Magnolia Jazz

Fundraiser Jazz Band, not just for Weddings and Parties

magnoliajazz — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:45:51 +0000

Fundraiser jazz band? Yes, sometimes it seems we belong in that category, too, along with providing the right music for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, holiday parties, and company banquets. Wherever people gather to celebrate whatever, that’s a great place and time for us to set the perfect festive atmosphere and help them enjoy the party.

For example, here we are in Hollister, CA, last Saturday, at a dinner party to benefit the San Benito County Homeless Coalition, headed by Cindy Parr. Actually, in this photo we’re sitting under the umbrella by the bandstand, listening to the evening’s program. Thank you for this nice picture, Steve Loos. This was our second year entertaining at their annual “Jazz Under the Stars”. Afterward the organizers told me their fundraiser was a huge success, and we should save the date for next year’s party. It’ll be a pleasure!

Thinking about this party, I’m pleased to realize that a significant portion of the Magnolia Jazz Band’s engagements are fundraising events to benefit local non-profit organizations — easily several every month. And the same commitment is true for MANY of my colleagues in the wedding-and-party-planning business.

Let me name just a few of my friends: Liz Guthrie and Sasha Souza, who manage the San Francisco Dream Wedding Giveaway and Wish Upon a Wedding; Debbie Quintana and Amy Frugoli, who produced the fabulous Benefit Party for Aaron Tanner last month; Stacie Tamaki, who maintains an online Volunteer Philanthropy Directory; LT Beaton, President of Silicon Valley NACE, whose meetings collect items to support a different charity each month; and Rich Amooi, a local DJ and radio personality who organizes groups of his colleagues to volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank.

Would you like to get involved with these people? Please contact any of them and offer to help. This is just a brief list — the complete roster would be quite long, and I apologize for omitting so many of my friends.

I’m proud to be an active member of this community that takes care of it’s own. It’s a welcome sign of civilized behavior in a time when compassion sometime seems in short supply.

I salute EVERYONE whose efforts are helping to make a difference. Please send me a comment about what you’re up to, and I’ll mention you in a future blog post or on my Facebook page.

Although we’re busy with these non-profit fundraisers, the Magnolia Jazz Band helps people planning party music for ALL kinds of special events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Please visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next OPEN-TO-THE-PUBLIC appearance is on Saturday, July 24, in a Gala Awards dinner party in Sunnyvale, at an amazing conference for the Space Frontier Foundation. See details and registration for this event on our website.

In the meantime, please join our Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events. Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to SHARE this post, SUBSCRIBE, and send me a COMMENT.

Planning Party Music

magnoliajazz — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:07:26 +0000

Planning party music? Wedding music? Not the easiest job. But it’s close. Just ask yourself the right questions, and the answers will appear. More in a moment.

I find planning ANYTHING seems to work the same way. First, you need a vision of what you want. That’s easy enough, especially if you’re like this fellow. From what I recall, his kindergarten ambitions way back in East Rockaway focused on cookies and milk, naps, and getting a red crayon during coloring book time.

Not too many years later he was playing trumpet in a zany outfit called the “South Happiness Street Society Skiffle Band”. Photo taken in Toronto at the Mariposa Folk Festival, 1969. From today’s perspective, that fellow’s ambitions weren’t much further developed, just more complex, and with more at stake.

Who could have predicted that six years later I’d be in California, making a living entertaining at elegant celebrations? I love saying “Everything counts”, whenever I look for the “dots” to “connect”, but I confess my journey through life appears at first glance to have followed a haphazard path.

Well I’m sure I had SOME notions of what I hoped the future would bring, but I hesitate to claim that I arrived here according to some grand plan. Who could have planned all THIS? But I exaggerate. Gradually, all along the way, I learned to assess my situation, set an ambition, ask the important questions, and assemble the answers into a plan of action.

So, back to planning, particularly planning party music.

I’ve been helping people plan music for their weddings and parties since 1975, and by now the procedure is simple and straightforward. Just like trying to solve almost ANY problem, asking the right questions is 90% of the solution. Then assembling the answers is just “taking care of the details”.

