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Re: A Band of Great Britain.

To: Nigel Horne <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: A Band of Great Britain.
From: "Bill Walker" <Walker@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 12:35:19 -0800
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It's hard to disagree with anything that has been said up to date and
while I know little of British Lotteries and politics, I do have a few
random but somewhat fractured thoughts.
In my province of British Columbia (a province is somewhat like an
American or Australian state) we have lotteries that are given a licence
to operate by the provincial government. In one town close to where I
live there has been a scandal due to the fact that the government has
given a licence to certain charities provided those charities pay back a
large percentage of the profits (under the table) to the ruling
political party.
The practice was once called GRAFT!
How do your lotteries operate and do you have to be a member of the
right crowd to get anything?
Our Federal government is in trouble over losing (or not being able to
account for) a Billion dollars which was supposed to be used for
employment programmes which doubtless went to friends of the government.

David Williams story about hundreds of millions of pounds of lottery
money going to fix up an old steel mill as a museum had me asking
questions.
1. Who's idea was it and who is doing the work?
2. Do you suppose there were many "sweetheart deals" being worked out
in  the back rooms and is it really what the public wants done with
their money?
Projects like that remind me of the building of the pyramids: lot's of
work and expenses to cater the vanity of a few.
When in the final analysis all that was achieved was a pile of rocks of
no real value to those who paid for it!
Perhaps what is needed is to share the money around so that many groups
benefit.
However, it seems to me that bands must either legitimize themselves in
the eyes of the public and then present themselves as worthy
beneficiaries of lottery funds. Or go it alone and pay their own way by
charging members a fee as many bands (including my band) do.
Since there are not many musical groups in this area that we are
interested in my wife and I support the local symphony and a couple of
choirs. However, the symphony may lose my support because their last two
performances contained some of the most wretched sounds I have ever
heard and I love classical music!
It has been said that over 90% of the public think classical music is
garbage and our local symphony is trying to bring that figure up to
100%!
What am I saying?
I am saying that if bands and orchestras wish to survive they must give
the folks what they want or join the penurious elite. There is some
wonderful modern music which should be exploited  and it is appealing to
all ages and bands had better start using more of it. And don't
underestimate the traditional stuff either because there is nothing
quite so wonderful as a good foot stomping march or the vision of the
"Lone Ranger" taking off in a cloud of dust,  accompanied by the William
Tell Overture.
Unfortunately, you the bands must help remedy the situation by starting
to get involved in the politics of lottery grants and getting the public
behind you.
You have my support, unfortunately I am an old cynic but surely there
are still a few smart people around?
BillW


--

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