There is a short poll in the right column near the bottom, but your comments would be helpful as well. Asking someone to produce a cabaret show is almost like asking someone to go into debt - our CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE November CD show broke even, thanks to some folks who made sponsorship donations - but if you deduct that amount it was a loss. What has been your experiences (and read the post below this one and feel free to comment there as well).
HUGS
STU
Saturday, December 6, 2008
SOME THOUGHTS ON CABARET FROM A PERFORMER/SUBSCRIBER/MEMBER
RECEIVED THIS MORNING FROM A MEMBER OF CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE
Hi, I appreciate your faith in the music we do. But, alas, even as I appreciate your extraordinary and generous efforts to promote cabaret, I understand why your levels of donations are dropping. The number of shows is dropping. It is very hard to start singing and try to improve and to make an artistic life in the cabaret world in NYC as it currently exists.
What I don't see here in your words (although I know you know) is the acknowledgment of the huge expense it takes to mount a show. One show. One show with a group of instrumentalists, not "just" a pianist. Additionally, at shows I attend, I am bombarded with printed materials advertising the singer's activities elsewhere (a perfectly reasonable thing to do) as well as a printed program, cards to leave e-mail addresses, etc) - again, perfectly reasonable things to do but very costly. The expense of putting on a show without much in return is a labor of love that I and others have enjoyed doing, but without much of a return, with essentially just breaking even (which is considered a success), we have the world going round with the same people who have the means to put on a show, the same people doing those second tier shows, and the same people going to them.
The expense of making and producing recordings, of publicity, of trying to move your show and the audience to another, more creative level than just the "Songs of Somebody Famous and Dead" - of celebrating the Great American Songbook as something other than dead leaves from the past but as very very alive and real in the present and future - is an expensive and often disheartening and scary proposition in this city, especially when most of us doing this are doing something else to make a living, which also demands our attentions and can often ruin our voices.
And the people who follow us around, even with discounts and all that, spend enormous amounts of money to support us - but again, it's the same people. And it is sad sometimes to watch a very well promoted singer, who is only so so, but who does have the money for putting on shows, making recordings, doing the publicity, and studying with someone who keeps insisting they are good ... and getting nominations and awards ... and singing off pitch ... but even they, with the contacts and the "audience" pulls about half a room on a good night.
The loss of Danny's is huge for those of us who were more or less regulars there. No room has replaced it in quality or congeniality for singers and audience. Also, those of us who take the time to go to open mics find ourselves spending money and waiting through singers who love to sing and have been singing, off key, for dozens of years. Well, who could deny them their fun? It's an open mic, after all. But it's hours lost of precious "free" time, even if it is good experience for a few minutes, not to mention the money spent for the obligatory food and drink.
These are all concerns and fears that most of us have as we wonder "what's the point of all this?". You haven't addressed them. I understand that you think that keeping Cabaret Hotline Online going will help us in some way. I appreciate and admire your efforts, but I think we need something in addition - something of a larger vision of all of us because cabaret for artists at all levels is a stumbling, self-contained, and expensive habit and passion.
Even the big, first tier rooms pull audience members in the single digits. Unless some larger vision takes us to a newer level here, all the banner ads and promotions in the world won't help, and the second tier of cabaret performers will only consist of vanity singers, whose husbands have retired wealthy or those who have made a killing in real estate at a fortuitous moment, only to "discover singing" and who, as Stanislavsky once said, "love themselves in the art, not the art in themselves."
Most of them probably don't know there is a difference.
PLEASE LET US HAVE YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS - CLICK ON COMMENTS LINK BELOW
Hi, I appreciate your faith in the music we do. But, alas, even as I appreciate your extraordinary and generous efforts to promote cabaret, I understand why your levels of donations are dropping. The number of shows is dropping. It is very hard to start singing and try to improve and to make an artistic life in the cabaret world in NYC as it currently exists.
