notloB Folk Concerts wishes you and yours Seasons' Greetings and a Happy New Year.

notloB Folk Concerts wishes you and yours Seasons' Greetings and a Happy New Year.

Our live music series is possible through the support of you, the patrons and our volunteers.  We are especially grateful to our 2011artists...

February 5 ~ Stash Wyslouch & Andy Reiner
March 4 ~ Chasing Blue & Joe's Truck Stop
March 19 ~ John Roberts & Debra Cowan
April 8 ~ The Bee Eaters
May 7 ~ Tornado Rider
May 13 ~ Bread and Bones
September 1 ~ Jim Hurst
September 23 ~  Kyle Carey
October 20 ~  Flynn Cohen & the Deadstring Ensemble, featuring John McGann, Matt Heaton, and Danny Noveck 

...and look ahead to 2012, our fifth year!

January 14 ~ Jenni Lyn Gardner and Friends 

January 21 ~ Susie Burke & David Surette 

February 4 ~ Julie Metcalf & Andy Reiner 

February 17 ~ Kimberly Fraser, Brian Conway & Mark Simos

March 2 ~ Eric McDonald & Katie McNally 

notloB Folk Concerts

Website / Facebook / Newsletter / Contact

Star In the East by Debra Cowan

Debra Cowan has sent this along as a holiday gift. Debra is a notloB alumna, having performed with John Roberts 3/19/11.

"For the Christmas Holiday. From the upcoming new release, "Among Friends". Recorded at Bacca Pipes Folk Club, Keighley, W. Yorks. Nov. 2006 "

Pirate Santa Went and Joined the Pirates for the Good of the World!

From my friend, fellow traveler and notloB alumi David Rovics.  Enjoy!

Basin & Range

Berklee World Strings directed by Eugene Friesen. "Basin & Range" composed by and featuring fiddler Darol Anger. First Church Boston, December 5, 2011.


The notloB connection? Through Rushad Eggleston. Darol has been a surprise guest (Tornado Rider, 9/18/10) and Eugene was Rushad's principal mentor at Berklee.

notloB Artists Anchor Christmas Celtic Sojourn

Sunday at the Cutler Majestic Theater will be your last opportunity to see this year's production of a Christmas Celtic Sojourn. It is especially heartening because it is is anchored by notloB alumni Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, Lissa Schneckenburger, Simon Chrisman and Flynn Cohen.

Youth Dancers

Simon Chrisman,  Laura Cortese,  Lissa Schneckenberger, Hanneke Cassel and Flynn Cohen behind.

See Bronwyn Bird in the Christmas Revels

notloB 2x alumna Bronwyn Bird (Blue Moose and the Unbutton Zippers) is appearing in the Christmas Revels at Sanders Theater, 12/16-29.

In the Tradition 12/13 ~ BCMFest

I have been creating Facebook events for my Tuesday evening radio program, expanding starting today to the notloB Music blog to share more widely. My turn at doing the program is broadcast every other Tuesday, 7-9pm eastern. WCUW is a community radio station located in Worcester, Massachusetts, broadcasting at 91.3fm and streaming at www.wcuw.org.

Photo courtesy of the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club

During the first hour, Sean Smith, a BCMFest director, will be calling about 7:15 to talk about the indoor Celtic festival held each January in Cambridge. Music by many of its performing artists will be played before and after the interview. 

Sean Smith, a BCMFest director, will be calling about 7:15 to talk about the indoor Celtic festival held each January in Cambridge. Stuart Peak of the band NØÍR will call about 7:30; Eric Eid-Reiner (The Reiner Brothers) about 7:45; Bob Jennings (FOVS) about 8:00.

Partial list of artists whose music will be featured:
Flynn Cohen
Sean Smith
FOVS
NØÍR
The Whiskey Boys
Bob Bradshwaw
The Stoneybatter Band
Jane Gilmartin
Ken Perlman & Jim Pendergrast
Adrienne Howard & Emily Peterson
The Reiner Brothers
Fellswater
Triple Spiral
Kyle Carey
The real-time playlist can be viewed at http://www.spinitron.com/radio/playlist.php?station=wcuw

BCMFest
http://bcmfest.com/
"Boston's Celtic Music Fest (BCMFest) will celebrate its ninth anniversary on January 6 and 7, 2012, and continues looking forward to a bright future of exciting possibilities and opportunities. Besides sponsoring a festival that features more than 100 performers of great variety, BCMFest organizes a monthly collaboration with Club Passim, "Celtic Music Mondays," spotlighting Boston area Celtic musicians and singers; BCMFest also holds special events such as a Celtic Music Cruise and the Boston Urban Ceilidh. Above all, BCMFest continues to uphold its mission: making music our first priority."

BCMFest Mission:
To produce locally-based Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton music and dance in an upbeat and all-ages friendly environment.
To bolster appreciation for traditional Celtic music and dance among youth and the greater Boston community.
To support a living, changing tradition by encouraging cross-genre collaboration and innovation among dancers and musicians of all generations.
To produce a variety of collaborative projects and performances for, in and of the greater Boston community.

BCMFest 2011 Artists:
Andy and Eric Reiner
Triple Spiral
Hanneke Cassel
Fellswater
Kyle Carey
Bob Bradshaw
Adrienne Howard and Emily Peterson
Katie McNally and Eric McDonald
NØÍR
Lynn Noel, Lynn Feingold, Anabel Graetz and Deborah Goss
Corvus
Ken Perlman and Jim Prendergast
Hannah Sanders and Liz Simmons
Amanda Cavanaugh and Nic Gareiss
Neil Pearlman's Scottish Infusion
Dylan Courville and Wells Burrell with Bob Jennings
Chasing Redbird
The Whiskey Boys
Flynn Cohen and The Deadstring Ensemble
The Stoneybatter Band
Royal Scottish Country Dance Society of Boston
Kyte MacKillop

BCMFEST ARTISTS:Send your CD to WCUW for inclusion in this program and future play on the several other WCUW folk and Celtic programs. Mail to WCUW, (music genre), 910 Main Street, Worcester MA 01610.

================
Playlists from the Tuesday edition of "In the Tradition" can be viewed during the show athttp://www.spinitron.com/radio/playlist.php?station=wcuw and are submitted soon after the show's end to the Folk DJ list -http://lists.psu.edu/archives/folkdj-l.html

Read descriptions of other WCUW program specials at http://www.wcuw.org/modules/news/

Listen to WCUW at 91.3fm or streaming at wcuw.org or live365 app for your mobile device.

Geoff Bartley's Monday Night Open Mic at the Cantab Celebrates 20 Years

Geoff Bartley may or may not be a national treasure, yet, but he has been instrumental to the careers of many "FOLKSINGERS, singer-songwriters, finger-style guitar players, flatpickers, bluesmen, blueswomen, traveling minstrels, balladeers, acoustic rockers, touring and recording artists, traditional and contemporary solos, duos and trios, a cappella singers, musicians and instrumentalists of all styles!" over the years.  On Monday, December 12 Geoff Bartley's Monday Night Open Mic at the Cantab will enter into its third decade, celebrating (with cake, I hear) 20 years!!! Congratulations, Geoff!



Don't believe me, read the words of Tom Paxton and Brad Paul:


"So you've been looking for real. You like it with the bark still on it, doncha? Look no further: Geoff Bartley's Put the Big Stone Down is right in the middle of the tradition (and) classy all the way. I love it." 
~ Tom Paxton (January 26, 2010)
“Geoff is an amazing player, he writes wonderful songs that speak to the heart and if that weren’t enough, he is a great person who really cares about folk and roots music and the people who make it.” 
Brad Paul – Former Producer/Host "Folk on WGBH"

...and specific to the 20th anniversary:

"Wow! Congratulations. The same job for 20 years, some 500 shows, around 2,000 opening songs. Heroic!"
~David Fishken


....all this reminds me I need to settle with the Republic of Cambridge for a parking ticket I got the night I brought David Massengill to the Cantab as the Monday night featured artist and the back lot had just been converted from parking meters to a computerized zone system. As Bob Dylan had warned, "don't follow leaders, watch your parking meters." How true.

If you want to see what makes Geoff the real deal, get to the CanTab about 4pm. That's the time Geoff arrives to load in and set up his personal sound equipment used for not only the Monday night open mic, but also the Tuesday night pickin' party, now in its 18th(?) year. But don't get in his way, he has his methods, carefully refined over 20 years. 

And remember, watch the parking meters!

