Music Before the Money

In Victorian England the word “pub” was short for “public house.” In small towns the pub, alongside the church, was a meeting place and there were even a few hangings from the beams. In other words the pub was “public.”

The MC of the pub was called a “publican.” He knew everyone in the pub and welcomed strangers into the midst. The publican was part of the entertainment because he was either a storyteller or encouraged patrons to tell tales.

If you go into traditional British pubs in this country you’ll rarely see a publican anymore, because a publican can be a bar manager but vice versa is not the rule. In fact these days many bar managers so are so busy they rarely get the chance to meet new people and a lot of them never acquire the people skills for the job.

This is where live entertainment used to fill the gap. And for about 25 years it worked. A good band made up for the management and staff lacking interpersonal action to maintain good customers. However, bands and other music forms were not enough to draw the crowd. They could hold most of whomever came in but there was something lacking. It’s not what was missing, it was what was added: video lottery termnals and large screens.

Yes, many of the bars you go into these days have multi-media diarrhea going on. Along with blasting canned music there are the electronic sounds of people losing their money on machines that never let them win and 10 screens showing sports that maybe 15% of the customers want to see.

So, last weekend I had the gall to approach a manager in one of these establishments and ask if he could shut off one of the big screens, the one beside the group, because it was distracting. Your see, even though I didn’t ant to watch the screen my eyes were drawn to it every now and then.

To make a long story short the manager ignored my request. I trained myself to ignore the big screen and the night was very pleasurable.

But anyway, that’s the way it is these days. Because, the reason people aren’t flocking to these places anymore has more to do with the atmosphere than what band is playing or how much the booze costs. And this takes experience and a knack for attracting a client base.

But in almost every case they’ll blame the high cost of live entertainment.

“Only a go-go girl in love with someone who didn’t care
Only twenty-one, she was a young girl just in from somewhere.”

Go Go Round - Gordon Lightfoot

If you watched Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, one od the prominent 1960’s features, along with paisley and his stereotypically-English bad teeth, is Elizabeth Hurley’s “Go-Go boots.”

Go-Go boots were a low-heeled style of women’s fashion boot made popular in the mid-sixties when short skirts and shorter dresses began pushing the fashion world to focus on the female leg. It is said, but not proven, that the term “go-go” refers to the fact that they were often seen on and associated with dancers at discotheques such as L.A.’s Whisky a Go Go. The “Go-Go Girls” were sometimes suspended in cages in the air to each side of the stage and were known for their jump style of dancing.

The designer, André Courrèges, is given credit for the Go-Go boot which was a low-heeled, calf-high boot made of white plastic with a clear cut-out slot near the top. However, this is just a rumor.

From Lightfoot to The Go-Go’s

One of my favorite songs in the late ’60’s was Go Go Round by Gordon Lightfoot which gave his account of the futility of a dancer in a club falling for a musician. (Personally, I’m glad that this way of thinking never caught on!)

Then Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 number-one hit These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ helped solidify the boot and the girls who wore them into pop culture. Her picture on the album cover sold more records than the music! As well, Space Age boots worn by a pre-Vietnam-ranting Jane Fonda in 1968’s science fiction film Barbarella made her a sex symbol a couple of years before she jumped into an anti-aircraft battery in Hanoi.

However, even when hemlines dropped the boots carried on in one form or another. Stevie Nicks was famous for them in her “Gypsy” look as was Ann Wilson of Heart.

And the Go-Go’s named their band after the style that shook the ’60’s. So, I think the boots will outlive the legend.

There are many thousands who make more than a bit of coin by buying and selling stuff on eBay. And almost all of these online merchants will have already heard that eBay Inc. is messing with its charges again. Many of these sellers say it is out of greed. That is, they  are of the opinion that the big auction house is afraid of the rising competition and wants to retain total control over the online auction trade.

When all the dust settles on February 20th the changes will be in place but only skilled users can understand them.

Good News:

1) It will cost sellers 25% less to list an item for auction.

2) eBay is also offering up to 1/2 price for fees to list fixed price items.

3) As well, the commission on fixed-priced items over $100 will also be less.

The commission on items selling on the auction block for more than $1,000 will remain at 1 1/2% however its commission on cheaper items will rise as much as 67%.

The Way We Were

Let’s say you put a up a computer part for auction and it sold for $25. Before the change sets in this would cost you $1.91 which includes 60 cents for listing the part plus eBay’s commission of $1.31.

Now

You would now pay $2.74 for the same deal: 55 cents to list the item + a higher commission of $2.19.

This may not mean a lot to most of us who sell the odd old LP or box of 8-track tapes. However, there are quite a few merchants and part-timers who make a large part of their living from listing their wares on eBay.

eBay’s intentions are this:

It states in a recent report that these changes will make the world’s biggest auction site more “buyer” friendly. In other words eBay plans to make it cheaper to list items, charging more for items that are sold. In addition it will tie discounts more closely to the ratings sellers receive from buyers.

The company also plans to raise its minimum standards and reward sellers who meet or exceed them, a move that it says will discourage excessive shipping fees or doing a poor job of describing the item. Many music stores run a great trade selling both old and new gear on eBay. For many sellers and resellers it is truly their lifeblood and these rewards will not bridge the gap left by an increase in fees.

Andrew Sloss, Canada’s eBay manager said in a recent interview, “In Canada, some 5,000 sellers are considered Power Sellers, while 33,000 Canadians make some or all of their living from the auction site.”

Are you one of these sellers in any country? What do you think?