Troubadour

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

Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2019 4:12 PM

To: fullboard@folkproject.org

Subject: FW: Troubadour Booking Report, July 2019

Statistics

Another relatively abbreviated Troubadour schedule in July, with only one regular show and the Birthday Show. Massengill drew a disappointing 49 paid attendees, so our average attendance for the month was only 63 paid / 85.5 total. However, the Birthday show made a healthy $497 profit, giving us a net profit of $338 for the month. And we’re showing a very nice net profit of $3587 YTD. Another very telling demonstration of the Troubadour’s health can be seen on the table at the bottom of the attached chart.pdf. Look at the difference in profit and attendance between the las 12 months and the previous 12 months.

Birthday Show

The Birthday Show showed a significant improvement this year over last in the number of performers taking part. (35 performers in 18 groups vs 23 performers in 12 groups) However, I’m still disappointed in how many of our better musicians did not put their names in the hat. There was another issue which, while good for the spirit of the event, resulted in logistical difficulties. A number of groups added a large number of “ringers”, resulting, in addition to the usual trios and quartets, three quintets, one sextet, and one septet. While this was very much in the spirit of the event, involving new combinations of musicians, it resulted in considerable logistical difficulties. Stage change-over times were excessively long, interrupting the flow of the music. Often the change-over was longer than the song itself. And it was a sound man’s nightmare getting the sound well balanced in the room, let alone for the video broadcast. I’m thinking of putting a limit of 6 channels of sound input per group for next year.

Parking

We are still tweaking our make-do arrangements to deal with the parking restrictions caused by the reconstruction of the parking lot. The gravel lot is somewhat of a problem for mobility-challenged patrons, even though the walk from the lot is about the same length as it was from the handicapped areas of the old lot. Primarily, the difficulties arise from the fact that it’s very dark at the end of the evening, and the footing is uneven. We had thought of asking MUF if we could park the cars of mobility-limited patrons along the oval driveway, thinking that it would not be a fire hazard because fire trucks couldn’t make it through the main gate at the front anyway. MUF replied that despite that logic, those areas were designated as No Parking by the fire department, and were concerned that they might get cited by the town. We are experimenting with volunteers shuttling the vehicles of those who need to use the lot, and guiding them with flashlights at the end of the evening. We are also stationing volunteers outside the door to enforce the 5-minute parking restriction while unloading.

Concert Window

Concert Window continues to be an occasional problem in our not connecting to their server. John Mahon and Alex West (MUF’s audio-video guru) continue to work on it.

New bookings this month

• Nov. 1: Peter Fischman and Deb O’Hanlon, long-term long-distance Folk Project members opening for Zoe Mulford

• Nov. 15: The Vox Hunters opening for JP Cormier (Agranoff Imperatative). A gay couple in their early 20s doing mostly traditional songs and tunes. Great instrumental and vocal chops, extremely engaging and entertaining stage personae. The audience will get to vote them into a headline set of their own.

  • Dec. 6: Bob Dupre, Olga Alvarez, Ken & Pat Rolston, and Mike Agranoff will be the songleaders in this year’s Chorus Song Nigh

• Feb. 21: Small Potatoes will fill this date after their originally scheduled date in June was cancelled because of the renovations at MUF

• Feb. 28: Poor Man’s Gambit: 3-man string band with Celtic and Bluegrass roots. Top quality instrumental, vocal, and step dancing skills.

• March 27: Low Lily. Traditionally informed songwriter trio featuring superb harmonies and the fiddle of Lissa Schneckenburger. Songwriter Rupert Wates opens.

August highlight

• Aug. 16: Internationally respected songwriter Richard Shindell. This one likely to sell out with 55 tickets already sold 2-1/2 weeks ahead of the show date.

Respectfully submitted:

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series

(Formerly the Minstrel Acoustic Concert Series)

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Troubadour.FolkProject.org