-------------------------

This is the notloB Music Blog, I would be remiss to remind the reader that Geoff has graced notloB stages not once, not twice but thrice:
August 18, 2007 Loring-Greenough House (Eliza Blue opened)
November 15, 2008   Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church  (co-feature with Mary McCaslin)
March 10, 2010   Jackson Homestead   (solo Feature)

Maybe it's time to ask for another performance before his booking calendar is filled by venues just catching on to this national secret (and his fees go up), a wonderful artist and man.

"Woody Sez" at A.R.T., May 5, 2012 - May 26, 2012

"Woody Sez" at American Repertory Theater, May 5, 2012 - May 26, 2012

"A high-spirited celebration...stirringly captures the rebellious spirit of Guthrie's times, and of our own."
— The Guardian



Woody Guthrie is a musical hero of legendary proportion who transformed folk music into a vehicle for social protest and evoked the restless spirit of the Dust Bowl generation.  Woody Sez brings the giant to life in a joyous, toe-tapping, and heartfelt theatrical portrait that uses Woody's words and songs to transport the audience through his fascinating, beautiful, and sometimes tragic life. Featuring many classic Woody tunes including "This Land is Your Land" and "Bound for Glory," Woody Sez captures the heart and spirit of Woody Guthrie and the stories of America.

Creative Team
words and music by Woody Guthrie
devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley

Turning the troops loose, or how not to do a media campaign

It's a fact of life that folk and pop-folk artists who were big in the 60's/70's/80's and are still touring play smaller venues they did back in the day (for example, when Spider John Koerner comes through town once or twice per year, one is more likely to find him playing at the Plough or Sally's than Club Passim (whose official name is Passim Folk and Music Center but in its quest for a younger audience has dropped the reference to "folk", re-branding itself to "Passim", read 

notloB Music: Rest in Peace, Passim Folk Music and Cultural Center

Nov 01, 2010).

It must be frustrating for vintage artists to be upstaged by youngsters with less talent but more sex appeal to 20-something audiences. This seems to be the case for Vance Gilbert, who recently decided to take matters into his own hands regarding bookings, or rather lack of, at the Tupelo Music Hall in New Hampshire.

But should an artist take issues like this public, or instead handle the matter personally and privately, perhaps engaging a professional publicist?  Here is an example of how the do-it-yourself approach recently went bad for Vance. The posts below were copied from his personal Facebook page 12/3 at 8:20am.

• 
  

  
  

  Vance Gilbert

  OK, its been long enough without asking.
  
  After years of successfully playing there, why does this place refuse to hire me yet keep my picture on the front page of their website as the first thing you see? Doesn't that seem weird to you? If you frequent Tupelos as your favorite place to hear music, give 'em a call and tell them you want to see me there: (603) 437-5100.
  
  
  im vance gilbert and i approve of this message hell i wrote it......

  
  

  
  

  
  

   ·  · Share · 15 hours ago · 

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    Mark Mandeville, Andy Levy, Kathy Gielow and 53 others like this.
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      Christine Fogarty Geiger have you sent them an email or called asking this same question? i think they either owe it to you to have you on the stage or should replace you on the front page. that's kinda uncool.
      

      15 hours ago · 
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      D Zeutas-Broer They need to compensate you for the modeling job.
      

      15 hours ago ·  ·  3
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      John Millsaps Do they have your permission to use your likeness in their advertising?
      

      15 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Vance Gilbert Agent is on it, but then they go to something else when they talk, i guess. can't get a square answer, commitment, or even an opening slot. I usually don't whine about stuff like this but I really like playing there to boot!!
      

      15 hours ago · 
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      Christine Fogarty Geiger agent is either not getting anywhere or you need to pick up the phone and make this politely personal. also -- you should try and get in at blue ocean music hall in salisbury because i like live really close and would totally come see you there. it's a nice venue.
      
      anyway -- you're asking us sweet pea, but you, luke, should use the force. x0x0x0
      

      15 hours ago · 
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      Mary Jarvis McGee you're such a handsome guy, that's why they keep you on their front page! I'll call and ask when you're going to be there next. give them a kick in the butt.
      

      15 hours ago · 
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      Roberta Schwartz I stopped going there as the schedule seems to be based solely on the propietor's likes and dislikes. I asked about having Cliff there and I was ignored. It's a far, far cry from the old Muse.....
      

      15 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Liz Kilfoyle Esmiol I am headed there to see a show at least once/month lately. Will certainly have a word with them. Would love to see you there!
      

