[Harp-L] re:death of live music

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The issues you bring up Rosco hit here in the 1990's.

DJ's seem to have run their course in this part of Pennsylvania.
The bars that did drop bands for dj's or comedy shows now
host Texas Hold'em games on the off nights.
I've been to a few of the dance clubs downtown that host DJ's. The  
crowds are mostly in the lounge areas away from
the dance floor.

You can catch a combination of blues acts or jams from Tues to Sunday
around here.  It use to be 7 days a week until the band I'm in tired  
of playing Monday nights 2 years straight.

After many boring years of DJ's the locals tired of them.
The bands are moving back into the weekend slots once overrun with  
DJ's. As new clubs open up they are making
the choice to go with live entertainment rather then canned.

After a couple of years of seeing mostly blue and grey hair blues  
fans in the audience we are starting to pick up a
younger crowd.  Blues is something new to their processed and  
overdubbed ears and they are digging it and jazz and
celtic and other forms of root music.

I think part of it is the local newspapers commitment to support the  
arts and promote as much cultural activities as possible
including bands of all types and the nightclub scene.  The other half  
is the desire for the people in this area to create their
own NY, DC or Philly vibe without having to go to major cities to get  
it.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now as a musician.

mike


On Mar 30, 2007, at 1:59 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:40:38 EDT
> From: Roscoharp@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] death of live music?
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID: <d36.5afc383.333e9786@xxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Hey list,
>
> I've been polling musicians I know all over the country about an  
> issue that
> is pretty important to those of us who love playing out in front of  
> music
> fans.  In my area of the country, (upper mid-west) long established  
> live  music
> clubs are switching to DJs, karaoke, comedy, etc. This trend seems  
> to have
> really accelerated in the last couple years. College age fans who  
> drive the  music
> scene aren't very interested in what I'll call 'real' music. There  
> are  fewer
> places to play & many of the venues that are left are only  
> interested  in
> cover bands. Original bands are often grouped as multi-act shows  
> where no one
> band makes much money. There are quite a few regional blues bands  
> out there
> chasing a few low pay gigs. I'm not very in touch with the jazz  
> scene, but  it
> seems that only the big names are drawing. Very few clubs of any  
> kind  seem to
> have a built in crowd.
>
> I've seen a big turn around from even 3 or 4 years ago.
> .
>
> Is the live music scene at the club level dying?
> Are casual  music fans dumbed down to the level of generic hip  hop,
> programmed pop beats, & soul-less country?
> Is it just my  imagination?
> What are y'all seeing?
>
> Later,
> Rosco