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'It's our job to keep the legacy alive': Big House works to market to future generations

The Big House will welcome in Devon Allman and Dickey Betts this week. They will get a small portion of ticket sales. They depend on benefit concerts and foot traffic to stay in business.

Thursday night, Gregg Allman's son Devon Allman and former bandmate Dickie Betts are going to play the city auditorium in Macon.

The show is sold out and a small portion of the ticket sales will go to the Big House Museum.

Every little bit helps, because the folks that run the place where Gregg, Duane, and Berry called home need to appeal to a new generation of listeners.

Richard Brent is the Director of Collections at the Big House Museum.

"It takes a lot to make the museum as good as it is," he said.

He should know -- part of his job description is asking folks for money.

"Hey, man, can I have $50,000?" he chuckled.

Brent says it takes thousands -- $10,000 to $15,000 every month. That's easily $150,000 a year.

Kirk West served as a tour manager for the Allman Brothers for years.

"Is there a shelf life on a rock band museum? Yeah, I bet there is, but I don't think it will expire before I expire," he said with a smile.

Kirk and his wife Kirsten used to live at 2123, then they gave it to the foundation, but they didn't provide any extras.

"There was no endowment. It wasn't like there was $3 [million] or $4 million to build the place, but you also need that kind of money to live off it, and there was not the endowment raising effort, so you do have to pay attention to ticket sales and getting people through the door," Kirk explained.

To get people through the door, they've got to recognize the name 'Allman.'

Brent says after Gregg passed away last year, they saw an influx of visitors, but it's a steep hill to market to future generations.

"It's very tough, you know, we get freshman classes from Mercer every year and they've never heard of the Allman Brothers Band, so that's the challenge -- how do you get people to discover that genre of music?" Brent said.

But they'll keep plugging away. After all, they've got a pretty inspiring story that floats around the hallways.

"Like the band used to adopt a saying, 'Can't stop now.' They lost Duane and they lost Berry. 'Can't stop now.'"

Drummer Jaimoe is also going to be in town Thursday night. He is going to play the aftershow party at the Hargray Capital Theatre.

Also on June 23rd, the Big House will have their biggest fundraiser called the Summer Jam event.

Tickets are $50 and the band Blackberry Smoke is going to play.

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