SASSIE MARIE'S

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

Sassy Marie's closed it doors Saurdayt. Stephanie called me this morning and canceled my date on Oct. 31st. The club is officIally closed. Bummer ---Tony Campbell

Sassy Marie's, formerly the James Street on the north side of Pittsburgh closed it's doors for good this weekend. We will not be performing at Sassy's on September 26.
We wish the management and staff the best of luck. ---Olga Watkins

No Blues Orphans appearance on November 7 due to closing. --- Nelson Harrison

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

Thank You to all our Friends and Customers. It is with much sadness that we must close our doors
after only a bit more than 1 ½ years.

We had high hopes to be a long lasting part of this reemerging

Pittsburgh Northside, but we needed more support from people like you.

We hope we brought you a few smiles with a flavorful meal,

a refreshing drink or a place to listen to a great band.

Our time ran out.



Thank you again.

[Muddy Kreek Blues Band]

I 'm very sadden to here this we played our 1st AN 2nd gig as a the Muddy Kreek Band there.

[Ed Skirtich]

Hi Jazz Fans and Jazz Musicians,

I'm sorry to hear about another jazz venue folding.
What are the problems? Let me know.
Here are some of my thoughts on this subject and the future of jazz.
1. The jazz venue puts no efforts into promoting themselves.
I didn't even know there was still live jazz at the old James Street Tavern.

Folks, we have some serious problems about today's society.
2. It seems to be that jazz has become nothing but a picture on a wall of musicians who lived... A Long Tme Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...
Jazz musicians thrived in a universe called Pittsburgh
But along came The Almighty Dollar that the Club Owners refused to spend on advertising and making musicians pay to play instead of play to pay...
Then along came the DJ....

Also, Nelson Harrison told me a valuable- "You have to pass down the information to each individual, because if you don't do it, then no one will know about."
Folks, don't be afraid to share jazz history with me (I'm 39) and all those younger than me.
I remember the first night I met Nelson Harrison I was a few years out of college and he shared all these wonderful stories about how he came through Pittsburgh in the Hill District and hung out with all kinds of legendary jazz history musicians-- It made me feel so proud and excited about being a musician and also wanting to hear other people perform.

I'm also concerned about our next generation.
I was just at Westinghouse High School today to recruit students to the Jazz Workshop, Inc. and they all just looked at me like I was from another planet- But, I forgive them because no one may have ever said- "Let's show the students around the musicians wall of fame and the main Hall of Fame and talk about who all these great alumni musicians (along with the other careers) are."

So, let's not be afraid to talk about our rich Pittsburgh jazz history (and those of other careers) to the next generation so our jazz clubs can multipy and not subtract.

Please, do the things Doc. Nelson Harrison does with sharing your knowledge with us 39 years and under.

I'm deeply sorry if anyone may feel offended about my comments on Westinghouse... It's just that I'm concerned about our future... and I want jazz music to thrive with our next generation... So Please- Pass on Your Knowledge Of Jazz Music and Jazz History to all of us 40 and under.

Ed Skirtich

[Kevin Amos]

Ed...on educating our young people and some adults for that matter it is an ongoing task. There ARE young people interested in our musical heritage believe it or not folks. You have to reach out to people in whatever way possible.

Now about the closing of venues. It's about the dollar, plain and simple. In this struggling economy it's going to get worse. In the meanwhile the music still needs to be presented and not just by the cultural trusts and corporate interests. It's an ongoing struggle to come up with the solutions.

Kevin

[Dave Papale]

When I hear musicians blame a closing of a venue or that the venue will no longer offer live music on the venue, because they don't spend enough money on marketing, it makes me sick. In the three years I was at Gullifty's we spent on average $75k on marketing per year. I increased the marketing spending when I took over by 100%, I also spent an additional $115k on entertainment per year. I gave all musicians free drinks and a meal....... I paid you, I fed you, I got you drunk and I got you stoned. As venue owners we expect you as musicians to do your own marketing too.... If you cant bring 20 people that you know why would anybody else want to come and hear you play.

