Minstrel Booking

A somewhat anemic January at the Minstrel. Average paid attendance for the 3 regular shows only 81.0, and we had a net loss of $214 including G&A. Over the past 12 months, we've been averaging 89.7 paid with a net profit of $5,506 ($3,646 not including the Paxton concert). Note that over the next two years, there will be discrepancies in comparing profit and loss figures in the table at the bottom of the attached Chart.pdf, because starting this year, I will be including G&A assessments in the figures. Those apples will not be comparable to the non-G&A oranges prior to 2016. For reference, our G&A assessment for the month of January was $78.

I had booked a young fellow named Shun Ng, whose showcase I had seen at NERFA, to open for Beppe Gambetta. He is a superb, and somewhat radical guitarist, doing jazz-oriented tunes and songs, some original, but more often unusual arrangements of pop-oriented music of the late 20th Century. Quite flashy and entertaining. I was very impressed, but I wasn't sure if his music was so outre that he might not go over with our crowd. So I booked him as the opener to guage our crowd's reaction, with the plan of booking him as a headliner if the crowd reaction warranted. It warranted, with a partial standing ovation after his first set. So I booked him as a headliner on July 1, and announced that to the crowd that very night.

New bookings since last month:

• March 18: Ken Galipeau FP member for a headliner

• April 15: Bob McNally to open for the Shockenaw Mountain Boys

• April 22: Stuart Kabak to open for Jim Hurst: Songwriter

• July 1: The abovementioned Shun Ng for his own feature set.

• September 16: Hudson Valley Sally to open for Bill Staines: a quartet reminiscent of the Weavers.

• October 7: John Forster, comedic and satirical songwriter