>
> in doing a little promoting for giant step in new york, though, not at all
> surprising, it became apparent -- that it's mainly the foreigners who are
> supporting the american aj scene/thing -- i don't mean just as far as music
> buying goes, but if you look around at the NYC club, it is people who have
> come from all over the globe. one night i took addresses for the mailer
> list at giant step, and lo and behold, it was a lot of addresses from
> germany, austria, japan, italy. some of the people i spoke to couldn't even
> speak english and i had to break out my schoolgirl italian. and in actually
> handing out flyers, the people that i ran into that were the most
> enthusiastic about attending were the french people at bistro jules, lucky
> strike, cafe noir, etc.
>
> i was happy to get enthusiastic responses, but baffled about america -- what
> will it take to get the american public educated on good music? yeah, i
> know that people have responded on this thread, saying that our music
> magazines will be the machines for alerting america, but those magazines are
> out there and still, it seems as if it is the rest of the world
> thirsting/seeking this type of music, and just a microscopic percentage of
> young americans.
>
> i'm not saying it's useless -- we should still attempt to promote it, but i
> guess a lot of it has to do with music background/history. england and
> japan have always had a deeper fascination and appreciation for american
> funk/jazz, moreso than americans.
>
> once in a while, though, you see that promotion has made a difference. for
> instance, the coffee shop in my building has been playing a tape called "in
> the mix" from the Acid Jazz label that was circulated around town. I saw it
> in second hand thrift stores and restaurants being given away for free. and
> i heard the gap playing a song off of an ubiquity explorations comp the
> other day. the gap employee told me that they had received the tape from
> their corporate offices to play. so sometimes, promotion works...our
> efforts may seem futile, but they aren't.
> ----------
> From: Matthew Robert Chicoine
> To: Tony Reid
> Cc: acid-jazz
> Subject: Re: Pheonix Festival (England)
> Date: Friday, June 14, 1996 12:35PM
>
> Return-Path: <list-relay@UCSD.EDU>
> Received: from unixm1.wellsfargo.com by msm2.WellsFargo.COM id
> <31C1B354@msm2.WellsFargo.COM>; Fri, 14 Jun 96 11:45:40 PDT
> Received: from nsa.wellsfargo.com (nsa.wellsfargo.com [204.162.130.95]) by
> unixm1.wellsfargo.com (8.6.9/tl-950720-1) with SMTP id LAA28752 for
> <banezc@unixm1.wellsfargo.com>; Fri, 14 Jun 1996 11:30:45 -0700
> Received: by Mailer
> Received: from none.at.helo (choplifter.rs.itd.umich.edu [141.211.63.90]) by
> UCSD.EDU (8.7.5/8.6.9) with ESMTP id JAA09178 for <acid-jazz@UCSD.EDU>;
> Fri, 14 Jun 1996 09:35:47 -0700 (PDT)
> Received: from choplifter.rs.itd.umich.edu by choplifter.rs.itd.umich.edu
> (8.7.1/2.2) id MAA05163; Fri, 14 Jun 1996 12:35:30 -0400 (EDT)
> Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 12:35:29 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Matthew Robert Chicoine <scooby@umich.edu>
> X-Sender: scooby@choplifter.rs.itd.umich.edu
> To: Tony Reid <t-bird@salata.com>
> Cc: acid-jazz@UCSD.EDU
> Subject: Re: Pheonix Festival (England)
> In-Reply-To: <129_9606131502@salata.com>
> Message-Id:
> <Pine.SOL.3.91.960614121620.4403A-100000@choplifter.rs.itd.umich.e
> du>
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> Haven't posted in a few years, thought I'd take a minute. Word to Tony's
> call for mutual support. At this point in time, this is exactly what we as
> music fanatics need to be doing, supporting each other and like-minded
> musicians, DJs, writers, etc... Basically, this extended family of heads.
> This includes starting up your own shit. It doesn't matter how small or
> big, get the word out, there's something going on. This is often a hard
> thing to do when it does catch on. You start questioning people's
> motives, but if they're exposed to something other than pop radio, go
> with it. It will start to rub off whether they know it or not.
> Speaking of the Phoenix festival, I was employed by Mean fiddler
> productions two years ago, the agency that organized and promoted the
> event. As an employee I got to go for free and spend the weekend. It was
> quite an experience. Not on the same scale as a Reading festival or
> Glastonbury, but it was something being able to catch the Roots, Outside,
> Galliano, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers, Groove Collective, etc etc etc all
> in one tent. Could it happen in the States? Questionable. Some people
> here at University of Michigan tried to throw what they called
> "Groove-apalooza". They fucked up right there with that name. Regardless,
> they got Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Jazzhole, and some MCs that go by the
> Mountain Brothers. Did it go over? Hell no. It was a free show, outside
> on a beautiful day and they only got a few hundred unversed and
> uninterested nimrods to stand around and pick their asses. It was a sad
> scene indeed. It seemed to be a problem with promotion. Who out
> there has figured out that it is ALL ABOUT HYPE? There are acts out
> there who you haven't even heard yet who would destroy your mind, they
> just don't have the press. We need more hype-machines like SNC, On the
> One, Rap Pages, URB, etc. etc. Props to all spreading a message through
> music and through press (e.g. M. Donaldson and the Orlando posse). Put
> your town on the map! Thats the way to do it. Enough, already. Over & out:
> Matt C
>
> On 13 Jun 1996, Tony Reid wrote:
>
> >
> > Pe> _ why can't us sorry asses here in the US ever see the likes of a
> > Pe> festival featuring such amazing talent as those lined up for the
> > Pe> phoenix festival??? ...oh woe is america...anyone care to comment??
> >
> > more of us need to become promoters (and/or support the existing ones).
> if
> > we show these labels that we're willing to come out and see these groups
> (and
> > buy their records!) they will fall all over themselves to give us what we
>
> > want. before "nevermind" went multi-platinum nirvana was just another
> band
> > from seattle (how many have heard of "bleach" the preceding album?). we
> have
> > to do that for a/j bands. i think by now "plantation lullabies" by
> me'shell
> > has finally gone gold, but she's about to put out another album. in the
> > record-label world, that's too long. we gotta support our artists. if
> you
> > hear about an a/j club--GO! if you know about an a/j band playing @ a
> > "non-a/j" venue, bring your friends/parents/dogs/enemies--pack the place!
>
> > make them wonder what the hell is going on w/this "acid-jazz" thing and
> how
> > they (i.e. clubs/promoters/labels) can benefit from it. excuse me if i'm
>
> > rambling, but my point is just we have to make all the non-hedz feel like
>
> > they're missing out on something (they are, aren't they?).
> >
> >
> > ... stereotypes dj crew-providin' the vibes 310 236 0141
> >
>