Last Night's Gig, the best/worst ever

[bitflipper]

"Speakercise". I'm going to use that.

18 gigs a month. Cheese und crackers, I can't imagine doing that now, at my age. When I was 25, playing 6 nights a week for 50 weeks a year wasn't a big deal at all. Finishing a gig and jumping into the van for a 10-hour drive to the next one was normal. Red Hot Beef 'N Bean burritos from a truckstop microwave at 4:00 AM, delicious. Now, I play out at most 4 times a month and even that's pretty draining. But it beats going to a gym.

14 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

I'm old enough to retire, but I love playing music to an appreciative audience. I have no intentions of quitting as long as I can get an audience.

You and me both, brother.

Except I'd still do it with or without an audience. A month after my wife died, I played New Year's Eve at an Elks lodge to a dozen morose old men sitting at the bar staring vacantly into their beers. It should have been depressing, but staying at home in a big silent house watching fireworks on TV - that would have been way more pathetic. Life with a little music in it is always a little bit better.

[Zippy]

8 hours ago, bitflipper said:

You and me both, brother.

Except I'd still do it with or without an audience. A month after my wife died, I played New Year's Eve at an Elks lodge to a dozen morose old men sitting at the bar staring vacantly into their beers. It should have been depressing, but staying at home in a big silent house watching fireworks on TV - that would have been way more pathetic. Life with a little music in it is always a little bit better.

Hey Bit,

I can empathize..  I've played music for a living since the 60's. Back pain from moving equipment is just the price we pay.   I also lost my wife, except she was half the band.

I had nearly the same experience NYE, except it was at an Eagles club. I haven't touched my key board since. Hopefully my desire to play music will return some day.

They say time heals all wounds.

Keep the faith.

 

[bitflipper]

So you lost your musical partner as well as your life partner. Man, that sucks.

How long has it been since you played?

I ask because I did the opposite: I had been mostly inactive (as far as live music; recording had become my primary outlet) before my wife's death, and joined a band afterward for therapeutic reasons. It worked. I have new friends, a reason to practice, and didn't become the bitter old hermit I feared I was headed for.

Losing your partner is, of course, hard.  But for me it was hard in ways I hadn't anticipated, such as feeling adrift with no purpose and having an identity crisis more typical of what teenagers go through. Getting back into live performance reminded me of who I am. Maybe you should give it a try. Not joining a band necessarily, or anything requiring a commitment. Just attending a jam session, perhaps. Or an online collaboration.

[Zippy]

4 hours ago, bitflipper said:

How long has it been since you played?

Aug. 20th 2022 was our last gig.  She passed Sept. 2022.  For me was "the day the music died".  We had performed a plethora of gigs from NY to Fla over the last 32 years.

 

4 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Losing your partner is, of course, hard.  But for me it was hard in ways I hadn't anticipated, such as feeling adrift with no purpose and having an identity crisis more typical of what teenagers go through.

Good analogy! Grieving takes us all down different paths and eventually we learn to deal with it.

I have plunked around on the keyboard a little, but have no desire to play out. I respect and appreciate your advice about getting back in the saddle..  I just need to find a horse:-)

Anyway, thanks for your many helpful posts. You've kept me, and I sure others from going down that cakewalk rabbit hole.

Take care.

 

[Notes_Norton]

My wife is my duo partner. We've been together 44 years and married for 5. When we met we were in different bands that broke up about the same time. We both got into a 5 piece that was forming, then a few others, and in 1985 we were in a 5 piece with personnel problems which left us out of work for 3 months. That's when we decided to go duo.

I play sax, flute, wind synthesizer, drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals in various amounts of proficiency. I bought some MIDI sequences in those early MIDI days, they were so bad we laughed our a__es off. So I started making my own. I still make my own backing tracks, that way I know the chords and the substitutions, I put them in the best key for the singer, arrange them so recognizable parts come soon (for the audience) and leave room for the solo hog (that would be me).

Mrs. Notes is a great singer and she also plays guitar and synth. Most of all, she is my lover and my very best friend. I'd be devastated if I lost her, I'd probably cry for a month non-stop, so I feel for you Zippy.

I'm 6 years older than her, and male, so odds are I'll go first. But you never know.

We are greedier than we are sane. Not only 18 gigs this month, but last Sunday we played two. We had a breakfast gig at an outdoor restaurant in a hotel, and an evening gig about an hour's drive south.

