[Dixielandjazz] New Year's Eve gigs

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Dave - I've done well the past few years but there are a lot of guys here
that are happy as bugs doing an earlier gig and I know at least one band
that's having their own NYEve party so that's common.  A lot of these guys
just don't want to hustle for gigs and I've got to admit that it isn't the
most fun.  There are a lot of them that want to spend the evening with
friends and family.  For me all my friends are musicians and my family is
very very small and they know that that's a night I work just as if I were a
plumber and it was a Monday morning.  For me it's a night out with my
friends doing what I like to do and getting paid for it.

If you don't really need the money then it boils down to professional pride.
It's the I'm good enough to get paid syndrome.  I admit I've got it and when
I make a lot of bucks it validates me as a musician.  It makes me feel good
when I make more money than guys that play better but to do that, I have to
work at it.

You have to make up your mind as to what makes you happy.

The group I'm playing with screams for 4 hours a lot like a top 40 band and
we stand up so I end up tired with sore feet and my back aches.  Not as much
fun as with a Jazz trio somewhere in a lounge or with my own gig.

Honestly a lot of guys really wouldn't like playing the stuff I will be
doing but a gig is a gig and it pays fairly well.

The usual big bands around here aren't working as far as I know.  I know if
they were working I would have gotten a bunch of calls in the last few weeks
but so far its Nada.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David W. Littlefield" <dwlit at cpcug.org>
To: "Bob Romans" <cellblk7 at comcast.net>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 9:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] New Year's Eve gigs


> At 05:15 PM 12/16/2004 -0800, Bob Romans wrote:
> >Just wondering how NY's Eve is shaping up for my listmares out in
Dixieland
> >Jazz Land! Cell Block 7 doesn't have a New Year's Eve gig...probably
because
> >bands have priced themselves out of the celebration. Isn't it usual to
ask
> >double what you usually ask...or triple? Putting up with long drives on
> >highways where there are a lot of people who have had "one or
two"...better
> >to celebrate at home?
> >Curious in Lodi...
> >Bob Romans
>
> My danceband is doing a retirement home 8-10:30pm, for the 3rd year. Band
> biz is bad around DC. This year they upped the pay $50 to $200 per
musician
> so we'd book earlier in the fall than usual. In the old days we'd have
> gotten between $350-400 per musician, but we've had no inquiries at all
the
> past 3 years. I and one of my sax cats would rather have a so-so gig with
> full pay, but the other 3 guys are happy to make the $200 and celebrate NY
> with their families.
>
> Lacking a gig, my sometimes cornet/tpt player is having a party/jam
> session. I was surprised that the turn-of-the-30s 10-piece band he's in
has
> nothing going...
>
> I'd feel bad professionally, except that the booking agencies are b&m-ing
> about not enough gigs for their variety bands...
>
> --Sheik
>
>
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