Troubadour Booking

Well, after a year and a half in a state of suspended animation, the Troubadour reopened last Friday. It was an enormous amount of work on the part of many people, including myself.

• • Jean Scully and Amy Livingston resurrected the Volunteer list and rounded up a full staff. (To be covered in Jean’s Staffing report to the Board).

  • John Mahon dealt with new techniques and new equipment in running sound and video. (To be covered in his Sound report to the Board.)

  • Gary Pratt and Kathi Caccavale struggled with a faceless Facebook to eke out information on how to process videos with a ticket price.

  • John Lamb had a full-time summer job in creating the new website and the tools that would permit me to populate the calendar with each show. He also created an updated Tally Sheet, and helped me create a spreadsheet that would present the advance ticket sale information to the Door volunteer. A lot of time-consuming detail work, which I greatly appreciate.

  • Peggy Karr and Karen Buchwald in developing procedures for financial reporting of the shows, and paying the performers by check.

  • And I had an equally extensive workload in coordinating all these efforts, and developing procedures to report accurate financial information to the Treasurer.

And it came off with a well-produced and smoothly run show.

Unfortunately there were very few people there to see it. There were only 23 paid attendees (38 total), and the show lost a little over $500. There were a number of valid reasons contributing to the low attendance. Labor Day weekend. Tropical Storm Ida. COVID fears. And of course an entire population of regulars who had gone out of the habit of their regular Friday night trip to the Troub. But it was still very disappointing, and not sustainable in the long run. (And on a personal note, I felt very disappointed at the absence of many personal friends I would have expected to see at the show.) I expect to continue running at a loss through the end of November, by which time we will have had a number of established high-draw acts. (Silk City, Bill Staines, Christine Lavin) If things do not pick up by then, I will consider shutting down in December or January.

The show was held under COVID-ready conditions. All attendees, staff, and performers had to show proof of vaccination, and were issued wrist bands as evidence of that check. Face masks were required except on stage. We served food in the larger Terrace Room, rather than the smaller Dining Room (an additional expense) to permit more social distancing, and the doors to the terrace were opened. Jean Scully bought and assembled air filters for the lobby and Terrace Room. (More details in her report.) And these precautions are the reason that we are the only group that will be permitted to use the room up to full capacity. The Fellowship is limiting attendance at their services to only 70, because they do not require vaccination.

We have a new contract from the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, with a rent increase for the first time in over 8 years. The rent is dependent upon our room usage, and can run from a minimum of $327 (was $317.75) for an Open Stage to $387.75 (was $349.75) for a regular show using the Terrace Room for food service.

New Bookings since last month:

• • Oct. 1: A re-formed Mad Agnes, harmony-oriented songwriter trio with Celtic overtones, with quirky songwriter Tom Gala opening.

  • Oct. 15: Multi-instrumentalist Russ Rentler opening for Silk City

  • Oct. 29: Sally Rogers. Longstanding respected vocalist and songwriter

  • Feb. 18, 2022: Tom Chapin. Songwriter well known to the general public. A sure sellout under normal condititions.

  • Feb. 25, 2022: The Everly Set and Forever Simon & Garfunkel. Two duo tribute shows presented by vocalists Sean Altman (Rockapella) and Jack Skuller

  • April 22, 2022: Joe Jencks. Well known songwriter, vocalist, and activist.

Upcoming highlights

• • Sept. 24: Matt Nakoa. Brilliant songwriter and performer. I can’t stress this any more highly. This guy is spectacular. An Agranoff Imperative. Put him on your calendar now.

Mike Agranoff

Program Chair

The Troubadour Acoustic Concert Series

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Troubadour.FolkProject.org