If you’ve never planned music for a significant event before, the job can appear daunting, but trust me, it needn’t be. The most important first step is Clarify Your Vision. So, at last, what are the right questions? I encourage people to keep it simple and answer just a few, and everything else follows.

What mood do you want for the event? And is it one mood for the entire time, or several moods at different times? For example, a garden party, a wedding ceremony, a cocktail party, and a dinner party, followed by a dance party.
What favorites do you or your guests have? Songs? Musicians? Composers? Singers? Musical styles? Would you like me to recommend more examples in any of these favorite categories?
Do you wish to select every song to be played, or just a few for significant moments?
Are there personal preferences that need to be addressed? Will other people need to be involved in planning the music?
Finally, a few simple practical issues: Is there enough room for the musicians? Do we need electricity for amplification? Do we have time to find or learn new music?

That’s it. Can you suggest another question to include? Please tell me.

The Magnolia Jazz Band helps people planning party music for events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. I love making a living this way, and if we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Please visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next OPEN-TO-THE-PUBLIC appearance is on Saturday, July 17, in a dinner party in Hollister, to benefit the San Benito County Homeless Coalition. See details for this event and more on our website.

In the meantime, please join our Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events. Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

Elegant Party Music and a More Personal Blogging Style

magnoliajazz — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:23:59 +0000

Elegant party music, anyone? Nearly every day since 1975, I’ve led the Magnolia Jazz Band entertaining people at their celebrations. Here we are at a typical afternoon last May, jazzing up an elegant roof-top cocktail party in San Francisco. The photo is taken from a stunning video created by my friend Andrew Hsu — watch it here, and midway you’ll see us for just three wind-blown seconds, but they’re good ones. Thanks, Andrew.

Later that day we drove to Livermore, to provide several hours of elegant dinner and dancing music at another wedding reception.

So who’s a workaholic? I love keeping myself busy like this — either playing at a party, or preparing for the next one, or lining up another one for the future. Work, work, work. How ironic, then, that I’ve been posting a new entry in my blog only a few times per month. I’d hope to aim for a few times per week at the least, and now I swear I”ll make that goal and keep to it.

There! I’ve actually put it in writing, and like one does when beginning a diet, I’ve decided to break a bad habit and replace it with a good one. The bad habit stood me well during my academic years, when I’d be writing papers all the time for very critical readers. Each time, I’d write a first draft, then a second, a third, and on and on… proof-reading and polishing for days til I felt the paper met the highest standard I could imagine.

You’d be correct if you guessed that the final draft didn’t sound like me. Which is exactly the manner of writing I want for my blog. After all, my blog expresses my personal thoughts, and to do it right, my writing needs to sound like the way I speak. So, starting right now, my blog posts will be written as quickly and effortlessly as I can manage. A little proof-reading, to improve a misleading sentence or two, and bingo, it’s posted!

Please tell me you love this new writing style! The more positive feedback I get, the stronger my new habit becomes.

I’ve been hoping to make this promise for months. What straw broke the camel’s back, as they say? Recently a friend, Amanda Cey, blogged about a book you might like to know about — The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. Thanks, Amanda. This book spells out several rules for successful blogging, and I read about one that said essentially that “good enough” writing is better than perfection which takes too long to reach. When I read that, I was hooked, and immediately started composing the thoughts you’re reading now.

I realize it’s human nature to overcompensate whenever we make a big change, so I’m watching out lest my writing becomes too casual and sloppy as it becomes more frequent and expressive.

So, yes, I’ll be blogging more often, but the Magnolia Jazz Band will still be entertaining throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s great weather for outdoor events these days, so our schedule contains mostly private parties for the next few months. If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Please visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next OPEN-TO-THE-PUBLIC appearance is on Saturday, July 17, in a benefit dinner party in Hollister. See details for this event on our website.

In the meantime, please join our Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events. Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

Jazz Band Music for an Elegant Wedding

magnoliajazz — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:54:28 +0000

Can’t you almost hear our jazz band music (in the photo’s lower left corner)? Here we are last May 22, beginning the bride’s processional in a lovely wedding at Brix restaurant, in Napa. What a gorgeous afternoon, and congratulations Cheryl and Tim. What a treat to work with coordinators Dee Merz and Shana Goldberg, and thanks for the wonderful photo, Coco and Tim Martin.