We had the morning gig booked for a while, and then the country club called and wanted that evening. We've played that dance for many years now, interrupted 2 years by COVID, and wanted to do it for 2 reasons (1) we really enjoy those people and (2) we know that if you give up a long-running gig like that, and they book someone else, chances are you won't get the gig back. The new committee will say, "Well, who did we have last year?" because it's easy and they have other details to be concerned about.

Monday we just vegged out.

I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't gig anymore. I've done that since I was in Junior High School. The audience interaction is part of the high for me. I identify myself as a musician.

Gigging is the most fun I can have with my clothes on.

We play at a hotel that has 2 or 3 music acts a day/night. We were talking to one of the single musicians and he told us his idea of musician's hell - "Having to set up and tear down your own gear, and never getting to play."

My idea of musician's hell would be having a disability that prevented me from playing.

Zippy, I hope you recover in time, I suspect that your wife would want you to keep playing.

 

Notes ♫

[bitflipper]

2 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

My idea of musician's hell would be having a disability that prevented me from playing.

My nightmare.  Just being down to nine usable fingers of late freaks me out. 

My gear's still in the van from Saturday's gig. I'm scared to unload and potentially hurt my back even worse than it is. I've got until Sunday's rehearsal to get it done, so I guess I'll start today with the small stuff.

Bapu helps to motivate me with his gentle reminders that I've promised a synth track for the latest Citizen Regen project. I'm on it, Ed. Soon.

 

[57Gregy]

3 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

My idea of musician's hell would be having a disability that prevented me from playing.

Keith Emerson.

[bitflipper]

8 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

Keith Emerson.

Yeh, he took it especially hard. I wonder if anyone ever suggested "Keith, maybe you could just play a little slower." 

[Zippy]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:21 AM, Notes_Norton said:

I'm 6 years older than her, and male, so odds are I'll go first. But you never know.

Notes ♫,

I was 4 years older and planed on going first.  Even had a life Ins. Policy on myself so she would be set.

Our musical life experiences are very similar. Everything from how we met, to 5 to 7 night a week gigs, to hotel house band, to country club gigs, to writing and recording original music, etc..

I'm guessing your somewhere in Florida, by the number of Country Clubs you do.  We did a few seasons in SW Florida, but didn't work financially paying rent for 6 months and still maintaining a home in Ohio.

On 1/19/2023 at 9:21 AM, Notes_Norton said:

My idea of musician's hell would be having a disability that prevented me from playing.

We faced a few medical setbacks along the way. But so far nothing has stopped me from playing and I know she would want me to continue.

Life is good, Thank You for sharing and the best of luck to you and Mrs. Note ♫

Zip

Edited January 20, 2023 by Zippy
tmi

[Notes_Norton]

Thanks for the well-wishes Zip.

Fortunately, we are both still in good health, but like I said, you never know. One instant you could be fine and a short second later, not. Life goes on and we have to meet the challenges and keep on keepin' on.

I, too, have a life policy to take care of Mrs. Notes if I go first. Plus the mortgage is paid off, county taxes are low, and in FL the "Save Our Homes" only allows the gov't to raise the taxes 3% per year (which they do every year).

Yes, I'm a Florida guy. I grew up in Pompano Beach, just north of Fort Lauderdale, and when I turned 18, I played from Palm Beach to Miami.

We also did a house gig in Fort Meyers for the better part of a year. The Rendezvous Lounge, which was downtown, and is no longer there. We rented a house, and would drive back to Ft. Lauderdale once a week to collect the mail.

Then we went on the road, college bars, singles bars, show clubs, eventually being the opening act for major stars in concert, and then losing a record deal over money (they wanted to ***** us). That broke the band up, I played locally in Michigan for a while, then returned to Florida.

Mrs. Notes and I did cruise ships for 3 summers while working South Florida for the tourist season until we got a reputation. That was enough to keep us booked year around after we jumped ship.

I moved up the coast north of Palm Beach, and now gig in the tri-county area; Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River. This area worked out well for us. We were just another nice fish in a big pond in Ft. L, and it took aggressive marketing to stay booked. Up here we are a big fish in a small pond, and we have so much repeat business, that other than our website and an e-mail mailing list, I don't do any serious marketing at all.

The tragedy of life is that it ends. So we have to get as much enjoyment out of each day while we are here. Sometimes that's very difficult, but we need to bounce back.

 

Notes ♫

[Notes_Norton]

Egad, the word that refers to a procurer of customers for ladies of the night got bleeped.