When I owned my club in NY this was the deal ; you were given a date to play and at the same time you were given 20 tickets to the show valued at $5.00 per ticket for you to give to friends. You are $100.00 in the whole prior to starting the gig....... at the end of your gig I counted the amount of checks that had your tickets attached to them. If nobody showed up with your tickets, you got $300.00..... or what ever was turned in. That's as fair as it gets...... you as musicians have to be responsible for more than just showing up. BYOA "Bring Your Own Audience"......G.H.

I am working on a major project right now; multi-genre, multi-media and a multi-room venue.... You are probably wondering where......... Keep an eye out and your ear to the tracks.....cause your going to hear my train a comming

"Just when I thought I was out, they keep pulling me back in"

Regards
Dave

[Phat Man Dee]

I wouldn't know about how well you may or may not have treated musicians at Gullifty's Dave.... it's not like you ever booked me..... and I market the heck out of my gigs , I make posters, I flyer, I get the word out on the web, I email, I get press ... whatever man, I hope you enjoy whatever you are doing, it's your loss we never worked together.

[Gypsy Cafe]

So we're a wee little place on South Side. I am not a rabid jazz fan. I like it. I don't have the brains to follow the avant garde stuff very well, I confess it scares the heck out of me sometimes, gets into my spine and makes me nervous, which I suppose may be the aim--and I'm not into the smooth stuff at all. But the classics I love. I suppose that makes me a Jazz dilettante--supportive, appreciative--but lacking the education to be passionate. That being said, I'd like to talk about what I've learned in our little cafe offering live music.

Gypsy Cafe is a tiny place on a back street in the South Side. We're a very European place, but very eclectic. Offering Jazz is as American as we get. A couple of years ago, Don Aliquo played a private Christmas party at Gypsy and loved our place, slapping me on the back and saying, "kid, this is a good room". Don plays twice a month with Mark Perna and other great guest musicians. We only seat 50, we have great food, we have booze-it's dark and shabby chic and the only thing missing to make it the storied Jazz club is the cigarette smoke (non-smoking!)

I wish I could say it's been a phenomonal success.

I'd like to talk about a few of the items I"ve read after finding this site today; I'm sorry I didn't find it sooner. Keep in mind that I am relatively new to working with musicians and I am eager to get some advice from this community. Here is some of what I've learned and its impact from my perspective, as a struggling restauranteur.

First is about the money spent on marketing. Four and a half years in to Gypsy (and not having a paycheck since May of this year) I never have and still don't have an advertising budget. I think I can count print ads I"ve placed on one hand. Print is unbelievably expensive, especially for a not-so-much-making-it place like mine. The open ad price on a 1/6 page ad (roughly 3x4) in the city paper, in black and white and running for one week, is over $500. $500 is a paycheck, not an ad. There are ways to get that down in price--like signing a yearly contract for a number of ads, or paying the whole thing upfront on a credit card--that are about a million percent out of my reach. To promote Don at our restaurant, we get it in the listings of the PG, the City Paper, the Trib, on our website, on our email list, maybe mentioned on DUQ....but keep in mind I have a staff of 9 people, total. So listings falls to me and deadlines are easy to miss. Grassroots and guerilla marketing is great--but it takes a terrific amoutn of TIME.