      15 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Robert Rovner Vance I have no clue where this place is but their idiots. Anyway if you see this,when ya comin back to the Philly area!
      

      15 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Ralph Santosuosso Looks like they need a new tag line :-)
      

      15 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Alan Marzelli Go figure. All I can say is we're looking forward to having you here in Ossining, NY at the Budarz theater on June 10th!
      

      15 hours ago · 
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      Steve Ide Wow, you've never played there and yet they use your photo? What gives with that. Let's give this a little more press... Hmmmmm.
      

      15 hours ago · 
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      Paul Rutter Vance they love you there. Perhaps the answer is to open for a bigger draw? I don't know the answer. When I had a radio show in State College, your music was on air frequently. I think your writing and use of metaphors unknowingly offers great messages to listeners willing to listen. But if they can see tickets and make money, I'll bet they would book anyone in the singer songwriter genre. It's business.
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Randall Williams I can actually answer both of those questions. Which is sad.
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Charlie Sweeney Dude, they must have heard how dangerous you are!
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Barbara Ryan i'd like to see you there! closer to home...i'll call and email!
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Michael Busack I just left my message Vance!
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Suzanne Michele Sessere i am going to call and ask what time you are playing cause your pic is on the poster
      

      14 hours ago ·  ·  5
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      Betsy Dake LOL - go get 'em, Vance!
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Victoria Bouffard Weird to use a photo for a current poster of anyone who is not going to be performing there in the near future. I'm sure they'll have you there again. Bookings are a strange, strange game...
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Victoria Bouffard oops I meant website front page, duh
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Jeff Davis Could be they're using your likeness to prove how not-prejudiced they are ... against singer/songwriters. (Tell 'em you're Americana and they'd better salute.)
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Lisa Biales I gave em a call Vance, got the run around. Good luck!
      

      14 hours ago · 
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      Monique Citro Vance...Gregory and I have had the same EXACT problem! Would love to play in White River, but not a word.
      

      13 hours ago · 
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      James Howard Buddy, you are "on the list" or you are not, either way its hard to tell what that means. Tupelo is in Mississippi not NH and VT. That's a clue.
      

      13 hours ago · 
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      Marianne Chatterton Hell, after years of performing and being a local songwriter....I can't even get an open mike feature....
      

      13 hours ago · 
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      Don Bellizzi Its the economy. There are so many singer songwriters out there (and believe me many are my friends) that many of them are performing for free now just to get more exposure. One exception, the Wainrights. They get so many gigs together and separately, that they never get a day off.
      

      13 hours ago · 
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      Charlie Sweeney i've been a musician and when a club owner told me I would have to play for exposure, I explained to him that people die of exposure.
      

      13 hours ago ·  ·  3
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      Kevin Malvey What's the deal with that????
      

      12 hours ago · 
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      Mg Massey will do.Doesn't seem right to me .Having your picture and not having you play there.
      

      12 hours ago · 
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      Dave Reed you should go perform right outside the front door !!!
      

      12 hours ago · 
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      Larry Weil I stopped going there when they went to mostly expensive shows, and then the straw was when they started adding a ticket charge, even if you paid cash at the door.
      

      12 hours ago · 
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      Vance Gilbert Hey All,
      
      Apparently the calls have drawn the ire of the owner of Tupelo, so you can stop. It wasn't my intent to have folks call up pissy and angry, it was more to get folks to let him know I was out here still and to just have me there.
      
      My apologies to Scott @ Tupelos (see my later post in that thread that says how I love the place) and to anyone else that may have seen my intent as being animosity laden.
      
      Yuck, I guess for now I'm a dikk.
      

      12 hours ago ·  ·  3
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      Snarky Snark Ah, relationships are always so tricky. Maybe if everyone sent roses? ;)
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Renee Weitzner This is too bad.....Maybe the booking agent will calm down now that some time has passed.....
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Joey Dugan They just keep you on teh webpage for teh Eye Candy effect.....It's a cross you must learn to bear gracefully....
      

      9 hours ago · 
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      Garnet Rogers I'm planning on using your picture as my facebook profile...
      

      7 hours ago · 
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      Don Bellizzi Charlie, that die of exposure remark was the funniest I had heard all day!
      

      6 hours ago · 
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      Vance Gilbert Hey Garnet, you need something there... Rosanne Barr wants her hair back...
      