So to comply with the auto censor, I'll choose another. Insert cheat for the ***** above.

My apologies to the censor, I'm not trying to be rude.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[craigb]

Was the word you're looking for "pros titute" Bob? 🤔

[craigb]

 

😜

[bitflipper]

On 1/20/2023 at 6:58 AM, Notes_Norton said:

The tragedy of life is that it ends.

50% of marriages end in divorce. That's a depressing statistic until you consider how the other 50% end.

[Notes_Norton]

18 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

50% of marriages end in divorce. That's a depressing statistic until you consider how the other 50% end.

Yes, the phrase is, "Until death do you part", so your marriage isn't a success until one of the partners dies. Not something you want to think about a lot. I've got some insurance, in case it's me.

 

Notes ♫

 

 

[Zippy]

On 1/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Notes_Norton said:

Mrs. Notes and I did cruise ships for 3 summers while working South Florida for the tourist season until we got a reputation. That was enough to keep us booked year around after we jumped ship.

My band from Ohio used to play spring breaks around Ft Lauderdale the second half of the 70's.
The She, The Button, Big Daddy's and Playpen South.
I ended up moving there in 1980,  auditioned at musicians exchange,  joined a band and played gigs around
SE Fla.
That band did a cruise ship for a short season. (funny story) Until we got kicked off.  Not the reputation we were hoping for.
I remember the captain's name was Captain Crunch:-) The ship was "The song of Norway".
 

On 1/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Notes_Norton said:

We also did a house gig in Fort Meyers for the better part of a year. The Rendezvous Lounge, which was downtown, and is no longer there.

My wife and I stayed near Ft Myers one season. Did a lot  of CC's.

Sandy Parrot and Biddels were a couple  public gigs.

You may know a few of our fellow musician friends.. Double Dare, Terry and Joni Cooper, Billy Dean and Dawn, Paul and Renata Rozmus to name a few.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Zippy

[Notes_Norton]

10 hours ago, Zippy said:

My band from Ohio used to play spring breaks around Ft Lauderdale the second half of the 70's.
The She, The Button, Big Daddy's and Playpen South.
I ended up moving there in 1980,  auditioned at musicians exchange,  joined a band and played gigs around
SE Fla.
That band did a cruise ship for a short season. (funny story) Until we got kicked off.  Not the reputation we were hoping for.
I remember the captain's name was Captain Crunch:-) The ship was "The song of Norway".

I did all those clubs, plus Porky's, Ocean Mist, Newport Seven Seas, Peppermint Lounge South, Cellar Door, and more. My personal favorite was the Big Daddy's on Commercial Blvd, I think it was subtitled "Brother Jim's". Both the acoustics and the single girls were very nice. I was in a 6-piece band when we did those rooms.

Mrs. Notes and I did Carnival Cruise Lines. 3 Summers, 3 different ships, back in the late 1980s. It was our first steady gig as a duo. We recently left a 5-piece band due to personnel problems.

Our first ship was the Jubilee and we were hired to play Smuggler's Lounge. A smaller lounge next door to the disco.

The first week we noticed what was missing, Baby Boomer music, and we also analyzed the ship. What 'hole' can we fill? There was a big 13-piece band who did mostly standards, a piano bar, a guitar/banjo/singer who did country music, the disco playing current pop music, a 7-piece Filipino band who played fantastic Latin American music, and a Jamaican reggae/soca band who played poolside. No 50s to 70s music.

After analyzing, we asked the cruise director if we could join the introduction show on the main stage, the first night of the cruise. The cruise director said that no duo has ever asked that before, but "why not?" I also noticed that after the introduction show, it was the only night that noting special was scheduled.

So I introduced us, telling the crowd "We play rock n roll, disco, big band swing, jazz, rhythm & blues, country & western, mambo, merengue, samba, calypso soca reggae, beach music, Motown music, classic oldies, new age, smooth jazz, hip hop, dixieland and one opera song." all while counting on our fingers. Then I added, "But tonight, right after this, we are having a 50s, 60s and 70s rock n roll party in Smuggler's Lounge."

This got a number of people to visit our smaller side lounge and filled it up. On our first week on the ship, before the announcement, people found us at the end of the cruise and told us they wished they found us sooner. It's just natural for them to go to the bigger events first. After the rock party, a number of the people, who found us on the first day, came back again and again.