A lot was said about musicians bringing their friends. Don has a core group of friends who always support him, BUT, for the most part they are there for HIM, not for me, which often means that they're not there for dinner, just for music, and consequently they don't always spend a lot of money, which, talking to other restauranteurs who feature Jazz, seems to be a true stereotype of the Jazz crowd. To encourage people to eat dinner--which is the point, right--to make money for the establishment that pays the musicians--we say there is a $10 cover that is waived with purchase of a dinner entree. Although they're getting essentially a private jazz concert and being waited on hand and foot for anything they'd like, people balk at a cover--the perception seem to be that they are spending "something for nothing". There is a 50/50 response on this at best, some folks saying "of course we're coming to eat dinner" and some just not liking that at all, perhaps expecting a restaurant to be a coffee shop. Sadly, generally the folks coming to eat dinner are me--somewhat interested in Jazz but seeing entertainment as a bonus offered to dinner--an added value, and those not liking it are generally the real Jazz fans who would be very happy to take a seat up for a few hours for the price of a glass of wine or an iced tea, coffee shop style. Keep in mind that to reach my "Normal" goal, in prime dinner time, 7-9, I need each occupied seat in my restaurant to yield a minimum of $25 within 2 hours of occupation; anything less is a loss. To combat a crowd that doesn't want to eat, we start Jazz at 9, which being after prime time dining hours means I can make less than $25 per person, but I need to make SOMETHING per person more than an iced tea. We've got a kitchen to keep open, and lights to keep on, and servers to pay who rightly get a little discouraged when they see they're in for a long night of not much of a tip. Plus, you would think there wasn't a problem with getting people out after 9 on a Saturday night, for a little music, but most people act like sitting to eat after 7:30, or even going out after 7:30--violates some law. This might be just indicative of the age of the crowd. Younger folks (under 40?) don't have a problem going out late, but the Jazz fan base seems a bit older than that.

I've thought about trying to do this other ways, but there are issues to treating a restaurant like a Jazz club, the biggest being psychological. We are an independent restuarant of real people. We are small and don't have the veil of anonymity to protect us, and by that I mean it's easy to enforce a two drink minimum at a dark comedy club where the server never cares if they see you again. In our place, you've got the same servers talking to the same people and sometimes a cover feels like a shake down. Also, people out for dinner generally DON'T WANT music. THey can't hear each other talk and it pisses them off. With CIty THeatre next door to us, Gypsy has the added wrinkle of workign with a post-theatre crowd. THese folks have already had their entertainment for the night. THey want to talk about the show they've seen, not strain to hear each other.

So Jazz on another night instead? We've had great success with the first entertainment we offered at the Cafe, the Gypsy Strings, a Tambura orchestra led by Gypsy violin. These folks have a rabid and supportive crowd and our place is a natural for them being that their ethnic fans don't generally mix. (Serbs go to the Serb club for music, Croats to the Croatian club, etc.) Gypsy offers them a "neutral" place to play, but in this economy, even their crowd has fallen off substantially. Strings start Thursdays at 8PM with many of the same issues for dining/dining late. If I don't start them at 8, I lose the theatre crowd I depend on that sits at 6 and leaves at 8 for the show. Their crowd very much wanted to sit down at 7 or 730 but we don't have the luxury of enought room to keep them while they wait for a table to open or of seats to give them that would be filled by a crowd that definitely is eating dinner and definitely is leaving the table at a predetermined time. The difference between working with other musicians is that they play for tips--the ethnic crowd expects this as that is how music works in Europe--the Americans don't so much get it. THey also aggressively promote themselves, calling in favors to radio programs, placing ads in ethnic papers, even calling people personally. I understand that this is the exception. They also have the adantage of having a very defined crowd to call on by virtue of an ethnic definition. Jazz appeals to everybody--and you certainly can't call everybody, or show up at a JAZZ church to hand out your flyer. THe point is, they do work hard to promote THEMSELVES. Mandee had a point about playing at not the perfect venue---the biggest benefit to STrings playing a weekly gig at Gypsy is that they are out there, recognizable, findable, referrable. They chose Thursday because they have weekend gigs (that pay a lot more) and it benefits them to say to a couple looking to hire them for their wedding, sure, check us out any Thursday at Gypsy.

We also started offering Jazz because there was a dearth of venues...but where are the fans? This I still can't figure out. The story over and over is that the clubs who offer Jazz can't make money from it becasue they can't fill it with people who spend money, while SIMULTANEOUSLY, Jazz fans are complaining that there aren't any venues--or is it just the musicians who are complaining there aren't venues?? I only have 50 seats to fill, and 25-30 people spending $15-20 each on a Saturday night after 9 would make Jazz a money maker. So where are they?

