The Minstrel

From: The Minstrel <mike.agranoff@folkproject.org>

Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2018 12:49 PM

To: 'Board FP' <fullboard@folkproject.org>

Subject: Minstrel Booking Report, July 2018

Well! Finally a relatively good month at the Minstrel. At least the end of the month. The opening show with Toby Walker, while not exactly empty (63 paid) was surprisingly lightly attended, and consequently lost $224, primarily due to the $281 we had to kick in to meet his guarantee. But the other two shows with the Frank Vignola Trio and Jacob Johnson did very well. I’m particularly gratified at the 86 paid for Jacob Johnson, for two reasons: First that my plan on putting him on as an opener for Julie Gold last summer and having the audience vote him in as a headliner this year seemed effective. About 15 – 20 people raised their hands when I asked who had come because of his performance last year. And second, because a lot of folks came to see his opener Chris Bukata, indicating a resurgence of the Minstrel “community” supporting its own. The two other shows overcame the financial loss of the Walker show to put us in the black for the month by $80.

The vocal harmony group Windborne who opened for Frank Vignola was very enthusiastically received by the largely jazz audience, even though they were nothing like a jazz group. They were voted by the audience into a headline act on November 23.

Due to a miscommunication on my part, there was no progress on working with MUF to increase Minstrel attendance from the congregation. I’ll get on that this month.

As of this writing advance signups to take part in the Birthday Show are very light. But that’s typical. I’ll send out a reminder between now and the meeting.

We are looking at someone from the Open Stage community to open for Beppe Gambetta in the Fall, but so far no specifics.

I met with Mike Del Vecchio early in June about looking for higher level acts to headline at Minstrel with guarantees subsidized by me personally. So far he’s made no specific suggestions.

The Susan Werner booking for November 16 that I had anticipated will be put off into 2019. However, I’ve booked Shockenaw Mountain Boys for that date.

Mark Schaffer is looking into the possibility and practicality of offering advance ticket sales at the Minstrel. Overall, I think it would be beneficial. However, there will be a significant increase in the complication of the finances and the Bookkeeper’s task at the show itself. Information on advance sales will have to get to the Bookkeeper at the show, and the Tally Sheet will need to be revised to handle that information. There’s also the possibility that for popular acts, the bulk of the sales will be in advance, and we will not have enough cash on hand to pay the performer, necessitating that a signed blank check be on hand at the Minstrel for that eventuality. These are not insurmountable difficulties, but they will need to be dealt with.

We continue to have technical difficulties with Concert Window. Our broadcast signal dropped out shortly into the Frank Vignola show, and we were unable to re-establish it. We had to refund all the ticket money to those who tried to view. CW has been completely unresponsive to our difficulties. Neither John Mahon or I know what to do about this.

New bookings since last month:

• November 16: Shockenaw Mountain Boys: Bluegrass/Celtic acoustic subset of Railroad Earth. Historically high draw for us.

• November 23: Windborne: The aforementioned harmony quartet voted into their headline act after their opener for Frank Vignola

• November 30: Reeds, Rhythm, & All That Brass: 16 piece big band with several FP members in the act.

Highlights for July:

• July 20: Christine Lavin

• July 27: The Birthday Show.

Respectfully Submitted:

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA