Bluewine

Very astute comment Casapete. I think the serious musician will ask specific question about finances and the band members before joining. Ask who depends on the band for income and how many schedule conflicts did you have last year or how many gigs did you turn down because members couldn't play the gig. Blue

Hi Guys, Not much going on with me. As you know I'm 68 and have been an amature type performer since 1965 I'm lucky in the sense that my whole summer is booked. That means I have gigs every weekend. Most are pretty decent gigs. Decent hours and respectable compensation. We landed another opening slot with Collective Soul next month. Just a couple of comments since I haven't posted in a while. I read allot of the " I Hate Gigging" thread. My take away was nobody actually hates gigging. Most hate certain aspects of gigging; 1. Bad gigs 2. Bad long hours 3. Bad band 4. Traveling 5. Low pay 6. Personality Issues We all have some degree of power to avoid the 6 bullet points above. While I gig allot my issue with gigging is a little different than most. I found myself in this position where I'm one of the few that needs the money. That in itself puts me in a bad spot. I would say I'm the only guy in my band who needs the money. The other member all have full time traditional careers. What do you think? What kind of questionable band circumstances are you dealing with and how you plan to change them. I guess at some point I'm going to simply say" I'm sick of it" that hasn't happened yet. Blue

Of course. Blue

We played a 2 hour acoustic set at Sahale Ale Works. It was an outside gig, 6:00-8:00. 80° degrees. My kind of gig. Blue

About 9 years ago I guess my moves on stage at a particular gig didn't come off as planned. I saw a video clip and what I thought was cool actually looked like I was humping an invisible bear.😀 Blue

That's really cool. I wonder how it would work for bass. I wonder what the down side is. Blue

Cool ? I guess you don't know about the invisible bear. Blue

1969

Beautiful venues and working with professionals makes it all worth while for me. There are places we played 2 years ago we wouldn't think of playing now. We turn down more gigs than we accept. Blue

One of our guitarist has switched over and goes direct out into the sound with one of those modeling amps from Kemper ( they're not cheap). It's a floor unit. He walks into our gigs with his guitar in one hand , stand in the other and the Kemper is in his back pack. I'm exploring this type of option for myself. Blue

The only thing I ever wanted out of this , was to be in a good band with consistent gigs that made money. I didn't get that until 10 years ago. I enjoy it and have no plans on stopping. I need the attention and the money. Blue

We all occasionally experience crappy venues with treacherous load ins and outs. You can avoid those. Like you said we also get to see cool venues with great sound / lights, professional engineers and stage management. Blue

Nice photo ! Blue

We just sit around and silently judge each other.lol 😆

Thanks Stew. I didn't realize how "old school" our little band looks. Four pieces and 4 vocals. We really can't fit keys into the budget yet. You can really get spoiled with these plush gigs. Next weekend, back to reality.lol 😀 Blue

Relationships between band members become tense? That has never happened in my band. We only see each other at gigs and we don't talk to each other. Lol 😀 Blue

Playing far from the bar has always been the kiss of death for my band. Blue

Our gig with headliner Larry McCray last night went really well.

Hi Pete, The few upscale venues we play provide state of the art sound and lights. However, we bring our own sound and lights to most gigs. Our band leader's husband sets up and has ran sound and lights for us for over ten years. Sound is a good investment for local gigging bands in my opinion. Blue

Agreed, There are allot of elements that can take the fun out of being in a band. Once the fun is gone there's not much left. Blue

Thanks Stub, Our set is only an hour. It will be fun to blast through an hour of our best stuff. Blue

Thanks Dave, I've only played with signed recording artists a few times. I plan on doing a little networking if possible. Larry McCray is a part of the Joe Bonamassa camp. Blue

Not last night, however I'm really looking forward to our gig opening for Larry McCray Friday night at The Bend Theatre. It's sold out so we'll be playing to 350 people. It's a small theatre. I've never played a theatre gig. Blue

I know it's scary. I'm retired , however I'm not retired well. I'm ok now but if the gigs dry up it could get tough. Blue

I look at it differently than some of you. At 68 and pensioned I love gigging. I'm not a fan of long hour late night bar gigs and driving home at 2:30 in the morning and we don't play those type of gigs anymore. We tapped into the lucrative upscale Brewery and Winery market with our acoustic offering. Great afternoon hours, I'm usually home by 8:00. Classy patrons as well. I kind of fell butt backwards into this type of work. Blue