Marathon Jam
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FAQs1. How do
I start a Marathon Jam?
1. HOW DO I START UP A MARATHON JAM? Well you’re talking to us, and that’s a good start! Just keep reading and if you still want to DO this crazy thing, start calling your friends and just about every musician you know and see if THEY have the passion for it. If they do, find a place to play (see below) and then start getting in touch with the media! But the best way to START is to send out some emails and ask your friends to pass that email along and you will be AMAZED how many people you can reach that way! 2. DO WE HAVE TO PLAY FOR THE FISHER HOUSE CHARITY? There are many worthy organizations that need support and certainly everyone should be able to choose who to support. That being said, The Marathon Jam's goal is to raise funds for The Fisher House. You may send the funds you raise to be used at the Ft. Bragg North Carolina Fisher House (they’ve gotten donations from as far away as Tucson, Arizona and Baghdad, Iraq!!) OR give to the Fisher House near YOU. And of course, you can always send the money to Fisher House National. That being said, we do have a couple of groups playing that are donating their funds raised to their local VA Hospital as they do not have a Fisher House in their area, which is fine, but we do ask that you clear that with us prior to the event. 3. HOW DO WE GET THE MONEY TO FISHER HOUSE? If you know which location you're playing for, have folks make out their checks to the Minneapolis, or Richmond or Ft. Bragg (or whatever) Fisher House and then take or send the checks there. You WILL get cash donations too, so just take the cash to the bank and have them make out a cashiers check to the House and send it along! HOWEVER: We HIGHLY recommend you GO to the Fisher House cause once you see what Fisher House does first hand, well, like us; you’ll be organizing Marathon Jams every year! You will be amazed at how MUCH they will appreciate what you have done whether you bring in twenty, two hundred or two thousand dollars!! We like the fact this is a true grass roots movement and thus is all about PEOPLE. If you provide pledge forms, those people who want to help will not only come out and play, but they will harass their friends to sponsor them in the same way folks get sponsors for running for biking events. You can go to corporate donors as well and we recommend asking restaurants to donate food and be sure to ask all the players if any of the companies they work for have in kind matching donation programs. That is a GREAT way to turn a hundred dollar donation into a TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR gift to the Fisher House! John Santa here: I usually try to get four people to sponsor me at ten dollars an hour. I then make sure I play twelve and a half hours. At ten bucks per hour, that is $125 per person. Times FOUR is a fast FIVE HUNDRED BUCKS! 5. ARE DONATIONS TAX DEDUCTIBLE? They sure are! And while that is NOT important to some people, it so to others so we make sure to put that on all our pledge forms. (Click on PLEDGE FORMS to see examples or download forms you can use.) 6. DO WE CHARGE PEOPLE TO GET IN? Well, we don’t but you can handle that as you see fit. We DO however, put a big ol’ jar out by the door and let people know it’s a GREAT idea to throw some cash or a check in there. This works out well for a number of reasons, not the least of which is sometimes people hear about the event and wander in and don’t know any of the musicians and didn’t sponsor any and are thus able to go ahead and make a donation. At the end of the night, we have found hundred dollar bills and checks for SEVERAL hundred dollars in the contribution jar. 7. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO WE PLAY? Here in Chapel Hill we are blessed with musicians who can (and will!) play a wide variety of music, so pretty much everything is welcome. I just can’t say this enough: WE GET PAID TO PLAY so if somebody shows up and wants to do jazz well, we play jazz! If they wanna do classical, we do our best to keep up cause we try to not run ANYONE off who wants to help! HOWEVER, you can certainly feel free to restrict the music for YOUR Jam and stay within your comfort zone, so do just do what you like, but be prepared to keep an open mind cause you never know if a soldier is gonna show up and sing or some folks will want to do gospel or blues or whatever and often that can be a great thing for the Jam, the players and the spectators! John Santa here: Try to keep in mind the Jam can be a very emotional thing for the participants and some people will have very direct ties to soldiers and very personal reasons for supporting us and wanting to be there. One of the great musical moments of my life was in 2009 when a young kid came in and stayed WAY in the back playing a banjo. His dad came up and whispered in my ear and said his son was brand new on the banjo but really wanted to lead just one song so he could tell his brother (who was stationed in Baghdad) he had helped to raise money in honor of his big brother. Needless to say I called on that young man and he played what was probably the slowest bluegrass banjo version of “Sitting On Top Of The World” I have ever heard or played before or since. It was also one of the most MOVING and emotional moments of our jam last year because everybody knew WHY he was playing and what it meant and how much he was struggling just to keep that song going cause he was so new to picking. A great, great moment, and one I wish for all of you team captains! 