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Even though it's a typical Houston summer day outside (hot, sunny and steamy), the thoughts of a band leader are already focused on the fall and winter. With our New Year's job booked, I next start thinking about the benefit and party season.

Fortunately, most of our benefits in the past have been done on weeknights, leaving the all important Saturday nights open for our wedding clients. But, my calendar (kept on a Palm system PDA) is starting to show more and more "red dots" through the season, signifying dates that have already been signed and thus blocked out.

In the old days, when most weddings were planned a year or more in advance, saying "No" to a prospective client because of date conflicts was rare indeed. Now, with the general trends towards six month planning cycles for about half of the ceremonies, conflicts have become much more common.

No band leader (and certainly none of his musicians or vocalists) wants to say that they can't do a job. But, sooner or later, it's going to happen. The best advice that I can give is, if you want a particular style of musical group for your reception, your third thought (after securing the ceremony and reception locations) should be about booking your musical group. Push comes to shove, they can only be in one place at one time, and ideally you want that place to be with you!

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