Melanie/Gypsy

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

Gypsy,

I am so happy that you took the time to express your experience here. This is a wonderful first step. The printed media are abandoning jazz all over America. BUT we don't need them as much as before because we can reach our customers online plus... it's free. You see how our membership is growing. As a member it behooves you to invite your customers to join. It's a free gift you can offer them. I invite you to promote your venue and activities here as much as you want. I played at Little E's last night with the Blues Orphans. the place was packed and we had at least 25 members from the PJN and Pittsburgh Live Music networks there, eating dinner and enjoying the music. I believe I recruited at least a dozen more new members who will be coming online and finding what they are looking for in a brand new way. ump up you page and I'll feature you. I'm going to feature the venue members for the holiday season so what you post on your page can be seen more readily. Don't hold back. Many of the musicians are not as cyber savvy as one might expect but they are gradually getting the point. We are in a new world where the old models don't work as well byt the new models are incredibly effective and also cost effective = mostly free. thank you again for expressing you opinion and let's see of we can wake the dead. Working together works!

[Phat Man Dee]

Man, I was kicking myself for not seeing you last night, I was there in spirit, but my body was suffering from the worst head cold ever. I am glad you had a good turnout, I am glad there is a new jazz club in town, I want to try to play there. Please keep inviting me to stuff, I travel alot, so when I get home I generally get sick as a dog for a minute before getting back in my Pgh groove again. We should make cards with the ning address on it maybe, I did add a badge for this ning on my myspace page, I will try to do it on my facebook page too. There are alot of Pgh jazz fans on facebook.

[Gypsy Cafe]

You're on. I already started working on the page just now. This is a very cool program you've got here, by the way. Have you thought about using twitter, too? I just signed up for that last night and I'm still trying to figure it out, but in future it could be a good tool for a dynamic community like music. I just learned a bit ago that Don Aliquo Jr is in town and will be playing with Dad tonight--such a cool home for the holidays moment~!

[Phat Man Dee]

Good lord, I am sorry to hear it..... I don't know the answer, certainly it isn't that we don't have the talent and the music, it's the world is changing around us. It is a systemic sickness in our culture. They can cut music programmes in schools, but the football teams have everything they need.... Then you have the military is making war all over the world, but we don't have $$ for art and music (or health care). Our culture doesn't value basic human life, much less the creative process. We can bomb folks, but we don't bother know any of their songs, anyone out there know a basic Iraqi 5 count??? All of the nations money , money we haven't even made yet is being spent to bail out financial institutions who encourage these problems and atrocities , it's no wonder that people don't support us, we don't matter to them, they don't know how or why music is made any more.... It is a shame about Sassy Marie's, and the Penn Brewery, and the Attic, and the Grill, and Dowe's and the Graffitti, and the Beehive Theater, and the Decade, and the Syria Mosque... man this list could go on a long time..... I think we as musicians in general have a problem, punk and jazz alike, this town, this country just doesn't want us anymore. There, I have made myself cry for the day.....

[Dr. Nelson Harrison]

I thank every member for being a part of our growing online movement and encourage each member to recruit at least two others to join us. You have at least one fellow artist and one fan that may not know of us. The fans who belong to this network are showing up at the live venues regularly. I wish we had been stronger before Sassie Marie's, etc. closed their doors because Sassie' had become a member just before then. Invite the venues where you play and patronize to become members. The advertising here is FREE!!! Please support the venues that are members already. I'll do a feature of them over the holidays. That's one way we can support each other. The artists who belong are getting the hang of posting their appearances on the "Events" page. I feature every event and the page will billboard it in calendar order and then automatically delete it when the event is over and billboard the next event in line in case you were wondering how it works. I especially thank those members who post commentary. This is one place where your opinions are appreciated and your voice can be heard. IT'S ALL GOOD. Don't be afraid to be nakedly frank and also try to be as accurate as possible with your information. We have reached

a minimal critical mass and are attracting members from around the globe. Together we are preserving and promoting our story and our talents and we've only just begun. You can always give yourself a gift by adding a new friend to your page. Peace, love and blessings to all.