[Dixielandjazz] RE: Our re-assembled band playing for free

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Hey Tom I think that we are members of the same "church".
What a great answer-- I hope that you don't mind if I send it around to my
musician friends here in St. Louis.  With the virtual collapse of the AF of
M we have to look out for ourselves and maintain personal and musical
integrity no matter what our musical abilities.

My work is no less valuable than someone who is younger.  I will never be a
"retired" musician.  I will sell my horns if I am forced, for whatever
reason, to play for free.  I work hard at what I do and I try to keep up my
chops as best I can.  The woodwork is full of guys that musically are over
the hill, that is if they ever got to the hill in the first place and will
play for free or not much at the same time fooling themselves that they are
professional grade musicians.

I do however make exceptions for community based bands that are not directly
competing with professional musicians.  For some time I played with the
Shriners and a Jr. College Concert band.  I was not competing against myself
by playing with these bands and used them at least in my mind to keep up the
chops.  These groups played during the week and also helped me network with
other musicians that did occasionally get me gigs.  This would be the only
exception to my way of thinking.

There is a big band in St. Louis that plays at a bar/restaurant, sanctioned
by the AF of M and the guys make $15.  I won't play with them because it's a
commercial establishment using union members in the guise of being a
"rehearsal" band.   Who is kidding whom.

It takes hustle to be in the music business and get paid reasonably well.
Larry - St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tcashwigg at aol.com>
To: <bestofbreed at mindspring.com>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2005 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] RE: Our re-assembled band playing for free


