[Dixielandjazz] Musical Therapy, was Music in Nursing Homes

[Steve barbone]

on 5/10/05 11:16 PM, TCASHWIGG at aol.com wrote: (about equine & musical
therapy)

I knew you would know about that program, and I have seen it in action, if
we all put our minds to it we could come up with a Musical Therapy Program
that could and would be funded that would be a win win situation for all
involved so long as nobody gets greedy and tries to steal All the money.

Some of the hospitals get music performance trust fund gig money once in a
while by just accidentally calling a musicians union and getting a guy who
knows how to get the money to fund the gig from the AFof M.   These kind of
gigs however are often carefully guarded and kept in secret for the good OLE
boys in the Union offices that can't get any gigs unless they come through
the union telephone line.

They don't pay lots of money but it certainly enough to cover the expenses
for going out and doing it and you can just use it as a paid rehearsal and
the personal satisfaction you will get from doing it is worth far more than
the money anyway.

No question it could be a win win situation Tom. If I was not gigging so
much, or had a band that was looking for gigs, I sure as hell would check it
out. But not right now. Gigging 6 days/nights a week in May/June (last week
8 gigs) and probably July/ Aug. I get home wired and so I hit the DJML to
relax and come down from the music. Otherwise I'd be chasing women, drinking
or otherwise abusing my body. Had it been this easy to get jazz gigs in the
1960s, I would never have taken that day job. Course, I'd probably be dead
by now too from the wine, women and song.

The down side is that by netting so much, I have to pay tax on my Social
Security entitlement, plus I have to draw down on my 401 K  IRA Rollover,
which is also taxable.  And my pension is taxable. Thank goodness I can
still contribute the max to my and wife's Roth IRAs. ($4500 each) which has
no age based withdrawal rule, and will be non-taxable when and if I ever
make a withdrawal. 

Damn, old age and jazz are not for sissies.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone