Bennetts Lane

[johnnymastropaulos]

If it's just a half-door deal, maybe punters should only have half the door open to them.
could be the bottom half; in which case they'd have to limbo under - ideal for latin gigs. Or it could be the top half; in which case they could pole vault over - ideal for gigs that hit the high notes like 'Screaming' Scott Tinkler or Jamie 'Altissimo' Oehlers.

THis would also eliminate the need to argue about starting times, as anyone young and fit enough to get through the door would also be young and fit enough to put in a good boozing session till 3am.

whaddya reckon? if we all decided now, as a group, that this was the official policy for all jazz gigs, then the punters might get used to it, in say, 100 years or so.

Yearning for you tragically,
Johnny.

[ironguts]

I think its about time gigs were abolished all together. Live to the internet, then punters dont have to leave home and can watch replays instead of actually getting off their fat arses and going to a gig..... Get some tissues and dry your eyes guys, then get out and see some live music, even if its past your pathetically early bed-time. Soft, soft,soft.

[Kenny]

ironguts said:

Get some tissues and dry your eyes guys, then get out and see some live music, even if its past your pathetically early bed-time. Soft, soft,soft.

Fuck that - I'm utterly sick of there having to be some sort of masochistic element to gig-going. What kind of folkses do you want at gigs? Just the hard, hard, hard?

[Dryyoureyes]

Tissues for Kenny please.

[Kenny]

Wahhhhhhh!

[TM]

FACT: The big room Has the best piano for touch and tone. and comes out wonderfully when recorded. Also, all recording engineers I have talked to prefer recording in the larger room.

[cartman]

yeah well all the pianists I talk to prefer the small room. And how many recording engineers have worked at BL exactly and how come they never buy me a drink? Those bastards!

[ironguts]

Fact- recording engineers like the big room cause the sound is shithouse, musos like the small room cause you can have a sound in there. I like the small room cause it looks like there is more people there and it makes me feel better, and the bar is bigger in the small room.
Whatever room your in the drinks are exi and the intros are vomit inducing.

[cartman]

"drinks are exi and the intros are vomit inducing"

which makes it even more shiithouse when you vomit up your expensive drink straight into the Kawai and thats the drink that the fuckwit sound recording guy refused to buy you in the first place. those bastards!

[Jeremy]

johnnymastropaulos said:

well personally I'd like to hear from micheal tortoni on this.
jeremy... I know you're reading this. tell him to drop us a line.

well, since i got asked and Michael is internet illiterate - i'll try and answer some questions:

As for the staffing issues - it's hard to start earlier as people working in the bar do like to eat dinner too. Not a great excuse, but a fair reason why we don't start early regularly. We do start earlier for a few gigs when requested - in this case, we weren't asked (not sure what Martin told you Mark, but neither me nor Michael know about the request)

As someone already mentioned - I promise if we thought we'd get more people in by starting earlier, we would. As much as we run the place becuae we like the music, we also run to make some money (horrible I know), so anything that gets more people through the door and buying drinks is a good thing for both us and for the musicians playing.

An earlier starting time for Sunday-Wednesday has been discussed numerous times now, and the compromise solution we came up with was to open 30mins earlier (8:30 instead of 9) and have bands starting at 9:30 rather than at 9:45-10. We also try and get bands back on for the second set by 10:45, and at latest 11. This seems to have almost worked, but again, people were used to doors opening at 9pm, so the bulk of the people that know the place tend to turn up at 9 anyway.

As for the piano/room debate - as an old time punter as well as employee - I personally prefer the small room because it still seems to have a slightly better atmosphere. It may be nostalgia, or it may just be that the small room looks a lot fuller when there is 20 people in it, it just feels more cosy to me.

The pianos were purchased at exactly the same time, but as with all pianos, no 2 are alike. I'm not a pianist, but I personally can't tell the difference in tone or touch on them, however our piano tuner thinks that the Lab's piano is slightly more robust for some reason. I can tell you that both are tuned in exactly the same range and values, it may just be because the Lab is larger that some parts of the room may sound a little more different to others, where as in the Club, the room is small enough that the sound is the same everywhere.

The reason Sound Engineers prefer the larger room for recording is that they have more space to work in and the ability to set up their own sound systems, something the small room lacks and why we tend to do recordings in there.

Hope that helps,
J

[Geek]

Thanks Jeremy, we missed you.

Dizzy's is starting at 8pm tonight with Christophe, Belinda and some guy on trumpet so get there early and enjoy.

[johnnymastropaulos]

sincerely excellent post jeremy. I knew you where out there somewhere!

[Jeremy]

I drop by every so often to read the rantings and ravings of people (as well as that rubbish about tiger). I generally don't post as i really have nothing to add to the 'discussion'.

ps - some great gigs coming up this month, including Oehlers-Keevers, Elana Stone, The Conglomerate and a bunch of CD launches (including Tim's latest), as well as Omar Sosa and Mark's gig next month.

[omar]

who is omar sosa? cool name.

[isaacs]

Jeremy said:

and Mark's gig next month.

Thanks Jeremy, of course just for the record (in case anyone gets confused) actually it's the month after next (Sunday March 5 to be precise) and it's a CD launch too.