Jamestown: Vote With Your Feet

2007 Official Guide
Mike Salamone posted some good thoughts about the upcoming Chautauqua Region WORD's Local Music Showcase. Here it is re-copied for your benefit:

Jamestown: Vote With Your Feet

My friend Todd Thomas said something recently about the WORD's upcoming Local Music Showcase which really got me thinking. He said the event was an excellent way for people to vote with their feet and their wallets on what type of Jamestown they would like to see.

It wasn't long ago that artists and musicians came out in numbers to a City Council Public Safety Committee Meeting to show their overwhelming support for downtown events, after a few naysayers began trying to shut such events down. Though this is the fourth annual CR WORD Local Music Showcase, it is only the second year in Jamestown. Frankly, last year only the Friday and Saturday night events and Sunday awards show were well attended. The free concerts were not.

I tend to think of the event primarily as a way to market the area's immense music scene in one package. That was the goal of the event when I started working on it. It then also became a fundraiser for some deserving kids. Last year we finally added the recognition piece to the weekend with the Chautauqua County Music Awards and Hall of Fame, which was something I'd wanted to do since the beginning. (We had moved up the first LMS a full year to try and help Infinity and I decided not to bite too much off in that first year.)

--But Todd got me thinking about the event in a bigger picture. It's not the marketing of the music scene I hoped for, or even the fundraiser for Infinity it became, as much as it is a gathering of people to support live music. Think about it. If the demand is shown by people coming to the free concerts on the streets Friday and Saturday, a clear message will be shown that live music in the streets is supported. Of course, if there is excellent attendance at the evening shows again this year, this hopefully encourages downtown businesses to book musicians on a regular basis.

The Chautauqua Region WORD's Local Music Showcase is indeed an excellent way for people to transform their setting. By attending as many of the events as possible, you can help voice the type of music enhanced community you want to belong to. Besides, it's rather inexpensive. Even if you went to only the paid events and none of the many free events, the most you'd spend on admission is $20 for the entire weekend.

I hope to see those of you who can make it at our fourth annual LMS. Full details are available at http://www.3thick.com/LMS.