      6 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Iam Matt Inthehat Well Vance - to paraphrase Dr. Hook -
      
      'Gonna see my smiling face
      On the Home Page of the Tupelo Hall'
      
      I'm sure that was no disrespect intended there - likely quite the opposite. I hope you get to play there soon.
      

      4 hours ago · 

....and this series

• 
  

  
  

  Vance Gilbert

  Hey All,
  
  Apparently the calls have drawn the ire of the owner of Tupelo, so you can stop. It wasn't my intent to have folks call up pissy and angry, it was more to get folks to let him know I was out here still and to just have me there.
  
  My apologies to Scott @ Tupelos (see my later post in that thread that says how I love the place) and to anyone else that may have seen my intent as being animosity laden.
  
  Yuck, I guess for now I'm a dikk.

   ·  · Share · 12 hours ago · 
  

  • 
    

    Vance Gilbert and 3 others like this.
  • • 
      

      Patty McIlrath Martin People keep telling me, in this life, if you want something, you have to ask for it. Looks like it worked
      

      12 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Peter Kaufman Powerful things, these electrons. I sat and watched this unfold.
      

      12 hours ago · 
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      Patty McIlrath Martin right there in the Ethers
      

      12 hours ago · 
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      Vance Gilbert actually, all I've done is piss of a really pretty decent promoter....
      

      12 hours ago ·  ·  2
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      Jeff Davis OCCUPY TUPELO'S!
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Vance Gilbert ‎0r n0t
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  2
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      Pamela Jackson hopefully he will cool down, and see that you are loved and wanted and this would be a great thing for that joint... I also know he is probably a little put off by this. I am sorry people weren't polite about asking... HAHAHA JEFF DAVIS!!!! hopefully all of the people who p-ssed him off will WRITE him, not call an apology maybe a group apology.
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Pamela Jackson I remember when you played Suzanne's American Kitchen in like Gaithersburg...
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Peter Kaufman It is very hard to refrain from expressing righteous indignation. Which is what poor business behavior can engender. Hope you encounter quieter waters…
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Cary Goldberg bookers are lame folk
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Peter Kaufman It's a long drive, but I'll try to get to a show there, should it come to pass. Very long round trip.
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Charlie Sweeney Hey, I said you were dangerous, but did all y'all listen to me? Nooooo.
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Peter Kaufman Your show. That is
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Heather Craig sadly, too many people are too adept at taking a well-intentioned idea and (once fueling it with their own entitlement) turning it into something ugly, upsetting good people in the process. That's a damn shame. Hopefully, you will be able to smooth things over with Tupelos...
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  4
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      Jeff Davis Or at least get your picture off their web page. ''The operation was a success but the booking died.''
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Vance Gilbert Im the f**king ?uestlove of folk,
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Christine Fogarty Geiger ‎(see this is why i said you should call them yourself young padawan. lesson learned you have).
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  2
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      Gregg L. DesElms ‎-
      
      Oh, the power of the Internet... and the likes of Facebook, and crowd-sourcing and flash-mobbing smartphone apps. What used to take a phone tree can now be accomplished with a slide-out keyboard (I'll take lyric co-credit, by the way, if you ever incorporate that into a song. [grin] Just kidding. You can have it.)
      
      All you did, Vance, was express a reasonable wonder and lament about a perfectly reasonable thing to wonder and lament about... albeit, perhaps, without full cognizance of the Internet's -- specifically Facebook's -- power to induce activist action.
      
      And those activist actors who called in the name of just trying to help, and didn't collectively realize where it could lead on account of the sheer numbers of others with the same intention -- none of whom realizing that they had become an ad-hoc collective -- ended-up sort of becoming the unofficial and unintended Vance Gilbert version of (and twist on) those parties that were in the news a few months ago...
      
      http://bit.ly/uQYzpk
      
      ...wherein something innocent becomees a friggin' riot.
      
      Just be glad you didn't mention there'd be beer! [grin]
      
      I'd say it's no big deal. If you're concerned, just fire-off an email to the promoter and explain that you had underestimated the power of Facebook to turn an inocent public lament which you thought was just among friends, into an activist common cause. Tell him you had no ideal how loyal were your fans, or how willing they'd be to act without even being asked. Were that they'd all be so effective when you're trying to fill a venue, eh?
      
      Then, as long as you've got his attention, get him to book you at Tupelo so you can tell this story on stage. They'll love it.
      
