RE: [Harp-L] Old Boys' Network

["Bill Hines" <billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've seen this "old boy network" a lot as well, having been to a lot of
jams in a lot of places. Sometimes I'm just glad I didn't get called up,
being a novice. This happened to me in vegas and other places.

But that doesn't make it right, I think it's against logic really, but I
understand the reasons. There's a big difference between "bar jams" and
the ones our blues society holds, which we usually shoot for places like
social clubs (VFW type places). And a host-band type jam versus ours,
which is 'pure open jam' (with a jam leader and sign up list).

When I'm running our jam, I want the new folks to get up *early* so we
can see what they have. The early sets tend to consist of:

1. Intermediate or novice musicians who want to get up before the place
gets crowded because they have less confidence or are just getting used
to playing in front of a crowd.
2. "better" musicians who want to help and support the folks in #1
above.

What happens is that the really hot-shot good players don't want any
part of those earlier sets, they want to wait by the bar, get juiced up,
wait till the chicks (or dudes) show up, and get into later sets with
other juiced up hot shot players. Those later sets are ripping, and the
last place a newbie wants to be! So if a new person shows up, if we get
them up early and see that they have chops, we know we can be
comfortable putting them back in later with the hotshots. 

We treat everyone well - ask Reach and some of the other 'visitors'
we've had. Nobody gets bumped because of the "friends" network, we don't
allow it. Common respect/courtesy to other musicians. And there's plenty
of opportunity - our jam usually runs from 8pm to after midnight every
Thursday, 8 sets or so and the audience is so packed you can't move in
the place. Although when the BS you guys are describing happens, well
the music biz is cruel, we all know that. So anyone that runs jams, keep
it in mind. It can be awful discouraging to new folks to have to deal
with that kind of treatment.

Bill Hines
Hershey, PA

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Joe Lempkowski
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 8:39 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Old Boys' Network


You should always expect to warm a chair for a while
when you go somewhere new and you are unknown.

The "Old Boys Group" are usually the people that
helped make the jam successful.  They are the
regulars.  They are there week in and week out.  They
buy drinks.  They entertain.  They are a known
quantity.  

Consider them a clique if you must, but what do first
timers with an attitude bring to the table?  

Having that attitude already displays and Us vs Them
mentality, which is not usually conducive to making
good music which requires some degree of
communication.

It's first time visitors with a couple of harps and a
sense of entitlement that make other musicians have
disdain for harp players.

I've been to jams where the attitude of some musicians
makes lives difficult for the jam host.  Depending on
the host, they might sit all night long and never get
up.

If you want to play, you've got to pay your dues. 
Sometimes, you get to be a part of (or the cause of) a
total trainwreck, sometimes, you'll get to play with
the good players.  

I find it's my best interest to keep my mouth shut and
not flash any ego at blues jams.  I do what the host
asks.  A good attitude goes a long way to getting to
play with good players.  Being nice pays huge
dividends.

A blues jam is a lot like life, when you're new you
have to prove yourself and being a jerk puts you in a
deeper hole that you have to dig yourself out of.

Have a great weekend!

Joe



 
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