> Dear Steve P. & all:
>
> Those of us on this list and many who are not on the list take our
> livelihoods very serious, and fight like Hell to find and secure good
> paying gigs to support our sidemen and their families in what used to
> be an Honorable and Professional Profession until so many bands started
> doing exactly what you are doing.
>
> Does your plumber come to your house and fix the toilet for free ?
> Does your Doctor  or Dentist or Lawyer, come
> provide professional services for free?  does your insurance man give
> you free insurance coverage, well mine certainly does not, he charges
> me about $1,200 a year up front whether I need it or not.   My Lawyer
> get s $350.00 to $500.00 an hour, Doctor and Dentist are in the same
> category,  Hell my mechanic gets $85.00 an hour, the plumber here gets
> $125.00 an hour.
>
> I have no idea what you and your guys do to earn a living, but you can
> bet your ass you would be pissed off as Hell if I brought my band of
> thirteen guys into your town and started offering to do it for free if
> nobody wanted to pay us.
>
> I have no plans to dabble  in Brain Surgery, or Heart Transplants, Root
> canals, or toilet repairs, or insurance sales, etc when I retire,  Ha
> ha RETIRE  what is that some kind of social disease?   In this ever
> inflationary economy it will soon be a benefit that only Politicians
> and many of the above named professions will ever enjoy, and sooner or
> later it may well catch up to them as well and we will have 120 year
> old Blind Surgeons back in the operating room attempting to do a second
> Heart Transplant on some Banjo or washboard players botched weekend
> hobby job.  :))
>
> Not only is the practice of playing Free damaging the overall
> employment situation for musicians directly it also sends a very
> dangerous message to many other simple  narrow minded folks who quickly
> get educated to the fact that you don't have to pay musicians.   I know
> because I ran a festival for a city for many years that NEVER paid
> Entertainers a dime, and had five stages of non-stop entertainment for
> ten hours a day for two days.   They got what they paid for too, total
> garbage groups and karaoke singers by the dozens, DJ's and when they
> ever got a group that could actually tune up correctly and play ten or
> twelve songs in the same key they were just proud as punch and would
> sit around the board of directors meetings  talking about the acts that
> were "Pretty Good" .
>
> Soon there was nothing but crap acts at the festival and the city has
> not seen or heard a real professional act in twenty years simply
> because the first thing out of their mouth is
> OH WE DON"T PAY OUR ENTERTAINERS" but you get all this great exposure
> and promotion so you can book lots of good paying gigs from it.   Then
> they print up the guidelines of how to run a successful festival and
> pass them out at surrounding cities Chamber of Commerce mixers every
> month teaching other festival organizers that they don't and should not
> pay artists either.
>
> what folks like you and many others practicing the same thing as well
> as all bandleaders should do is go get your butt on the entertainment
> committee of as many organizations and events within 50 mile radius of
> your house and re-educate these folks to the fact that Musicians and
> artists are working class people too and if we are to live and pay
> taxes in their community then by God we deserve to be paid so we can
> afford to live there and be their neighbors, support their schools, and
> countless other non-profit minded organizations.
>
> Anytime they want to raise money for some cause or another they run to
> the musicians to proved FREE Entertainment for things like their
> Hospital's great Gala Charity Ball fundraiser where all the Doctors and
> Lawyers and very successful business folks in town get all dressed up
> in Tuxedos and evening gowns and go out for a $500.00 a plate
> Fundraising dinner primarily for a chance to see and be seen.  These
> events all get great publicity and kudos for the organizers and all the
> good they will do with the money they raised.  However when it is all
> over and said and done the local charity generally gets the change left
> over in the bottom of the pot since they spend most of the money they
> raise to throw the party, and pay for the catering company, the tent
> rentals, sound system rentals, stage rentals, table and chair rentals,
> heater rentals, lighting rentals, ticket printing, and on and on but
> they want the dumb ass musicians to play for FREE, and eat  in the
> kitchen away from the IMPORTANT GUESTS AND FOLKS.
>
> Your performance fees for Charitabl;e and non profit organizations
> should be a special reduced rate for "Expenses ONLY"  since they all
> get their "Expenses" paid as well as their executive directors salaries
> even if they have a host of "Volunteers" doing much of the work which
> they usually do ( like the Doctors and Lawyers wives who want to get
> their pictures in the newspapers in their gowns at the social Ball and
> make certain that they get invited to all the other Social Functions
> thrown by the other Important members of the elite circuit.    IN the
> meantime most of the Bands and or entertainers can't even get their
> name mentioned in the press, not to mention that most of the guests at
> these events are simply too busy chatting and being seen to even pay
> attention to the music anyway.    Some of them are lucky if they
> actually Dance one number, and don't even do that unless there is a
> Press Camera pointing at them.
>
> Now, there, That pretty much sums up the Playing for Free philosophy.
>
> I was recently asked to bring my "High Profile"  (their words) show to
> play for the Big Gala Black and White Ball fundraiser for the S.F.
> Symphony, but they wanted us to perform for Free to help them raise
> money to pay the players in the Symphony at an event where they had not
> one but Two headline super star artists making in excess of $35,000.00
> a day, I know because I have booked them on tours.  The Symphony
> players were also going to do a performance for which they would also
> be paid.
>
> I told them Yeah right folk, my High Profile Act will perform for Free
> the SAME DAY YOU GET THE SYMPHONY AND THOSE OTHER HEADLINE ACTS TO
> PERFORM FREE FOR ME.
>
> They kept searching until they found some other acts stupid enough and
> desperate enough to play, to do it for them.
>
> Jeers,   There ain't no Free Lunch and there should be no Free Music
> either,  Hell they even Pay DJs while musicians sit at home, and it is
> NOBODY'S Fault but Dumb ass Musicians who never learned how to treat
> their business like a business.
>
> And for those that would say " It ain't Nobody's Business if I do"
> (play for free that is)  I say OH YES IT IS, IT IS OUR BUSINESS OR LACK
> THERE OF.     Perhaps it's high time we started burning musical
> instruments :))
>
>
> For Crying Out loud, you should all be smart enough to at least "BARTER
> YOUR SERVICES FOR SOMETHING USEFUL AND VALUABLE".
>
>
>  Rev. Tom - Bob  Wiggins
> First Church of Musical Reality.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve & Cathy Pendleton <bestofbreed at mindspring.com>
> To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> Sent: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 11:02:10 -0400
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] RE:  Our re-assembled band playing for free
>
>    Hello, everyone,
>
> I sure stirred the pot with the words, "play for free."  My comments
> in yesterday's digest to the contrary, the band is not looking for
> any free gig we can get.  Over-exuberance on my part, not accuracy.
>
> Having been on the other end of the situation (years ago) where
> someone willing to play for nothing bumped my group out of a gig, I
> understand the other Digest writers' points.
>
> So, cheapening the value of what we do, is not our objective.  I
> fully expect that, as the group nears and enters retirement age, we
> will pursue our dream of playing gigs, while supplementing our
> retirement incomes.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Pendleton
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