[UPSTROKE]

Beautiful story givemethebeat. You obviously handled it in just the right way. You have to be a great teacher.
Churchdrummer, thank you for your input. It's kind of sad to hear how you have to compete for gigs there. I imagine every town around the World has their own unique set of problems in the music business. What I'm trying to get launched here is not providing jobs for every one. Just a place to get together.

The big chains were the first ones I mentioned because they could do it Nationally. Places like Guitar Center, American Music, etc. make space for theirCorporate sponsored greatest guitar player contest, their National Drum-off and other National events. To me it just seems a logical conclusion to put the selling of instruments together with the people that play them. If you sell the musician his instrument and then provide a place one night a week to play with other musicians, I would think you would own that musicians business loyalty and the business of his musician friends. That does not sound like a bad business deal to me. The same rule would certainly apply to local music stores. A great way to take some of the business away from the big guys.

A second step would be to have Guitar clinics one night, Drum clinics one night, Keyboard clinics, vocal lessons, Group nights where proper performance techniques are discussed. How to present a proper show, how to work the audience. On an On. All of these projects bring the music dealer much closer to the music customer. A new way of doing business in the music industry?? Yes. But the building industry has been doing it all over the country for years. Their corporate offices would not continue to hold this type of event if it did not make their bottom line look better.