Cheryl told me our jazz music was “perfect” and very danceable, but especially because we included some of her favorite Broadway show tunes — “I Do I Do”, “Sunrise Sunset”, “People Will Say We’re In Love”, “Somewhere”, “What I Did For Love”, and many others. Although I wouldn’t tell her this, we’re probably not the only jazz band around who could create her perfect atmosphere. Yes, we’re excellent, but after all, who of us is unique in the world?

And that got me thinking. For curiosity, I recently spent a few interesting hours online, looking to see if I could find another Magnolia Jazz Band, and I found four! Who could have guessed?

Have you ever searched for your own name like this? Go ahead — I bet you’ll find something interesting, at least, and probably surprising, too.

Just for practice, I drafted the following Wikipedia article about my own research (which explains all the links to other Wikipedia articles). Who knows — I may modify and submit it someday.

I discovered I’m part of a hundred-year heritage of creating festive music for special events. I’m especially fascinated to see how each of these similar jazz bands adapts to suit its time and place. This is something all of us do all the time, and I hope you enjoy reading what I discovered. Please tell me how you like it.

The Magnolia Jazz Band is the name used by several well-known jazz bands in the past century. An occasional source of confusion, two of these bands are working currently — one in the San Francisco Bay Area and the other primarily in Norway. A third Magnolia Jazz Band worked for over a dozen years in England in the 1950s & 60s, and featured the trumpet player Mick Mulligan and singer George Melly. The earliest Magnolia Jazz Band I found worked in New Orleans around 1910, and featured guitarist Louis Keppard, trombonist Honore Dutrey, and the legendary cornet player, Joe “King” Oliver.

Today in America, one Magnolia Jazz Band entertains people at parties and weddings throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Their fans enjoy popular standards, jazz classics, and Latin favorites, and the band ranges from a strolling trio to a swinging dance combo. Established in 1975 by Robbie Schlosser, at the time a graduate student at Stanford University, the many members over the years have included Squire Girsback, Bill Napier, and on a few occasions, pianists Art Hodes and Butch Thompson.

In Oslo, Norway, another Magnolia Jazzband has been entertaining at social clubs, halls, and jazz festivals throughout Europe’s thriving traditional jazz scene since 1972. Established and still managed by my friend, trombonist Gunnar Gotaag in 1972, this seven-man band specializes in playing the “traditional” style of New Orleans jazz, which emerged in the early 1940s, popularized by the bands of Bunk Johnson, George Lewis and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The membership of Gunnar’s band has remained largely unchanged over the years, and both of these contemporary Magnolia Jazz Bands have recorded LPs, CDs, and videos.

In England, another Magnolia Jazz Band was a popular favorite among avid British Trad jazz fans at pubs, halls, and concerts (following the bands of Humphrey Lyttleton, Ken Collyer, Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, and Kenny Ball). Established in 1948 by charismatic trumpeter Mick Mulligan (1928-2006), this band finally broke up in 1962, mainly due to the growing popularity of rock and roll music. Noteworthy members included singer George Melly, trombonist Roy Crimmins and clarinetists Archie Semple and Ian Christie.

In New Orleans, probably the original Magnolia Jazz Band has been mentioned in books or interviews with trumpeter Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), bassist Pops Foster (1892-1969), guitarist Louis Keppard (1888-1986) and others. This band never recorded, and years later, Pops Foster recalled that the band played “ragtime“, rather than sweet music or low-down blues. Louis Keppard led this popular band, which entertained revelers at Pete Lala’s Cabaret and other nightspots in New Orleans’ notorious “Storyville” district.

All these Magnolia Jazz Bands are similar, but oh so different:

We’re the only Magnolia Jazz Band around here. We’re very easy to find, and we entertain somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area nearly every day. If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Please visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next two PUBLIC appearances are on June 26, in a ribbon-cutting celebration at the San Jose Airport, and on June 28, in a networking mixer for wedding and event pros at The PruneYard, in Campbell. See details for both events on our website.