What I don't see here in your words (although I know you know) is the acknowledgment of the huge expense it takes to mount a show. One show. One show with a group of instrumentalists, not "just" a pianist. Additionally, at shows I attend, I am bombarded with printed materials advertising the singer's activities elsewhere (a perfectly reasonable thing to do) as well as a printed program, cards to leave e-mail addresses, etc) - again, perfectly reasonable things to do but very costly. The expense of putting on a show without much in return is a labor of love that I and others have enjoyed doing, but without much of a return, with essentially just breaking even (which is considered a success), we have the world going round with the same people who have the means to put on a show, the same people doing those second tier shows, and the same people going to them.
The expense of making and producing recordings, of publicity, of trying to move your show and the audience to another, more creative level than just the "Songs of Somebody Famous and Dead" - of celebrating the Great American Songbook as something other than dead leaves from the past but as very very alive and real in the present and future - is an expensive and often disheartening and scary proposition in this city, especially when most of us doing this are doing something else to make a living, which also demands our attentions and can often ruin our voices.
And the people who follow us around, even with discounts and all that, spend enormous amounts of money to support us - but again, it's the same people. And it is sad sometimes to watch a very well promoted singer, who is only so so, but who does have the money for putting on shows, making recordings, doing the publicity, and studying with someone who keeps insisting they are good ... and getting nominations and awards ... and singing off pitch ... but even they, with the contacts and the "audience" pulls about half a room on a good night.
The loss of Danny's is huge for those of us who were more or less regulars there. No room has replaced it in quality or congeniality for singers and audience. Also, those of us who take the time to go to open mics find ourselves spending money and waiting through singers who love to sing and have been singing, off key, for dozens of years. Well, who could deny them their fun? It's an open mic, after all. But it's hours lost of precious "free" time, even if it is good experience for a few minutes, not to mention the money spent for the obligatory food and drink.
These are all concerns and fears that most of us have as we wonder "what's the point of all this?". You haven't addressed them. I understand that you think that keeping Cabaret Hotline Online going will help us in some way. I appreciate and admire your efforts, but I think we need something in addition - something of a larger vision of all of us because cabaret for artists at all levels is a stumbling, self-contained, and expensive habit and passion.
Even the big, first tier rooms pull audience members in the single digits. Unless some larger vision takes us to a newer level here, all the banner ads and promotions in the world won't help, and the second tier of cabaret performers will only consist of vanity singers, whose husbands have retired wealthy or those who have made a killing in real estate at a fortuitous moment, only to "discover singing" and who, as Stanislavsky once said, "love themselves in the art, not the art in themselves."
Most of them probably don't know there is a difference.
PLEASE LET US HAVE YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS - CLICK ON COMMENTS LINK BELOW
RECESSION BUSTER DOUBLE DISCOUNTS
See a cabaret show or two this week, if you can. Many performers are offering CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE DISCOUNTS and two shows today - Saturday - are giving a DOUBLE DISCOUNT - both at the METROPOLITAN ROOM (Miles Phillips & Karen Oberlin at 5:00 pm and Julie Reyburn at 7:30 pm - both at THE METROPOLITAN ROOM).
I will announce any new DOUBLE DISCOUNT shows on the website and on this blog as I hear about them.
HUGS
STU
I will announce any new DOUBLE DISCOUNT shows on the website and on this blog as I hear about them.
HUGS
STU
GET THAT HOLIDAY/NEW YEAR'S SHOW PRESS RELEASE IN
A press release will be sent to all the cabaret press e-mail addresses we have on file, urging these writers to mention the dozens of special HOLIDAY CABARET EVENTS that are going on this month all over the USA, UK and AUSTRALIA. The letter will include a link to both our HOLIDAY page and our NEW YEAR'S EVE page on the website - and it will go out on Tuesday, the 9th of December.
