{"items": [{"author": "Lonhar", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754696215612", "anchor": "fb-754696215612", "service": "fb", "text": "Regarding getting more data, have you checked with Ted Crane to see if you can get raw access to his data? http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB/", "timestamp": "1445913712"}, {"author": "Lonhar", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754696265512", "anchor": "fb-754696265512", "service": "fb", "text": "Also, Greg's database, http://www.thedancegypsy.com might be worth asking about.", "timestamp": "1445913765"}, {"author": "Lonhar", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754696330382", "anchor": "fb-754696330382", "service": "fb", "text": "There is some data about dances on MusicBrainz, but it's still pretty patchy (particularly about festivals): https://musicbrainz.org/tag/contra", "timestamp": "1445913841"}, {"author": "Lonhar", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754700297432", "anchor": "fb-754700297432", "service": "fb", "text": "Regarding getting more data, have you checked with Ted Crane to see if you can get raw access to his data? http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB/", "timestamp": "1445917971"}, {"author": "Danner", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754742927002", "anchor": "fb-754742927002", "service": "fb", "text": "The statistic stands, but I feel like the solo vs group thing is relevant here. Callers don't often reconfigure or change names.", "timestamp": "1445950373"}, {"author": "Dana", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754790925812", "anchor": "fb-754790925812", "service": "fb", "text": "As a booker, I can tell you that there are way more bands out there than callers. Hence the increased asks for the latter.", "timestamp": "1445984049"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754790925812&reply_comment_id=754805082442", "anchor": "fb-754790925812_754805082442", "service": "fb", "text": "→ Huh. I wouldn't have guessed that.", "timestamp": "1445992691"}, {"author": "Dana", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754790925812&reply_comment_id=754811489602", "anchor": "fb-754790925812_754811489602", "service": "fb", "text": "→ I'm not sure how the numbers change when you take into account that many musicians play in multiple bands, but I would estimate that there are still more musicians than callers out there.", "timestamp": "1445997702"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754790925812&reply_comment_id=754843350752", "anchor": "fb-754790925812_754843350752", "service": "fb", "text": "→ @Dana: And also taking into account that each band has multiple musicians. (There being more musicians than callers otherwise isn't surprising.)", "timestamp": "1446033108"}, {"author": "Dana", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754790925812&reply_comment_id=754846998442", "anchor": "fb-754790925812_754846998442", "service": "fb", "text": "→ That too.", "timestamp": "1446037720"}, {"author": "Dana", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/754692473112?comment_id=754790925812&reply_comment_id=754847382672", "anchor": "fb-754790925812_754847382672", "service": "fb", "text": "→ As an example, for 2015 in Montpelier, we have 15 different callers and 22 different bands booked for 27 dances.", "timestamp": "1446038014"}, {"author": "Lex", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111102660583646544610", "anchor": "gp-1446065660902", "service": "gp", "text": "I had the same impression as one of the commenters on your main blog site--there seem to be more bands rotating through than callers.\n
\n
\nIt's just a special thing being able and willing to call a contra dance.", "timestamp": 1446065660}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/103013777355236494008", "anchor": "gp-1446135921878", "service": "gp", "text": "@Lex\n\u00a0I'd go the other way: a dancer can become a caller with less work than they can become a musician, but more people enjoy playing for dances than calling.", "timestamp": 1446135921}, {"author": "Lex", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/111102660583646544610", "anchor": "gp-1446140137806", "service": "gp", "text": "Yeah, that's the \"willing\" part. Becoming a musician from complete scratch takes... well more than a year. \u00a0Becoming a caller takes less than a year, even if you are especially dedicated and try do extra things like learn how to repair various kinds of blob-o-failure that can emerge at the end of a line. Even so, I'm not psyched about getting into calling myself. I'm just very glad other people seem to dig it.", "timestamp": 1446140137}]}