In the meantime, please join our Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

How I Plan Music for an Elegant Party

magnoliajazz — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:34:05 +0000

Magnolia Jazz Band in Mountain View

An elegant party requires focused planning, as well as thoughtful inspiration. In my experience, the fine touches creating elegance are more likely deliberately crafted decisions, rather than the happy result of random chance, although both are important.

Over the years, I’ve found that practice develops the skill of combining these two strategies. No one is born an event planner. Everyone learns, and here is a case where experience really counts. It’s true, whether you’re a full-time professional event planner, or simply planning your own once-in-a-lifetime 50th anniversary party.

The same applies to the musicians who provide music to create the perfect atmosphere for the party. Calling on our experience to carefully design what to do and when, we always leave room in the plan to seize spur-of-the-moment opportunities.

Let me begin with a story. Here we are last March 22, entertaining V.I.P. guests at a cocktail party in the lobby of the Center for Performing Arts, in Mountain View. Thank you for the wonderful photo, Tammy and James Lau.

This was our fourth year playing for this event, preceding an annual awards ceremony. Each party is slightly different, but always with an eye toward helping everyone enjoy being in the midst of a special occasion. We’ve learned what music will set the right mood here, and we’re always ready to chat with guests and play their favorite requests.

I attend parties like this all the time, and I can hardly remember my life prior. Similarly, I’ve been married nearly 36 years now, and, believe me, a person easily grows accustomed to that lovely, endless conversation. It’s on my mind now, because my wife is out of town on business for 10 days, and in between our phone calls, my lonely mind tends to wander in strange directions.

Does this happen to you, too? Yes, my thoughts eventually return to parties and weddings, but what detours!

This morning, something (who knows what) reminded me of an idle conversation with a few friends studying Biology back in college. We wondered how to decide which stage of an organism’s life cycle was the adult, for which all the earlier stages live to prepare. Seems simple enough, until you realize “cycle” means no beginning and no end.

So our question became whether the egg was actually the technique the chicken uses to produce the next generation of chickens, or was the chicken an elaborate technology the egg uses to produce the next generation of eggs. Could it be that there is no “adult” stage, except for what we make up, in order to have a simple, coherent notion to believe in?

It wasn’t long before we were wondering whether the DNA molecule itself is the dominant life form on our planet. In other words, is DNA using all living organisms to create the next generation of DNA molecules? If so, is this molecule operating with a sense of purpose, survival instinct, or at least some kind of awareness?

I remember thinking this conversation was getting ridiculous. That kind of idle thinking is great mental exercise, but far from the style I usually use every day. These days, I focus to help people create the kind of atmosphere they want for their weddings and parties. Over the years, I’ve developed a practical, problem-solving style of thinking, and now that my wife is out-of-town, I find my mind losing focus a little more frequently.

Even while she’s out of town, though, the Magnolia Jazz Band still entertains somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area nearly every day. If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Please visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next two PUBLIC appearances are June 5 & 6, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, where the trio will be entertaining Saturday at the “Baby Boomer and Senior Lifestyle Expo” and Sunday at the “Benefit Party for Aaron Tanner”. See the details for both events on our website.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please join our Magnolia Jazz Band Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events. And please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

Getting Fresh Ideas for Weddings and Parties

magnoliajazz — Tue, 18 May 2010 19:24:30 +0000

Here we are last January 9, greeting Joyce and James’ grand entrance in their elegant wedding at the Stonepine Estate, in Carmel Valley. I found this photo (from Andrew Hsu’s wonderful video) on Stacie Tamaki’s blog, The Flirty Guide.

This fabulous wedding reception required coordinated work from many people — planners, designers, florists, photographers, musicians, videographers, and more. It was so exciting to collaborate with all these experts! A team like this is a wonderful source of fresh, new ideas.

Here’s another: We’re extremely proud to be part of the San Francisco Dream Wedding Giveaway! Following a year-long nation-wide contest, last Thursday and Friday over 40 colleagues presented a fabulous wedding to Vanessa and Mike Hawkins, and our portion was entertaining at the cocktail reception following their ceremony. This was truly an unforgettable event, and an honor to collaborate with so many of the SF Bay Area’s top wedding and event professionals.