8. HOW DO WE KEEP EVERYBODY THERE FOR TWELVE HOURS???? In Chapel Hill we do a potluck! We ask players and spectators to bring some chow, but either way: You gotta get folks to bring food and drinks if you expect them to stay put for twelve hours! Don’t give them ANY excuse (like getting hungry) to leave! Spectators will come and go and our experience is there won’t be many players left at the end of the evening but you HAVE to plan for them to be there so provide everything you can to make it easy for folks to stay. Over the years we have gathered many restaurants who provide food on a regular basis so you might try asking around in the neighborhood! (And this is a great chance to thank Jimmy Stubbs owner/operator of Allen And Sons Bar B Que of Pittsboro, NC for his MANY years of faithful and delicious donations!) Sure, as long as they understand if they play, everyone will be playing WITH them! We get paid to play people, not just sit around and listen! If a band has a problem with that, well, they might wanna consider another venue. 10. HOW DO YOU RUN THE CIRCLE? Well, for good or ill, there needs to be a designated Music Nazi! That is, someone who will keep things hopping and act as host! The Music Nazi’s job is to KEEP IT MOVING and remind the players to watch their dynamics and referee spats and egos and introduce local celebrities who might show up and also deal with the press and interviews etc., so it’s a good idea to have an assistant to keep the circle going if the MN is off doing press! (Or when they need bathroom breaks!!) In North Carolina, we 1.) Don’t allow electric instruments, only acoustic instruments. We do this because we don’t want to get into volume wars and we don’t want the hassle of a PA system and feedback etc. PLUS: This is NOT a performance. It's an endurance test! 2.) We sit in a big circle with music stands and everybody brings lyrics and charts etc. because it’s gonna be a LONG day and you can’t trust yourself to remember all the lyrics and chords for every song you know, or a least I can’t! (The RDU Session players have been playing so long we have a HUGE book of tunes at our disposal and virtually everyone has a copy made so we are often all literally on the same page! (Go to the RDU Session Players web site and click on LYRICS if you want to download some tunes.) So it’s good to maybe pass out copies of a song you want to play but the main thing is to have it set up so the person next in the circle ALREADY HAS A SONG IN THEIR HEAD AND ARE READY TO GO when the current song is finished. CAN’T SAY THIS ENOUGH: We get paid to PLAY, not sit around trying to decide what to play next! Keep it moving!!! ALSO: Don’t be shy about passing out breaks!! For one thing we have a LOTTA time to fill so making each song twenty minutes long ain't a BAD thing and hey, it IS called the MARATHON JAM, right?? Besides, people come to HELP and offer their SUPPORT. Giving them a chance to sing is great for the singers, but remember you’ll have some non-singers there too so offer them a chance to take a break and hey all you Music Nazis out there: make sure the pickers back off on the rhythm so folks can HEAR those breaks! You never know when somebody is playing for fun or if they’re playing in memory of someone they LOST so make each player feel special, cause, well they ARE! 3.) We invite the spectators to sit around us and yes sometimes the Music Nazi has to ask them to be quiet, but really, we have found the audiences to be VERY respectful and really enjoy the chance to be close to the players and they seem to understand the whole acoustic dynamic. We have had GREAT luck with American Legion and VFW halls. They generally are so into the concept they will donate the halls to you, and if they don’t donate, send me some contact info and I will shame them into donating it! It is VERY important you be able to go to the media and say 12. ARE THERE ANY ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS? EVERY SINGLE PENNY RAISED WILL GO TO THE FAMILIES OF SOLDIERS. We try as much as possible to have NO operating expenses or pay for them out of pocket and NOT from the donations. (But just cause we do that doesn’t mean you have to.) 13. DO WE HAVE SEVERAL CIRCLES GOING AT ONCE? Well you CAN but boy I sure don’t recommend it!! REMEMBER: yer gonna be here for TWELVE HOURS!! Stagger some of the people or find out who can be there when and REALLY try to get a couple of dynamic, outgoing singer/players to come in for the last three or four hours cause you are gonna be BEAT and it is GREAT to have some ringers show up to help carry the group across the finish line!! In fact while we bestow the coveted Iron Picker award to those who play the entire twelve hours (see below), we are also considering adding an award for those courageous souls who come in at the midnight hour and help carry the team to victory! 14. HOW DO I PUBLICIZE THE EVENT? As team leader it’s gonna fall to YOU to call the TV, press and radio folks and get out there and TALK THIS THING UP! Go to the Fisher House web site and familiarize yourself with who they are and what they do. Practice telling that in a short, concise manner. (Think ten second SOUND BITES for the press and TV!) But really, if you just get out there and speak from the heart, you’ll be FINE! Hopefully since you’re a player you’re used to being in front of people and cameras so the press part won’t be so tough. Feel free to contact Whit Kenney for additional ideas on how to get the word out. 15. HOW DO I GET THE MEDIA INTERESTED? The great thing about the Marathon Jam is it just seems to sell itself. We have used our media contacts from the sale of John’s book and EIGHTwentythree’s performances to help, but really if you just call your local newspaper or send an email to one of the