Smitty: Yes. Now tell me again, how many years has Scullers been there?
DAS: This is our 18th year.
Smitty: Wow, that’s incredible.
DAS: It’s amazing.
Smitty: Yes, it is. Now, I just know you and Fred and the rest of your team are cooking up something really cool for the 20th year, I just know. (Laughs.)
DAS: We are. You know, I wish I could tell you, but I can’t because we don’t have it all sealed up.
Smitty: I totally understand.
DAS: But hopefully, hopefully we’ll be able to announce it maybe by the end of this year.
Smitty: Yeah. Oh, that’ll be fantastic.
DAS: Interesting stuff happening and we’re really excited about that.
Smitty: Well, I’m definitely gonna come over. (Laughs.)
DAS: I hope you do. Come on over.
Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. Now, Scullers, because of all the things that we’ve talked about and so many other things that we haven’t even mentioned yet, you have coveted some fantastic awards, this club. I mean, Boston’s #1 Jazz Club by Boston Magazine, Citysearch.com, AOL Cityguide, CBS 4 Boston. Talk about what those awards mean for you and what that does for the drive for your entire staff to continue this great tradition of doing what we love and delivering what we like.
DAS: It’s is always great to take home the awards handed out by the editorial staffs however, when the votes come in from the people of Boston, people in the suburbs, who voted us #1, that’s really special, it means so much more.
Luba Yabrov, who’s the Operations Manager here, she’s been here just about the same amount of time as I have, has really changed the dynamic of the club in terms of the way it’s serviced, the way we hire people, and the way the people who work for us feel about working here. It’s very special. Most of our staff are professionals in Boston, we have a nurse, a lawyer, a travel and a real estate agent, so this is their part-time job. After a long day at their offices they come to the club and yet you always sense everyone really wants to be here and there’s a passion for the music and audiences can sense that. Luba has always been at the forefront of keeping our staff motivated and engaged with our philosophy of service. I am so proud to work with such a great team and I know that it is Luba and our staff that really bring home those accolades.
Smitty: Yeah, so now if you were visiting in another state, another city, and someone asked you “What’s Scullers like?” What would you say? How would you describe Scullers?
DAS: Scullers is a very intimate and warm listening room with great views of the Boston skyline, a fantastic menu, superior service and hands down a roster of artists that rivals any roster in any jazz club in the world. We offer a variety of music to a variety of people and one day can be a 180 degree turn from the next in terms of our program and the clientele we serve. So it’s hard to describe because you could come here Tuesday through Saturday and every single night of the week will kind of transcend the night before.
Smitty: Yeah, I like that. That’s variety at its best!
DAS: I don’t remember ever anyone saying “I don’t think this place is for me.” If they did I would say “Try us on a different night.” We are kind of like New England weather.
Smitty: (Laughs) Oh absolutely.
DAS: If you don’t like it today, wait until tomorrow.
Smitty: Yes indeed. You gotta tell me about the dance party series.
DAS: We just had our last installment on August 1st with Spanish Harlem Orchestra and this was something that over the years people were adamant about. “We wanna dance!” Finally under the mounting emails and calls we said we’d give it a try. We are a 200-seater club and it’s a tight space, but we’re lucky enough to have a ballroom adjacent to us, so we opened up the double doors, took our club furniture out, and set up two dance floors. It’s less formal than what we do normally, there are no reserved seats nor food service in the club. We’ve featured some of the hottest salsa/meringue groups on the planet such as Tito Puente Jr. Orchestra, Miami based, Tiempo Libre, and The Spanish Harlem Orchestra the true ambassadors of the New York salsa scene.
Smitty: Nice!
DAS: Three hours of just everyone dancing like crazy and having a good time, it’s a lot of fun.
Smitty: I think that’s a beautiful thing when you can be so versatile and eclectic and accommodate so many different people and different styles, and it’s all geared toward everyone having a great time and a memorable experience at Scullers.
DAS: Yeah, again, that concept was born out of people seeing some of the shows that we had and said “Ahh, this would be great if we could dance.” Had our clientele not stayed on us to open up the room for this kind of event I am not sure on our own we would have gone there.
Smitty: Absolutely, and now you also are Vice President of Public Relations & Development for American Women in Radio & Television?
DAS: That’s true, for the Boston Chapter.
Smitty: Wow.
DAS: I was asked by the President, Candy O’Terry, from one of the greater media stations here (Magic 106.7). She is the on-air personality and Assistant Program Director. She’s a powerhouse and a good friend, and she said “We want you to jump on board.” I had already a lot of exposure to many of these beautiful women through my own PR contacts from the club so I thought it was a natural progression to get to know many of them and their enterprises more intimately. It’s been so rewarding and a lot of fun.
AWRT is a great resource for women in all kinds of electronic media, to network and collaborate. It’s a tough business and for women there are added challenges. We have networking events and we produce seminars and sometimes we just provide an outlet to provide support and a friendly ear. Mentoring the next generation of girls in this business is also at the heart of the organization and we will soon be unveiling our sponsorship of a new mentoring program.
