Why Beach Music People Suck.....

Pardon Us as We Commit Blasphemy Against One of the Carolinas' Biggest Traditions....

    Now, I know what you're thinking..... You're saying 'Hey Reino, this is a political blog. What does Beach Music have to do with politics?'  Well trust us - it IS a political story. It just takes a minute to get there.... But to preface here, we don't have a problem with Beach Music or Shagging in general. We like almost all kinds of music.  Like many things in life we don't like, it's not the music we hate..............it's their fans.


    Onto the story.   Since I moved to Laurinburg 2 years ago, I've purposely stayed away from politics here. But, I did feel the need to try and join some type of social groups to meet people.  I joined the local Catholic church, and I joined the Chamber of Commerce.  We have the Friday After Five during the summer months, and this year's events were pretty successful.  About ten of us work the events, and plan and book the bands.  The bands aren't cheap..... They cost between $1500-3000 this year, so booking a band that will draw is important, or the Chamber loses money.  We had four events, and two of the bands were Beach Music-type bands - The Fantastic Shakers and The Tams.  We also booked Sea Cruz, but they canceled...  Well, word came back to us that the owner of one of the local furniture stores wanted to sit with us to book a band whose leader was from Laurinburg.  I haven't seen them play, but word is the bands we had booked were better. They also were a beach band, and word was he wanted us to book all beach bands.  Herein lies the problem.....


     I've dealt with this problem before, so I already saw it coming.  Like I said, Beach Music is cool.  The problem is Beach Music Fans don't play well with others.... What this guy was proposing is we pay about $1000-2000 MORE per band, that we move it to Thursday because Beach Music people leave for the coast every weekend for the Summer, and maybe we'll have more people come.  Laurinburg is 50/50 when it comes to racial makeup, and 75% are under the age of 60,which is what these old, white and generally wealthy people are.  Yeah, they pull out their dorky son or daughter who shags.  But as a member of Chamber Committee, and lead singer in a band for 25 years, my job is to try to find bands that EVERYONE would like to see.  Not four straight Beach Bands that maybe 50 people will come see.  BTW, we charge ONE DOLLAR to attend these events.  It's a steal........


    So, meeting day comes this week, and since I have to work til 530,I show up late.  So the Furniture Man makes his pitch.......... I'll give $1000 as a sponsor of the band, but I want some say, and a kickback of some of the revenue. And as I usually do, I am watching, listening, but not talking.  Finally after hearing all sides, I do something that freaks Furniture Man out - I whisper into the ear of the lady next to me.  What did I say?   I HAVE A SOLUTION TO THIS...........


    So the meeting ends, and Furniture Man comes to me, and asks who I am.  It turns out that Furniture Man is the MAYOR OF LAURINBURG.....   As I usually do, I make enemies without even trying!  He may think that, but I'm a compromiser, and like I said, I had a solution:  book the band for the July gig that didn't make much money, give them Thursday and book the rest for Friday, and give them $1000 bucks less for playing on an off-night.  If they don't like it, screw 'em. As for the Mayor, tell him to keep his $1000 - we got this one.  Everyone gets a little of what they want, and Laurinburg After Five doesn't become the Summer Shag Series.  Trust me, being in a band for so long, I know that I have to play songs I don't like. But open social events require it. 


    My advice to the Shag People is to continue to go to your rotation of clubs like Grateful Dead fans.  I'd like to see MUSE or Pearl Jam play Laurinburg. I'm sure we'd draw a ton of out of town people, the hotels would book out, and the Chamber would be flush with cash.  But, I live in an integrated community of varying age groups.  We're trying to keep blacks and even young people happy.  But from what I've ever seen, Beach Music people are self-centered, pushy, and obnoxious.  My world revolves around people other than myself, which is why I'm a good public servant........... and some aren't.

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