      It's one of those, if they give you lemons, then make lemonaid thing, Vance. Just don't forget the sugar.
      -
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  3
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      Heather Williams Sorry your intention was messed up! Oh the powers of Fb!
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Dave Reed this could be a new hit song,write about it and use the whole expireance...... you will be playing there Tupelo Blue's
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Pat Donohue You can take all the tea in China put in a big brown bag for me sail it right round all the seven oceans drop in straight down in the middle of the big blue sea cuz....she's as sweet as tupelo honey, baby..
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Chris Jones So Vance... do ya miss me yet?
      

      11 hours ago ·  ·  1
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      Jean Syria Hey not all bookers are lame.
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Mg Massey damn. can't folks be civl .we are speaking in favor of amn getting a gig after all.I wasn't going to callon a FRiday evening cause clib owners tend to be busy. Now.I suppose a civl call wil just piss him off. Hope it resolves VG and all the best to you and yours.
      

      11 hours ago · 
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      Kathy Gielow Hopefully Scott will just read through the original thread to see that you were not advocating for folks to get an attitude with him. Sorry you are having such a shitty day. Xo
      

      10 hours ago · 
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      Wanda Lu Paxton When the muse of time is asked to name the greatest of them all, she shall dip her pen into the bright sunlight and write across the clear blue sky 'instigator'...
      

      10 hours ago ·  ·  2
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      Mg Massey Wanda Lu you still have a way with words. Monica from wncw and Brevard.
      

      10 hours ago · 
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      Sarah Marshall I'm glad I resisted the urge to encourage...
      

      9 hours ago · 
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      Don Bellizzi Cut out all the country music melodrama, hold your rocks, and be yourself. You can feel any way you want. And you can tell your friends what you want. You just told all your Facebook friends what you want. There is nothing wrong with that. That is what we are here for. Judging from the amount and quality of comments I bet you have a lot of smart and cool friends. And you will always have your music!
      

      6 hours ago · 
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      Vance Gilbert Excuse me? And i friended you?
      

      6 hours ago · 
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      Bobbie Rea Beyer I know nothing about Tupelo's, but I do know that a successful business treats customer concerns with respect and consideration, not ire, since those are the people that keep them in business. The response to a high volume of calls re: Vance Gilbert should have been either a polite refusal with an explanation, or the hiring of Vance Gilbert! Making no judgments on Vance's talents or the volume or nature of these phone calls, my opinion is that this owner has acted unprofessionally and in a way that is detrimental to his successful business.
      

      5 hours ago ·  ·  3
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      Betsy Dake Oh, geez. Hopefully he'll calm down. I kind of agree with Gregg DesElms. Yes, you said what you wanted (i.e., to be booked there) but you certainly didn't tell people to call there and ream him out! At least that's not what *I* read. And honestly how anyone could think that would be a good thing for a performer trying to get booked at a venue is kind of beyond me...but then again, I've worked closely with booking folks for a long time, so maybe I'm seeing it from that perspective.... Today will be better, babe...
      

      10 minutes ago · 
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      Gary McGill We've met once. Here's what I know to be true. If the place closed up, you would just search another well to draw from. Right? Find some new place to foist your particular brand of acoustic witty discontent. Make the empire grow from some other far flung quadrant. In other words, don't poop where you eat. IF the general consensus is "you're good", then whomever will pay for their shortsightedness. For you to desire them as a venue makes you look needy. I lost a semi house gig after 24 years because one geezer at the bar didn't like my choice of 3rd encore in "Wynona's big brown whatever" for the college kids. Apparently this one guy spent 10 grand a year in Guinness. On that night, the tail wagged the dog. I got the call the next day. I mourned it for awhile. Then opportunities came up that were more local, and I realized that travel is work that you pay for. It's the opposite to your situation. Not to be cliche, but when one door closes....
      

      4 minutes ago ·  ·  1

oops.

Lesson learned: Fans by definition are dedicated and loyal. Inform and motivate them in positive ways, such as turning out audiences, not in ways that will backfire and certainly not in a way that will "...piss off a pretty decent promoter."

The upside is this faux pas could bring light to the fact that some very talented people are no longer getting gigs at larger venues that used to support them. Is your favorite (former) folk venue booking artists who were inspired by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Huddie Ledbetter and Odetta or the Beatles, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber? Let the booking agent and, if a performing arts center, the board of directors, know how you feel.