reporters, the rest should happen pretty easily! Now there ARE some where you will have to bang down the door, but most press really WANTS to know what’s going on and they LOVE a good story! The other thing you need to know is, for good or ill, a lot of press people are very busy so make sure you write a GOOD press release about your event. Again, feel free to contact Whit Kenney for some ideas on this. 16. HOW DO I WRITE A GOOD PRESS RELEASE? Give all the vital information in the first couple of lines, e.g., there will be a (bluegrass/blues/jazz/all styles) marathon music jam on February 27, from noon to midnight at such and such location and all the money will be donated to the Fisher House charities. Then explain BRIEFLY what Fisher House does (and include a web site) and in the next sentence explain the event is part of a national grass roots effort called the Marathon Jam. Then mention any local support or celebrities who might be involved. In other words, give all the IMPORTANT details you need to know FIRST and BREIFLY, then fill in the story with more information and details the more you write. The idea is, if you’re interested you’ll keep reading, but if you‘re not, or if you’re in a hurry, you’ll have everything you need to know in the first (short) paragraph. If you’re lucky, the media will run the press release just as you wrote it which is in a way kinda cool cause YOU get to control the message. If you’re VERY lucky, they’ll call and do an interview and then re-write the press release with quotes from you etc. and maybe even ask for a photo op. IMPORTANT: No matter how shy you are NEVER TURN DOWN A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY!!! Even if you just go over and stand in the middle of the American Legion Hall pointing at nothing (been there, done that!) with the Commander, if that picture runs, more people will read about it! It's also a great chance to thank some local businesses. In 2009, John met with the Commander of the Chapel Hill American Legion (who spearheaded the donation of their facility) at a local music store, the Music Loft of Carrboro, NC, (See how I snuck that in there???) because Jim Dennis, the owner has been a great supporter (and participant) of the Marathon Jam over the years and the photo that eventually ran in the Chapel Hill News was TERRIFFIC! All of us standing in front of a line of guitars pointing at a piece of paper that had nothing to do with anything per se, but boy that photo got a LOT of attention and helped get people in the door, so don’t be shy about getting out there! And it’s ok to get your name or your band’s name or whatever in the paper. REMEMBER: As Ben Franklin said, “It’s okay to do good while doing good!” 17. IS IT HARD TO PLAY FOR TWELVE HOURS STRAIGHT? Yeah boy is it ever! However that pain is mitigated by 1.) The joy you will get when you see people showing up and helping out and playing for a great cause and 2.) When somebody younger than you drops out cause they just can’t take it any more. (Try to be gracious.) 18. WHY IS A BLUEGRASS IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE MENTIONED SO MUCH?? John Santa here again: When we started playing for Fisher House, Whit Kenney and I used the publicity we had gained from the release of my book Bluegrass Is My Second Language to help publicize the Marathon Jam. This year, the band I play in, EIGHTwentythree, is holding the release of our new CD, The Blessing Of The Strings, until the Marathon Jam to also help further publicity for the event. It is my fondest hope the Marathon Jam one day gets bigger than any of my individual endeavors, but until that day I will use every means at my disposal to bring the mission of the Fisher House into the consciousness of everyone in this country. (Proceeds from the sale of my book and EIGHTwentythree’s CD go to support Fisher House.) 19. WHAT THE HECK IS AN IRON PICKER AND HOW DO I GET TO BE ONE? We wanted a way to acknowledge the folks who play the entire twelve hours so we came up with the term Iron Picker which we ALWAYS put in the Comic San MS font for no apparent reason other than it makes it stand out and it looks cool. The terms of becoming an Iron Picker are very well defined. You can’t just hang around and talk, you have to actually sing or play. We allow a fifteen minute break every two hours, but that is not CUMULATIVE, i.e., you can’t play for six hours straight and then take a forty-five minute break. If you chose to play through your break time, you have to wait two hours for your NEXT break to be called an Iron Picker. It is not unusual to have ten or fifteen people start the day expecting to become Iron Pickers. It is also not unusual to END the day with only three or four who make the grade. We will be posting the list of Chapel Hill Iron Pickers on our web site and if the team captains from around the country send in the names of folks in their jams who attain that coveted title, we will be VERY happy to post their name (and picture if you send us one!!) as well. Good luck! TIPS: 2.) Take some aspirin to reduce swelling around hour six to eight. Repeat every four hours for the rest of the night and take some more before you go to sleep. 3.) Bring some (non-scented please) Bengay or Aspircreme to put on your hands/fore arms. 4.) If you play multiple instruments, SWITCH out regularly. That will help reduce any carpel tunnel type strain. 5.) Put down your axe and sing a few songs and rest your hands periodically. And yes, if you’re a singer, if you stay in the circle and sing the whole twelve hours, you too can win the coveted title of IRON PICKER!! |
Bluegrass Is My Second Language
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