If you have a holiday or New Year's Eve event and you have not yet sent in your press release (REMEMBER: A FLIER IS NOT A PRESS RELEASE) please do so this weekend (via e-mail). And if you have the e-mail address of a web or print cabaret writer/editor, please send it in.
The Monday issue of the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE newsletter will include all the HOLIDAY event listings left in my event bin (only 4 remain) as well as all the NEW YEAR'S EVE events (I have received only 6) so please don't delay.
A follow-up e-mail will be sent to the same list of writers and editors after Christmas with special New Year's wishes to the writers, another link to our New Year's Eve page and a preview of our MARCH IS CABARET MONTH activities.
HUGS
STU
If you have a holiday or New Year's Eve event and you have not yet sent in your press release (REMEMBER: A FLIER IS NOT A PRESS RELEASE) please do so this weekend (via e-mail). And if you have the e-mail address of a web or print cabaret writer/editor, please send it in.
The Monday issue of the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE newsletter will include all the HOLIDAY event listings left in my event bin (only 4 remain) as well as all the NEW YEAR'S EVE events (I have received only 6) so please don't delay.
A follow-up e-mail will be sent to the same list of writers and editors after Christmas with special New Year's wishes to the writers, another link to our New Year's Eve page and a preview of our MARCH IS CABARET MONTH activities.
HUGS
STU
GETTING BACK IN THE GROOVE
I made it to one show last night - PAT & BOOTH at THE DUPLEX - and it was "just what the doctor ordered": plenty of good times. I'll be including a review of this show in Monday's issue of the newsletter. From my house it is easy to get to THE DUPLEX - I take the #8 bus that stops on the corner of Avenue D and 10th Street (just a few steps from my front door) and go cross town on 10th to Avenue A where it makes a turn at Tompkins Square Park and then turns on 9th Street straight across to Sixth Ave where it makes an angle turn down Christopher Street and I get off at the corner of Waverly Street, 1/2 block from the club. This is the only regular cabaret club in town I can get to without a transfer - and can get to (traffic permitting) in less than 1/2 hour. And the ride is like being on a tour bus - right through the East Village, the "Middle Village" and the West Village (it goes all the way from river to river practically). Best of all, as a senior it only costs me a buck! Sad news is that the MTA is considering discontinuing this line - forcing me to take the #14 bus crosstown on 14th Street and then transferring downtown at 6th (F train) or 7th (#1 train or a bus) to Christopher Street. But that will be a ways off.
Tonight I want to catch 2 shows if I can - the first one still to be decided and the second one at THE METROPOLITAN ROOM - the new vocal group The Delivery Girls at 9:45 pm. I heard these gals twice already, both times at Grace Cosgrove's GRACE NOTES shows at DON'T TELL MAMA - its about time we get a swinging all-gal pop group in town! Tracy Stark does all the arrangements with her usual pizzaz, and sings along too. I'll let you know tomorrow if I make it to the show.
HUGS
STU
Tonight I want to catch 2 shows if I can - the first one still to be decided and the second one at THE METROPOLITAN ROOM - the new vocal group The Delivery Girls at 9:45 pm. I heard these gals twice already, both times at Grace Cosgrove's GRACE NOTES shows at DON'T TELL MAMA - its about time we get a swinging all-gal pop group in town! Tracy Stark does all the arrangements with her usual pizzaz, and sings along too. I'll let you know tomorrow if I make it to the show.
HUGS
STU
Friday, December 5, 2008
WE'RE ON A ROLL
I miss those cabaret shows - and I've missed some really great ones so far this week, but as soon as some funds start coming in we will be out and about again - I hope to make it to BOOTH & PAT at the DUPLEX at 7:00 pm and maybe even get over to the METROPOLITAN ROOM at 10:00 for METROJAM. Fingers are crossed.
But staying home isn't all bad - I got so much work done this week I am now racking my brain to see what remains to be done. Today I plan to update all the MEMBERSHIP lists - I have 35 names to add (new members that signed on in the last 30 days) and then I have to get to adding all the CDs for sale that have come in.
