2001 Mid-Winter Blues Odyssey
Commentary and Financial Statement
Not all successes can be measured in terms of financial gains or losses. I consider the 2001 Mid-Winter Blues Odyssey to have been a success.
The weather was perfect, although a little cold. But rather cold than fog or a soggy parking lot with slush and mud. The band was excellent - as usual. The crowd was great. So many friends and good natured people.. What a great group of folks!!! Some people I hadn't seen for days and others, for decades... I had people who were not even going to be able to attend give as much as $50 and another from Wyoming (who has no idea who the benefit was for) send me $15. How wonderful that people are so willing to give. A number of people gave double the $5 cover charge.
On a sad note, there were a great many people who left early and missed the third set, which began as a small jam session. It featured Dave Fox and a fellow from Aurora (whose name escapes me - I apologize) on harmonica, Mark Van Oudt on saxophone, Al Sunken on guitar, Kenny Ladenburger on drums and Debbie Martin on flute and vocals along with the Say Uncle band - Steve Westerman, Mike Denny, Steve Burris, Dave Westerman, Darrell Gingerich and Dique Verucchi. This alone was well worth the price of admission.
The door take was $1105, which means that at $5 each there were 221 in attendance. However, there were a number of people who gave more than $5 each, so attendance was more like 210 in actuality. There also were three donations totaling $75 for a grand total of $1180.
Total expenses were $1195. So in summation, the total income and proceeds to go to the benefit were $15 to the negative. Or we were $15 short of breaking even.
And that is okay.
While it is a bit disheartening to have worked on something for months putting it together and then to end up losing money, it was not - in the least - unexpected. Actually, the band would have taken less to help out, but I had agreed to pay them a certain amount, so I did. It would have been nice to have taken in a bunch of money for our benefit, but the main concern has always been (and always will be) to supply excellent music and a good time. I think we did that. Anything more than that is gravy as they say. If you look back at previous Mid-Winter Blues parties, even the best years only netted around $600 and that was without paying a band. So when you add a paid band into the mix, it pretty much eats up the profit end of things.
But like I said...
All of that is fine. I will gladly pay $15 to have had as much fun and see as many good friends, and get all the hugs and handshakes that I did last night. Using a popular commercial's dialog -
Hall rental and band charge: $900
Display ads and pre-ad business cards: $295
Seeing your friends having a great time: Priceless
I'd do it again next year. As a matter of fact, it is already scheduled for January 19th, 2002. I am not sure what the music will be, but we will probably have something, so mark your calendars.
To everyone who attended or donated to this year's party, I wish you a very fond "Thank you". Your support and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated.
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Read about the history of the Mid-Winter Blues Jam series 1994 - 1999
Comments or questions??
E-mail me: info2001@randyray.net
(this page updated February 13, 2001)