Minstrel Bookings Report

Well, needless to say, July 2015 was a spectacular month for the Minstrel. And that was primarily due to the activities on our 40th anniversary weekend. And that included not only the Paxton concert, but the Birthday Show, whose attendance of 141 was the highest in 10 years. Many distant Projectiles made the journey back to Morristown to attend the festivities. The average attendance for the regular Minstrel shows was a non-spectacular 81.0, due primarily to a poor showing of 58 paid for Huxtable, Christensen, and Hood. The 12-month average for shows with paid performers ending last month was 88.6, pretty much in line with how we've been doing.. Financially, though July showed a whopping profit of $3207, $1836 of which came from the Paxton Concert, and $1371 from the regular Minstrel operations. (We actually banked $2500 more than that, because we witheld that much from Paxton's pay. That's because we had paid him that amount as a deposit last year at the time of contract signing. But the accrual accounting method rightly assigns that expense to this month.)

Both the Birthday and Anniversary concerts were great successes. Both got extensive press coverage in the area newspapers. and radio stations. I've been receiving a larger number of phone calls from people inquiring about the Minstrel since the articles were published.

46 performers took part in the Birthday Show. The quality of the music was notably higher than in past years. And a big highlight (if I do say so myself) was the singing of "Barret's Volunteers" by Lindsey Meyer, Mark Wolkoff, Amy Livingston, and myself to introduce Volunteer Chair Barrett Wilson.

As we all know the 40th Anniversary Show with Tom Paxton was sold out months in advance. We sold 427 tickets, 70 of which were at the special $9 price to volunteers. The short opening sets by Christine DeLeon, Jean Rohe, and myself were widely praised, and Tom, of course, put on a spectacular show. We gathered about 30 or so new names on the Minstrel's mailing list. And, as I said above, the concert made a profit of $1836. Many thanks to Mike Del Vecchio for his aid in smoothing the way with the logistics of the Presbyterian Church site, and to the Sanctuary staff for staffing the concert so our volunteers could enjoy it. Also thanks to Elizabeth Lachowicz and Lori Falco for their help in negotiating the mechanics of the advance ticket sales.

The new sound gear is in place, and we are now learning the ins and outs of its operation, and working out logistics of setup teardown, and storage. The overall opinion is that the quality of the sound is much improved. My own observations however are that set up and teardown will take longer than the old system, adding about 10 - 15 minutes to both operations.

New bookings in July

 Oct 2: Stuart Fuchs, Ukulele virtuoso

 Nov. 20: Kristin Rebecca, opening for Frostwater, Celtic harp and guitar accompanying trad & originals

 Nov. 27: the Four Baris, opening for Frank Vignola: Sweet Adeline group

 Jan 29: No Strings Attached, opening for David Roth: quartet featuring FP members Mitch Radner and Susan Lembo

 Feb 26: The Baron-Montemurro Duo, opening for Diane Perry. Jazz-oriented singer-songwriter duo.

Respectfully submitted:

Mike Agranoff