Troubadour Booking

Two weeks ago, the CDC and NJ Department of Health gave the go-ahead for gatherings of all-vaccinated people with no masking or social distancing restrictions. Given that change in recommended behavior, and given the continued increase in the percentage of the population that has been vaccinated, and with the concurrence of Volunteer Chair Jean Scully, I have come to the decision that we will be able to resume full operation of the Troubadour with admittance restricted to only vaccinated audience, staff, and performers, starting September 3rd of this year. I intend to ask the Board’s concurrence with that plan at the June meeting.

On May 21, I got the Official Okey-Dokey from the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship to proceed under those conditions.

I am confident that the rate of vaccination will continue to rise, and the rate of infection will continue to decline over the next three months, to the point where such gatherings will have begun to be commonplace, and people will feel comfortable in attending. That three month period will also give me time to populate our schedule, and give the Publicity Committee to get the word out to the public. It will also give us time to observe what happens with other gatherings, and to pull the plug if another spike in infections occurs. With concurrence from Special Events Chair, Mark Schaffer, the Friday Stayaway concerts will terminate at the end of August, providing a smooth transition to in-person events at the Troubadour. Tuesday Stayaway concerts will continue.

I expect to operate pretty much the same as before we shut down, with a few minor changes in the financial arrangement with the performers. We will start streaming shows from the outset. There will be no fee to watch the show online, but a free-will donation to the headline act will be encouraged. The Troubadour will take 15% of those donations as a commission, and the balance will go to the Feature Act, and will count towards their guarantee. I will also be raising the Opening Act’s fees, which have remained stagnant for around 10 years. The 15% commission on the streaming donations will help cover that increased expense.

Also, as reported in the minutes last month, the Project received an anonymous $5,000 donation, $3,800 of which was earmarked for Troubadour operations. That grant will go towards covering headline act guarantees we might have to cover during the opening months of operation, when our attendance may be lower than pre-COVID because some people hesitant to attend live concerts, or because they are not vaccinated.

If the Board agrees with this plan, my first step will be to send out invitations to all acts who were canceled due to COVID to find a date in our schedule convenient to their touring.

In one more development, I have asked Jay Wilensky to be our Member Show Coordinator, and he has accepted. Over the past few years, there has been no person officially in charge of seeing that our Member Shows (Valentines Day Extravaganza, Summer Songs, The Halloween Show, and the Holiday Benefit Show) take place. Jay will now take on the task of finding Producers for those shows, and perhaps even producing one or more himself if he feels like it.

Respectfully submitted

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Troubadour.FolkProject.org