Yesterday I stopped in at the Northbridge Festival and was listening to a pretty good brass outfit when Milton Quackenbush’s mother tapped me on the shoulder. She had seen me taking notes (I was working, so sue me) and asked me if I had written down the name of the band. I think she may have mistaken me for a music critic. I have the word “critic” written all over me.
She went on to explain that her son was a jazz musician who played at the nearby New Orleans restaurant. Oh, I must have heard him last night I said; I ate there for the first time (it’s good). “No”, she corrected me, “he plays there Fridays and does solo piano there on Sunday. Here’s his business card”.
Now I’ve got a reason to go back to the New Orleans. Milton has a MySpace account but it doesn’t press a business card into your hand. Remember that the web remains a passive medium. Mother marketing is active.
And the name of the brass ensemble? I can’t tell you. They didn’t make it on to the program and like almost every other live band I’ve seen lately, they didn’t put a sign out front with their name on it. Falls short of even passive advertising.
