Mary, it's not about the money,
it's about the music and the people.
I can do the work - I've been doing
it for the last 3+ years. What I'd
like is new ideas, enthusiasm, and
new leadership to nurture for the
years to come. That isn't a commodity
that you can outsource to the lowest
bidder.

Now the musicians. Granted, some we
get have good-paying full-time jobs
and don't need the extra money, but
a little money is a nice way of saying
thanks, we appreciate you.

Other musicians we have booked are
professionals, trying to make a living
with something they love to do. They've
given up the full-time other job for
just getting by, because of the music.
They deserve all of that money from the
tip jar. I can't in good conscience take
some of that money from them to pay others
for things we can do for free. We get
the venue for free, the venue also promotes
us for free, I can always get people from
the audience to help stack chairs after
the concert, etc. It is the ideas,
enthusiasm and volunteer giving that we'd
like to get, and money doesn't buy that.

There's no middleman, no subcontractors,
no profit-takers. It's just the audience,
the musicians and the music - it's that simple.
And it's open to everyone. But we can't
expect the musicians to do this for little
or nothing, especially those who need to
eke out a living from their music.

Cheers, S. in Seattle