the organic process is secured for the future.

By: smartygirl

smartygirl — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:55:24 +0000

brilliant! i work in funding, and i kind of wish everybody in the world would read this post and take it to heart… sigh.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:25:59 +0000

My song ‘Who killed the last folksinger?’ kind of deals with this stuff. on the outset it sounds like a typical musician complaining about the biz etc, but if you really listen you realize the narrator is saying everyone and no one are to blame including the folksinger, stuff happens and people are desperately fallible, some have thicker skin, some don’t give a crap, some are guided by what they think they should think or say, some were drunk when they wrote that, some were pandering to their agent, some were preaching to the converted, some didn’t mean to come off that way, some weren’t interested, some were annoyed by the million calls they had already had n which they were pretty kind and that one just got off unlucky,, some were misunderstood, some were already so far on the defensive they didn’t actually read the thing and jumped to the wrong conclusion, some expected to be treated that way….

ha ha, its pretty great when you take a step outside and really look at it all. Anyway, we all go through shit and some of us deal with it better than others. I am glad you wrote this, whether people take it the right way or wrong, instigators and triggers are what gets brains spinning, thoughts a rolling and dirt cleared out of the way. I am writing too long here, back to the songs, three this week, the first in moons.
cheers

By: Candace

Candace — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:49:54 +0000

Hey Ben, Thanks!
I agree; you should treat everyone with respect, no matter what. I probably could have worded that better.

I also agree on your next point; ADs and other talent buyers don’t feel the effects of bad behaviour like artists do. I know one promoter who constantly ripped people off, was banned from several venues and worked over in parking lots by angry musicians, but people kept working with him. I guess it’s harder to get the word out.

I don’t have patience for anybody who walks into a situation with an attitude, whoever they are; I think hipsters and divas are desperately insecure people downloading their issues onto everyone around them. Whether artist, volunteer, or whatever, I won’t work with anyone like that. No one is so skilled or talented that I’ll put up with a crazy-maker.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:09:48 +0000

I enjoyed reading this.its the things that everybody knows that we need to be reminded of, you read and it and you go, oh, yeah , I know this.
I have to slightly disagree with you on point number 9, I don’t think it matters if you are the AD or the portapottie technician, everyone is due the same treatment,whether it helps your career or not.

if an AD is a prick, we are supposed to take it lying down or we are the bad guy, if a volunteer is rude or snotty or whatever, its forgotten or at least has no long term effects, but if an artist is a jerk, rude, unfriendly or whatever everybody finds out quickly and the long term effects can be very damaging, but that has a lot to do with a very small pie and too many berries! thats been my observation. The main thing is there are no devils and angels here, its incidentals to circumstances, thats all.

By: Candace

Candace — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:22:58 +0000

Re: Steve, I really think the contempt you’re finding comes from a misreading on your part, not from what I wrote.
I’ve been hired to book acts and run the organization. My priority is a good gig for everyone; my team are all terrific, smart, skilled, kind, ethical people – administrators, volunteers, artists, audience.

Re: Crystal, When you send resume to a job, you don’t hear back unless they want to talk to you; submissions are exactly the same. You assume that an employer looks at your resume in good faith, and you have to assume that a talent buyer does the same.