7/18/2008, Sweden, NY. 32 miles. Grass. Hot humid.
This is the second town in the last week or so where I wonder if the booker might not have helped us out by suggesting that we bill the date under a different name? Southwood, NY was literally two miles from the edge of Syracuse. KM has played there successful several times, but returning back to back years proved disappointed. Had the date been billed as “Syracuse” with the bill posters working the south side of Syracuse and the sponsors seeking ticker outlets in Syracuse, I wonder if we might not have done a bit more business? For example, the San Francisco “Cow Palace” is actually in Daly City, in San Mateo County, however events taking place there are routinely called “San Francisco” dates. In the case of Southwood it might have made for more work for the bill posters, but several very small communities later in the week would have evened that out. Similarly Sweden. Sweden it turns out isn’t a community at all, it’s the name of a township. The nearest sizable community is the college town of Brockport right next door. Billing the date as Brockport – a well known place – might have allowed the show to better bill both Brockport and the west side of Rochester – where everybody knows where Brockport is, but few would have any idea where Sweden is. It seems to me that these are the kind of issues that aise too frequnetly as many shows when the booker really needs to provide more information so that marketing can better sell the circus.
This is the second town in the last week or so where I wonder if the booker might not have helped us out by suggesting that we bill the date under a different name? Southwood, NY was literally two miles from the edge of Syracuse. KM has played there successful several times, but returning back to back years proved disappointed. Had the date been billed as “Syracuse” with the bill posters working the south side of Syracuse and the sponsors seeking ticker outlets in Syracuse, I wonder if we might not have done a bit more business? For example, the San Francisco “Cow Palace” is actually in Daly City, in San Mateo County, however events taking place there are routinely called “San Francisco” dates. In the case of Southwood it might have made for more work for the bill posters, but several very small communities later in the week would have evened that out. Similarly Sweden. Sweden it turns out isn’t a community at all, it’s the name of a township. The nearest sizable community is the college town of Brockport right next door. Billing the date as Brockport – a well known place – might have allowed the show to better bill both Brockport and the west side of Rochester – where everybody knows where Brockport is, but few would have any idea where Sweden is. It seems to me that these are the kind of issues that aise too frequnetly as many shows when the booker really needs to provide more information so that marketing can better sell the circus.