Stay Tuned!
HUGS
STU
But staying home isn't all bad - I got so much work done this week I am now racking my brain to see what remains to be done. Today I plan to update all the MEMBERSHIP lists - I have 35 names to add (new members that signed on in the last 30 days) and then I have to get to adding all the CDs for sale that have come in.
Stay Tuned!
HUGS
STU
Thursday, December 4, 2008
AND NOW THERE ARE 364!
CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE 2008-2009 member number 364 (Therese Allen - Washington DC) signed up last night. We're still trying to reach our record-breaking goal of 500 members for the year by April 1, 2009 (after May 1st all new memberships are for the 2009-2010 year) - only 136 members to go. The record is currently 478 set last membership year. A basic SILVER membership is still just $20. Joining is simple - just click on the button marked JOIN HERE at the top of every page of the website. You can even join and donate instantly using a credit card, debit card or e-check via PayPal - all the benefits are shown on that page, as well as the various levels of membership. Or you can donate the old fashioned way, by paper check - just remember, all checks should be made out simply to STU HAMSTRA and mailed to 676A Ninth Avenue #120, New York, NY 10036.
If you haven't joined as a member yet, what are you waiting for?
HUGS
STU
If you haven't joined as a member yet, what are you waiting for?
HUGS
STU
NOMINATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED
NOMINATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR
MEMBERS' CHOICE PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR 2008
Its time for another MEMBERS' CHOICE POLL, and this time we are inviting all 2008-2009 members to nominate their choices for the best performances/performers during the past year - from December 1, 2007 through November 30th, 2008. This is an INTERNATIONAL poll - not limited to the USA - not limited to the NYC club scene. The only rules are that the performance/performer be nominated by a current member and the nominating member must have attended the show of the performer nominated. The performer nominated does not need to be a 2008-2009 member of CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE (but, of course, that would be nice).
There are only 5 categories - Female & Male Vocalist, Female & Male Debut, and Musical and/or Comedy Duo or Group. These categories may be sub-divided if we receive a large number of nominees in a certain category (i.e. Female/Male Jazz, Female/Male Major, etc.)
There is a link to the Nominations Rules page on the home (index) page of the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website, and nominations need to be entered on the nominations form to be admissible. Nominations will be accepted until midnight, December 31st - the balloting will take place in January - the winners announced in February. REMEMBER: You must be a member to nominate and vote in this poll.
The MALE & FEMALE DEBUT winners will be invited to perform at our MARCH IS CABARET MONTH show on March 10th at THE LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER.
ALL WINNERS WILL RECEIVE A FREE 2-WEEK RUN OF A SUPERSIZE BANNER ON THE CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE WEBSITE - banner must run before December 1, 2009.
More details on the website.
HUGS
STU
MEMBERS' CHOICE PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR 2008
Its time for another MEMBERS' CHOICE POLL, and this time we are inviting all 2008-2009 members to nominate their choices for the best performances/performers during the past year - from December 1, 2007 through November 30th, 2008. This is an INTERNATIONAL poll - not limited to the USA - not limited to the NYC club scene. The only rules are that the performance/performer be nominated by a current member and the nominating member must have attended the show of the performer nominated. The performer nominated does not need to be a 2008-2009 member of CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE (but, of course, that would be nice).
There are only 5 categories - Female & Male Vocalist, Female & Male Debut, and Musical and/or Comedy Duo or Group. These categories may be sub-divided if we receive a large number of nominees in a certain category (i.e. Female/Male Jazz, Female/Male Major, etc.)
There is a link to the Nominations Rules page on the home (index) page of the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website, and nominations need to be entered on the nominations form to be admissible. Nominations will be accepted until midnight, December 31st - the balloting will take place in January - the winners announced in February. REMEMBER: You must be a member to nominate and vote in this poll.