The hit cruise line song back then was "Hot Hot Hot", and the passengers liked to do a conga line. Our lounge had a small service door between it and the disco. I worked this out with the DJ. I'd start playing "Hot Hot Hot" and send our conga line through the service door, through the disco, out into the promenade back into our lounge through the disco and so on. As soon as the DJ would see our group come through the door, he would put "Hot Hot Hot" on and we'd have a two bar conga line going. That made other people find us who wouldn't have, and some of them liked it enough to come back to see us.

The only way the management in Miami knows where the people are hanging out is to look at the bar receipts. We broke the all-time highest revenue records in that lounge on the third week we were on board. We doubled the highest revenue ever. They extended our 3-week contract to "whenever we want to get off the ship."

It wasn't because we were the best band to ever play that lounge, it was because we were lucky enough to see a need that we could fill, fill that need, and promote it well.

Eventually, we made more revenue than the disco, which was over twice as big and was open for many more hours than us. We did that a half dozen times in our 3 years there. The reward was a passenger sized cabin with a porthole.

We asked for a raise, and they jokingly said, "Eat more".

Solution: The policy was the bands were not allowed to sell any merch. We held a trivia contest and the winner got a cassette tape of our band. We named it "The Joy Of Sax." After the contest, people would approach us and ask if they could buy one.

The cruise director said that as long as we didn't advertise that they were for sale, he would ignore it. He liked us because we helped him get good reviews on the customer comment cards.

Cruise ship or not, we play for the house. We always size up the crowd when we get there. Look at their clothes, shoes, hairstyles and so on and use that to pick our first song. Usually something targeted to the majority of the audience, but with broad appeal. Then we use their reaction to pick the rest of our songs. There is an art to working the audience, and after 30 some years as a duo, we're pretty good at it.

If the crowd is jamming, we'll skip breaks. We think what would we like the band to do if we were the owners, or what would we do as a band if we were the owners. That makes all other decisions easy.

The happier the audience is, the more they come back, the more money the venue makes, and the more we get hired and are able to do our second favorite thing, gig. From 1985 when we started this duo, until COVID reared its ugly head, we had so much work that we have to block out time for a vacation, or else we wouldn't get one. Now that COVID has settled down, we are gigging 15-20 one-nighter gigs per month again (mostly in the daytime and outdoors, as we play for a COVID-shy age group).

When a musician is working, life is good

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[craigb]

tl;dr?

Bob's done a LOT of stuff!!! 😆

[Grem]

6 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

If the crowd is jamming, we'll skip breaks.

We would do this too. And the bar owners loved it. Reward was more beer, more shots!!!

And we just kept on roll'n!!

If the crowd was good we would play till 4 or 5 in the morning. Of course we made them pay for that!!

[Notes_Norton]

15 hours ago, Grem said:

We would do this too. And the bar owners loved it. Reward was more beer, more shots!!!

<...>

Not to mention, more repeat gigs.

We have a mid-day gig in an open-air restraint n the beach next door to a giant beachside public park.

It's only 3 hours and pays well, so we play straight through, no breaks. We get walking traffic in that way, and since they also have a full bar, they come in, buy a drink (good profit for the bar), have a good time, and come back. We've been perpetually extended, until the owner dies or sells the hotel, whichever comes first.

If you want to make a living playing music, (1) play songs they know by heart (2) play the room you have for the day (3) give a little extra effort to the owners, hopefully so they will make more profit while you are there than your competition.

I've known people who won't play "Mustang Sally" (or whatever), refuse to be flexible, are difficult to get along with, won't adjust the volume to the needs of the room, try to 'educate' the audience music wise, express political opinions, and so on. They could be great musicians, but they will probably work less.

When on the cruise ships we used to check out the other acts. Here is one example:

At the piano bar there was a guy who only played piano in 2 keys, if he didn't know some of the chords, he would take his hands off the piano until the next one came around and if he couldn't sing in one of the keys he could play in, he would change the melody. BUT he sang well, and remembered ever customer, where they were from, what song they requested last time, their names, and so on. he packed the piano bar, and his tip jar was overflowing.

One week another piano player came in. She was a piano monster with jazz chops that put her in the category of Monk or Brubeck. She played difficult and delightful jazz tunes and sang well too. But the only people in her lounge were other musicians who sat there drooling. She lasted 3 weeks (the initial contract).

To make a living doing music and nothing but music, you must make compromises and treat it like a business. If you don't, you will make the ultimate compromise, take a day job and play Monday nights for drinks and tips.

Unless of course you are either lucky, have $$$ backing, or are a nepo.

 

Notes ♫