These are just two recent examples of dedicated teamwork producing magical results. This happens all the time, in settings ranging from athletic teams and performance groups to “think tanks” and company brainstorming sessions. In each case, there’s a happy combination of everyone inspiring each other to contribute their best, while keeping a clear focus on their goal.

In my continuing search for fresh, new ideas, I found still another example last night. Out of curiosity, I attended a meeting of iPhone and iPad app developers. Here’s where it’s happening these days. I walked into a room filled with about 100 mostly young, bright, and eager “geeks”, either full- or part-time programmers or businesses looking to hire them. The meeting featured several presentations of developing technologies (new information, in new combinations), which added to the excited buzz already swirling around the room. Everyone seemed intent on greeting old friends and meeting new ones, and I could feel new ideas generating all around me. And I picked up a few ideas myself!

What lessons am I learning? First, refresh my thoughts by sharing ideas regularly with my best colleagues. And second, step outside my day-to-day routines often, to discover new things to do and new ways to do them.

This much isn’t new, however: The Magnolia Jazz Band is still very easy to find, and we entertain somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area nearly every day. If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Please visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next two PUBLIC appearances are June 5 & 6, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, where the trio will be entertaining Saturday at the “Baby Boomer and Senior Lifestyle Expo” and Sunday at the “Benefit Party for Aaron Tanner”. See the details for both events on our website.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please join our Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events. And please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

“Searching” for Weddings and Parties

magnoliajazz — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:07:11 +0000

Here we are last Monday evening, creating a soft background for a business reception at the Capital Club, in San Jose. Thanks for the nice photo, Ross Mehan.

We’d been recommended to the event’s planner who immediately searched for our website, found us, and the rest is history.

The internet is a wonderful resource for information. But be cautious — you can find someone to support practically anything at all.

With that warning in mind, let’s recognize how remarkable online searching can be. Friends, colleagues, businesses, and clients find their friends, colleagues, businesses, and clients. Do you remember — just a few years ago all we had were directory assistance, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, and the public library. Amazing!

The chances are excellent that today you search on Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and dozens more “engines” all the time. You can easily find practically anything.

Now let me change perspective and ask, “Are YOU easy to find, and can you make it easier? Or more difficult?” The answer should be important.

Search for your own name, and you’ll find lots of information — some of it trivial, some of it crucial, and most of it interesting in some way.

For example, searching for “Robbie Schlosser”, Google delivers about 584,000 links and about 246,000 images. I found 5 “Robbie Schlosser”s and 178 “R. Schlosser”s in the United States. Facebook lists just one “Robbie Schlosser” and 52 “Robert Schlosser”s worldwide. I’m always curious, and with enough time I’d explore them all.

For another example, I found several Magnolia Jazz Bands in addition to my own. In Norway back in 1972, my friend Gunnar Gotaas organized the “Magnolia Jazzband”. For years, his group has specialized in playing old style New Orleans music at social clubs and festivals throughout Europe. I’ve never met Gunnar, but we’ve corresponded, and I enjoy the spirit in his band’s music. They’re very popular, with a number of LPs, CDs, and YouTube videos available.

In fact, people searching for my band occasionally stumble upon his website or videos instead, because Google and the rest don’t distinguish between “Jazz Band” and “Jazzband”. I imagine people searching for Gunnar’s band occasionally stumble upon mine, too. It’s an interesting “bump in the road”, and I hope not a serious problem.

I found two Magnolia Jazz Bands in England, one contemporary and one active in the 1950s. I expect more Magnolia Jazz Bands existed, but I found only one — working in New Orleans around 1910 and featuring the legendary trumpet player Joe “King” Oliver.

We’re the only Magnolia Jazz Band around here. We’re very easy to find, and we work somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area nearly every day. If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120.

Visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next PUBLIC appearance is on May 9th, Mothers Day, where the trio will be entertaining at three locations on opposite ends of Silicon Valley — at the Mountain Winery, in Saratoga, at the Hilton Newark/Fremont, and The Toll House, in Los Gatos. See the details on our website.