The MALE & FEMALE DEBUT winners will be invited to perform at our MARCH IS CABARET MONTH show on March 10th at THE LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER.
ALL WINNERS WILL RECEIVE A FREE 2-WEEK RUN OF A SUPERSIZE BANNER ON THE CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE WEBSITE - banner must run before December 1, 2009.
More details on the website.
HUGS
STU
CAN YOU BELIEVE?
Today's newsletter went out around 8:00 am! That's what comes from insomnia - which I have seemingly acquired in the past few weeks. But now I have a full extra day to fix the broken form on my website that is being used to nominate folks on the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE MEMBERS' CHOICE poll. About 50% of the time the nominations bounce back to the sender and this is not good. Stay tuned.
HUGS
STU
HUGS
STU
FOR YOUR THOUGHTS & PRAYERS
I just a few minutes ago got word from my sister that my brother-in-law (Roger) in Michigan (mentioned in the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE newsletter a few issues ago - diagnosed with adult hydrocephilus) will be going into the hospital for brain surgery (insertion of a shunt to relieve the pressure) on Monday, December 8th. Please join me in remembering him in your thoughts and prayers. If all goes well he should be out of the hospital in about 24 hours. I will keep you updated.
HUGS
STU
HUGS
STU
CABARET GRIDLOCK TODAY!
Talk about "jam-packed"! Today is the day when cabaret gridlock takes place here in NYC - and a 4th event has been added to the mix of "must see" shows all running between the 90-minutes of 6:00 to 7:30 pm. At 6:00 pm, in the shadow of the UNITED NATIONS building (if the sun was setting in the east and there were no other buildings in the way), cabaret will take place outdoors at TUDOR CITY GREENS PARK (enter at Tudor City Place between East 42nd and East 43rd Streets) where several major cabaret icons are performing at the complex' Tree Lighting Ceremony under the guidance of host Raissa Katonah Bennett. And across town at DON'T TELL MAMA (343 West 46th Street, NYC - 212-757-0788 ) Seth Rudetsky's BROADWAY CHATTERBOX interviewee is Broadway Composer (think ANNIE) Charles Strouse. And at 6:30 pm in the other cabaret room at MAMA'S, Grace Cosgrove's GRACE NOTES - a singers' soiree - is happening - and they are taping the show for a CD with some of the top acts in town. Meantime, downtown Jamie deRoy at THE METROPOLITAN ROOM (34 West 22nd Street, NYC - 212-206-0440) will be doing a sound check for her Jamie deRoy & friends HOLIDAY SHOW that will start at 7:30 pm! All four events are top-notch entertainment and very affordable (the tree lighting is free, and it looks like great weather with temps hitting 50 (f) today!). Details on all below. What's a cabaret lover to do?
[from today's newsletter - complete issue on the website]
[from today's newsletter - complete issue on the website]
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THIS BLOG
As soon as we get to know all the "ins & out" of this blog software, we hope to begin publishing AUDIO PODCASTS and then, much later, VIDEO podcasts. It would have been so easy with WORDPRESS but for some reason XO (my hosting service) was unable to fix a broken connection. Stay Tuned - you may see a test podcast posted here - and then may find it has been deleted - until I get it right.
HUGS
STU
HUGS
STU
WE'RE STARTING OVER
Apparently our hosting service cannot repair the damage done somehow to the WORDPRESS blog we were using on our CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE (http://www.cabarethotlineonline.com/ ) website, so in the meantime we have moved here - of maybe for all time.
Our plan (and somehow plans often seem to go awry) is to use this blog for comments, stories, ideas, thoughts and other trivia that either don't fit or aren't appropriate for our normal "HERE & THERE" column in the newsletter, as well as provide daily updates for anyone who is interested, to the news of the art and artists of cabaret around the world. You are invited to sign up for this blog and post your comments to our postings - subject to moderation.
HUGS
STU
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