|
|
For starters It gets real lonely on top of the mountain and I enjoy the company...
For the past 5 years Jazzberry Farm has been presenting free shows.
I spent two years preparing the property, clearing brush and built a stage. I figure 250 will be about full capacity. The question has been asked, why I would bother to open a new small venue, when so many venues are having financial troubles? I produced and promoted small to medium size festivals for several years, no matter how you go about it there are plenty of expenses, and certainly no guarantees that you will see even a cent back. There are porta potties, Insurance and Sound and lights? can break anyone's budget... Then the weather turns bad and nobody comes. Ever lost $28,000 in one weekend? I have... So why? When I was promoting the SShh Festivals in Pennsylvania, I decided that when I retired I wanted to run a small campground, with a little store and live music on the weekends. In 2009 Doctors told me I had as little as six months to live. Most likely a scare tactic to get me to let them cut my head open to remove a tumor, then they told me it was too big to be removed. Now five years later, I am still sick, and still have this big lump hanging off the bottom of my brain. So this is my only chance, it's not as big, no store, but I do have 14 acres and a nice stage. So be it, Music will be played and as long as I don't lose much money, I will be happy to share my space with those who come along and what's happening at other venues, I really could care less... Sometimes it's just about the Music... We all need to realize, the reasons for the declining business is primarily from increased DWI laws that tag a person for life after one or two drinks, regardless of whether there was an accident or even an infraction at all. Now we also have to live with the Damn RAVE act and be babysitters for the entire crowd. I am amazed the industry is still alive at all. Politics is killing the industry, if you have a problem take it up with the lawmakers.I do it because I can no longer travel long distances to go to festivals. I do it because it reminds of and keeps me close to the business that I love. I do it to keep in touch, so I can do a big production on June 21th 2019 to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the first SShh festival.
Beyond all that bullshit the bottom line truth is, I do it for my own entertainment and really don't care what anybody else has to say about what is going on here on my personal property.Jazzberry Farm shows are a celebration of music, earth and the freedom we have come to know as individuality. Each person celebrates his or or her individuality by allowing others to express theirs. There is a culture in this country of people who are drawn to nature and music. In the fifties they called them beatniks in the sixties they were hippies, in the seventies they were earth people and in the eighties we all hid, while the government trampled on our civil rights. In the nineties a new age hippie movement spontaneously appeared.
Festivals are peaceful gatherings of the earth tribes, we listen to music, mingle, exchange thoughts and gifts and to celebrate those things that the mother planet has given us. In the beginning it seemed a reasonable goal, to re-establish the traditions and good vibe feel of those small festivals of the seventies. Now with almost a dozen excellent but under attended shows under our belt, we have to ask the question "Does our crowd even exist anymore?" That is to say are there enough people who could enjoy a taste of what of peace on earth would be like, because that's what happens when you mix peace, tolerance and common sense to a weekend of nature and fine music. A smaller crowd makes the atmosphere more serene and peaceful, just lay back and enjoy nature and music. We like it that way...
For 8 years I did full fledged festivals, the crowd ranged from newborns - grandparents and everybody always has a great time. When the young hippies meet the old hippies they realize that the sixties really never ended and the hippies weren't a phase, but a culture, that always has been and always will be... What we have discovered along the way is that when I throw a party it's one to remember and you never know who is going to show up musically or as guests. So be a hippie or come out and look at the hippies we don't mind :) Come for the music, sun and fun, The fact is we as citizens have the right to gather and when we share those things we have in common, we are an unique culture, especially in respect to respecting our differences.
How can I afford to do these shows?
Some people think that just because I am disabled and unable to work, that i shouldn't be able to afford to do these shows. well it's really none of their business, how I paid for these shows. However...
I can be the cheapest being on the planet, the first two winters my primary heat was old bee hives. I have this old furnace that will burn just about anything from books, paper trash construction left overs, if it burns in it goes in. Five years in I am running out of stuff to burn.
Remember when I moved in I had two vans, a car, a motorcycle and a 1957 Jeep...
Puppies paid for a show
The Flag van Paid for two shows.
My Jeep Paid off all my debts and paid for a couple of shows
This past year I scraped and pinched every dollar I could to do one last big show and now We will get to see Hypnotic Clambake in the intimate setting at Jazzberry Farm.
a Middle of Nowhere Block Party
random links driving spiders crazy since 1995
performance stage tour gig song music in the middle of nowhere
routine act concert hall ballroom ball live recital too much fun to be legal
swain swain birdsall dalton nunda weekend square as a box turtle estival clambake chuckys camping campout summer solstice
who last comic island Jam concert festival picnic jamboree show party gathering
