Last night at Freiman Square

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:02 pm

A free concert that people are complaining about.

I do hope you marched right up there and demanded your money back.

tiny · Post by **tiny** » Tue May 29, 2007 2:36 pm

Not complaining about the price, OR the show, Ollie. Some of them sound interesting...most will be poorly attended. Hell, until here, I didn't even know they were going on.

I, at least, am complaining about the way the concert series was lined up, presented, and promoted.

Just like the conservatory series....We were asked to fill out a multi-page survey....and after seeing the results, they did....exactly what they wanted. Which is their right, but don't waste my time asking for input, if none will be considered.

What happens is the same old same old prevails, and the same groups of people will keep doing the same things, promoted to the same crowds, with the same weak results. It's the Fort Wayne "Preaching to the choir" syndrome. No one wants to build a broader base for this kind of project, because that would dilute their input, their sense of self worth, and their sphere of influence. And so, instead of welcoming new people into the fold, mediocracy reigns.

DID, Art Museum, Philharmonic, just to name a few....all suffer from this as yet incurable malady. No cure has been found yet....not that anyone wants to look. The prevailing attitude seems to be, 'Gotta keep the riff raff out of OUR event'.....

Al Quandt · Post by **Al Quandt** » Tue May 29, 2007 4:00 pm

Totally agreed. I know how it is to put on events and not want to go out of the box on my crowd because of fear of trying out a crowd i dont know. That is how I started at Sunset. I was only comfortable with the riff raff crowd and not the crowd mentioned above.

Since I have expanded my tastes and have tried and will continue to try to support all areas that I can in future events. I have watched the riff raff crowd slowly merge into the more mainstream and/or subtle music over the last few years. I find that very exciting as a promoter.

I think a band like LLC is a great example that a band that in its beginning had a small crowd of friends and blues fans. After a few years watching them capture a crowd that spans across multiple ages, classes, musical taste..exc is very neat to watch. Seeing groups of people that would normally have stuck to just their favorite or comfortable styles of music that is associated with their generation realize that good music is just plain good music and you shouldnt be afraid to enjoy it is beautiful. I have seen many bands do this recently too LLC just came to mind first. They were never bais on what type of event they played and I believe this to be the cause of their success (aside from being a great band and good guys)

So I guess my point is that, focusing on one genre of people for an event may seem to make sense and be comfortable for the promoter, it doesn't do anything for the future of events. Expanding your market will not only have the possibility of making your event more successful but it opens ears of cross genre fans to new music and likes. This attitude only pushes fort wayne and its music and art lovers ahead in the future. Which also makes it so that promoters do not feel like the have to alienate certain people for future events just to feel safe (safe as in comfort, not personal safety)

flapjacks · Post by **flapjacks** » Wed May 30, 2007 8:12 pm

the only thing I can see fit to complain about is poor promoting, like tiny, this is the first I've heard of this.

These are great diverse bands and I disagree with tiny here, I think they will be well attended

tiny · Post by **tiny** » Thu May 31, 2007 4:52 am

I hope they WILL be well attended. Same with Ando and Julie's MMF. And our Rocks The Square series. Anything that provides a venue, and an opportunity, is more than welcome. Was it Arlo Guthrie that once said, first you, then me....pretty soon we'll have a revolution?

But how many of the regular listeners to Magic 95 will come out to Freimann Square on a Thursday night to hear a reggae band? Or Eddy Clearwater? I'd bet three. Magic seems to hang their name on anything that passes by in the night....without any thought to how they fit, or if they bring anything to the table. How did any of the people here that know about the series find out about it? The radio?

And no matter the promotional vehicle....if people here, with an admitted heightened interest in music aren't aware of the series, let alone who plays what on what date.....what does that say about the awareness factor (let alone the give a damn factor) of the average Fort Wayne soccer mom (or dad?)

Lousy promotion of what might be a cool event. With more promotion, spread out over all the community, it could have been very successful. But they chose the same old, same old. And I still say attendance will reflect that.

bassjones · Post by **bassjones** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:02 am

My issue is the lousy opening night band. If mom and dad had just come to take their kids to launch a balloon and heard this horrible (yes, that bad) band play are they going to come back to hear some local act they've never heard of play the next 6 times? No way. Now, if they had chosen LLC, NoRA, D-Gary (maybe too out there for this particular event, but still...), Kenny Taylor, Conley, Todoran, Sunny Taylor, Trainhoppers 3, etc... for the opening night, would people come back for the following events just to see how much other talent there might be here? It is Ft. Wayne, so maybe not, but it's much more likely.

Post by **cwallace** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:40 am

Not to mention the 'watering down' of events...It is great that every night there is something to do in FW over the summer when it comes to music, but the town also doesn't have the population to support all of the events all summer long...

Jefferson point has something one night, this thing on Thur (which I also just heard about), 92.3 Rock the square another night...

We don't have the volume of people to pull a decent crowd on special events let alone a different large scale outdoor event each night...

Don't even get me started on promotion...I love how the news in this town covers things we MISSED...what about things COMING UP...

You can tell your friends all you want...but if they aren't telling anyone then you need to tell other people as well...

Chris