In the meantime, please join my Facebook “fans”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

On Jambalaya, Weddings and Parties

magnoliajazz — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:23:19 +0000

I love jambalaya!

Reminds me of many good times, and for my own parties, no celebration is complete without this New Orleans specialty. What a magical blend of ham, chicken, smoked sausage, shrimp, oysters, crab, rice, flour, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, celery, cloves, thyme, allspice, and cayenne. Thanks to hubpages.com for the photo. Yum!

I love preparing it, love eating it, love the surprise of tasting someone else’s recipe.

Like the music of a good old style jazz band, there’s a basic formula you customize to produce what you want. In this case, it’ll be your favorite flavor, aroma, appearance, and texture. Each batch is unique, reflecting the ingredients you select, how you combine them, and how you present the results (I usually recommend serving with a hearty red wine).

I think it’s the same with making practically anything — salads, stews, wine, bouquets, parties, jewelry, clothing, automobiles, buildings, you name it! Everywhere, the procedure seems to be “First you learn the rules, then you personalize them.”

How about what you do for a living? Do you elaborate your own fine touches on just a few fundamental patterns? Finding these simple patterns can often help us navigate new, more complex terrain.

Here’s a pattern I often follow. When the band prepares to entertain people at a party or a wedding, I do the most logical things. First, I find out what the people want. I learn their event’s purpose, the mood they want, and a few more significant details. Next, from all my experience with similar events, I suggest a few options they might like. Then I muster all my creativity and flexibility and help them refine their favorite choices. Finally, I repeat this last step over and over, each time bringing their vision into sharper focus.

Hmmmm, sounds so simple. Do you follow a similar pattern? I follow this one all the time, and the band entertains somewhere nearly every day.

If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120. Visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next PUBLIC appearance is on May 9th, Mothers Day, where the trio will be entertaining at three locations on opposite ends of Silicon Valley — at the Mountain Winery, in Saratoga, at the Hilton Newark/Fremont, and The Toll House, in Los Gatos. See the details on our website.

In the meantime, please join my Facebook “fan page”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

“Franchising” for Weddings and Parties

magnoliajazz — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:02:15 +0000

Sometimes I feel like this fellow. .

Not because we each began our future careers as hobbies while in elementary school. Not because we each held a variety of apparently unrelated jobs before finally settling into our successful careers.

But because Michael Gerber is a favorite business author of mine. In his series of remarkable books about “The E-Myth”, Gerber systematically outlines attitudes, exercises, and disciplines for building a successful business. Practical ideas like this always catch my attention, and I follow his advice carefully.

Gerber urges us to model our business after a franchise in significant ways, and he cites Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds, as the ultimate good example. I believe he easily could have named Colonel Sanders, instead, and why I think so is the subject for another blog.

Let me get back to “Franchising”. I’ve been thinking about Colonel Sanders’ career. A few friends recently asked me if I’m starting to “franchise” the band, because just last Sunday afternoon, with three of our favorite associates, the trio entertained at two wonderful Easter Sunday brunches. And we’ll be playing at three on Mother’s Day.

But the band is the band, and not a franchise. The people we serve are either companies or individuals, but like most of my colleagues, I’m in business myself, not a franchise of someone else’s business. Unlike Straw Hat Pizza or PakMail, I’m not under contract to operate under someone else’s guidance, using their “Operating Manual”, products, and brand name.

Sure, this arrangement has some pluses and minuses for me, but I’m very happy with it. However, from another perspective, and following Gerber’s advice, it can be useful to regard myself as a franchise of one. That is, create and implement a thorough, comprehensive business plan, balancing my responsibilities as entrepreneur, manager, marketer, and technician. Yes, I’m learning valuable benefits from thinking systematically about managing the band, but according to my own “Operating Manual”, standards, and practices.

You might benefit from thinking about your own career from this same perspective. In fact, no matter how you make a living, or whatever you’re doing, I believe that a systematic approach will surely make you more successful.

Here’s where it’s at for me: I became a manager to enable me to work as a musician, not the other way around. From the start, I aimed my career at creating music to help people enjoy their celebrations.

What’s your plan?

Some of my colleagues in this biz began working as musicians years ago, and then became caterers, entertainment agents, event planners, or wedding coordinators. That’s not for me. I love being right there in the midst of every party. Clients quickly become my friends, and I’m personally involved every minute, making sure our music provides the absolutely best atmosphere for their festivities.

Every day I wake up thinking that sooner or later, everyone will have something memorable to celebrate. Right? Maybe a private anniversary, a corporate milestone, or a wedding.

How about you? Whenever a party is in the works, you can have us set the right mood to help your guests have a great time.

If we can ever help you, please call us at 408-245-9120. Visit MagnoliaJazz.com for testimonials, music samples, videos, photos, and our public schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next PUBLIC appearance is on May 9th, Mothers Day, where the trio will be entertaining at three locations on opposite ends of Silicon Valley — at the Mountain Winery, in Saratoga, the Hilton Newark/Fremont, and The Toll House, in Los Gatos.

So it sounds like the band is still the band, and I’m still me after all. We’re not a franchise, just a few friends helping their friends, and that’s how I like it. I hope to see you soon, and in the meantime, please join my Facebook “fan page”, and you’ll get a reminder for each of our public events.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please take a moment to share this post, subscribe, and send me a comment.

“What’s Your Fee?” for Weddings and Parties

magnoliajazz — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:46:32 +0000

click to enlarge

Here we are one day last summer, entertaining at a lovely afternoon garden wedding in Watsonville. Thank you for all your wonderful photos, Rebecca and Orbie Pullen.

Like you see here, brides and grooms often add drums to the trio, when their celebration calls for lots of dancing. They can also add a saxophone, trumpet, or piano, when they want a larger band. This kind of flexibility is just one of the services we always offer.

Speaking of services, whenever you’re shopping do you ever hear this? “Price, Value, Service — you can have any two, but you must compromise on the third.” This is what I’ve been told, but it seems a little too simplistic to be useful most of the time.

It’s like the general saying, “You get what you pay for”. Sure, this might sometimes seem true, in hindsight, but instead I’m inclined to believe “You get what you get, and you pay what you pay”.

My point is that any relationship between “what you get” and “what you pay” might seem clear but only afterward, and it’s not much help guiding what you’re going to select. Same with those vague notions “price”, “value”, and “service”. None of us should make decisions based on such flimsy ideas as these, that can mean just about anything in actual practice.

So what should guide our decisions? Tell you in a minute.

First, here’s a story, to show you what I’m going to recommend. My wife and I recently enjoyed dinner at a new Chinese restaurant in town. The meal was wonderful, but we had a difficult time getting started. The menu listed easily over 120 selections, ranging from familiar items, like “Broccoli Beef”, to things like “Happy Family”.

A quick conversation with the waiter set us straight. After discussing our preferences and our budget, he described a few excellent options, and we made our selections. I’m happy to say everything worked out very well, indeed.

So whenever we “sort of” know what we want but hardly know how to begin choosing, I recommend getting a clear, practical understanding of your options. Knowing how to ask the right specific question is 90% of getting to the best answer.

Where am I going with this? I’m reminded of people who inquire about my band’s availability for their wedding or party, and the first (and sometime only) question they ask is “What’s your fee?” Most of the time they just need help getting started. I bet they’re just as bewildered as I was in that restaurant, but I knew I needed help there. If I began by asking about the price, I knew I’d overlook some other important options that, as it turned out, made an enormous difference.

So how often do people call you with their very first question, “What’s your fee”? Whatever line of work you’re in, and whether you’re buying or selling anything, I recommend you take the time to gather or recommend lots of practical advice about your options, yes including (but not limited to) “What’s the fee?”

In the meantime, wonderful people keep calling us, and the Magnolia Jazz Band entertains somewhere nearly every day. I’m always on the lookout for our next opportunity, and if we can help you, please call us at 408-245-9120. Visit MagnoliaJazz.com for our schedule, and catch us at an event soon. Our next PUBLIC appearance is Sunday, April 4, 10am-2pm, entertaining for Easter Sunday brunch at the Hilton Newark/Fremont.

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Making Your Weddings and Parties Unique