[Dixielandjazz] FW: gigs

Fri Sep 30 15:26:13 PDT 2005

Can I just say one thing as a bandwife as well?  My husband makes his living as a musician, he doesn't have a "day job" unless you count teaching clarinet and sax as a "day job".  I can't tell you how many times he has been beaten out of a gig by either older retired musicians who still get together and charge what they did 20 years ago and think that's fine, or by musicians who work day jobs as doctors or lawyers and play jazz as a hobby, but a client will think it's really cool to hire an all doctor band to play jazz for half of what union wages are.

And my husband doesn't go overboard, he asks for standard union wages, but how can bands compete for gigs when retired musicians play for peanuts and doctors play for fun?  Sometimes it boggles the mind.

ks

>>> <tcashwigg at aol.com> 09/30/2005 >>>

I agree with that Larry:

I just wrote a scathing letter to some hobby dude who posted an add 
here in our area wanting to find Horn Players to play for free in his 
N.O. Brass Band he hopes to form to go out and play free gigs .   He 
adamantly stated NO PROS,.

What a Moron.

And we wonder why our marketplace is shriveling away rapidly to make 
and earn a living in music as professionals.

I also just educated some lady looking for  Free Band, and converted 
her into a  very well paid gig after I shamed her for even asking for a 
band for FREE.

Like I said a while back the folks who are in charge of getting music 
have no clue what they are doing and as long as they can come into 
contact with musicians that are also clueless this is going to only get 
worse and worse.

Sadly,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Walton Entertainment <larrys.bands at charter.net>
To: jim at kashprod.com; dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 10:46:12 -0500
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] FW:  gigs

    I follow the six foot rule.  Everyone within six feet of me knows 
what I do
and what I have to sell.  If you just sit and say nothing that's what 
you
get.

There are two groups on this list: the hobby players and the guys that
understand music as a business.

I agree, it  boils down to what a group or individual's personal goals 
are.
Personally I started playing professionally when I was 15 and put myself
through college and raised my family with music.  While I have always 
had a
day job it has always been music oriented.  About 15 years ago I 
started a
non music related business but until that time I either taught or played
music 100%.  The music business has always been in my blood and I get a 
lot
of personal satisfaction from music on two levels.  The first is that I 
like
to play music.  The Second is that people will pay to hear me do it.

I get personal satisfaction knowing that people want to hear me play and
have done so for 50 years but it's not without effort.  I do have to 
work at
it.  People just don't turn loose of money easily and as Tom  and Steve
constantly point out to me is that you have to sell, sell, sell.

Sales are difficult in any business and more so in music.  Whereas if 
you
are selling shoes the customer leaves with something tangible.  With 
music,
he leaves with hopefully a good feeling or you have furthered his 
business
or whatever but he doesn't leave with a tangible thing.

A lot of hobby musicians just don't like the idea that music is a 
product
and that it can be sold. but it's more than that.  If a musician doesn't
play and play often he's musically dead.  The endurance goes and so 
does a
lot of other things.  Personally I don't feel that I could maintain my
personal musical standard with a once a week rehearsal or the twice a 
month
nursing home gig.

I have pretty much withdrawn my services from the local hobby bands 
because
the leaders of those bands are using the musicians and not paying them
fairly for their time.  I guess that pretty much draws the line.

Larry Walton
St. Louis

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Kashishian" <jim at kashprod.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 2:32 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] FW: gigs

> Tom Wiggins wrote:
>
> >I do play gigs and so does Steve Barbone, and Jim Kash..........Tom
Wiggins
>
>
>
> Tom, I don't think my name can come into this discussion about 
pushing for
> gigs, as I just happen to be in a band that has been together a very 
long
> time in a very small area.  Our name & good music carries us through. 
For
> this, I daily count my blessings, and we are content with the work we
have.
>
> I do not promote the band as such, nor do I call anyone for gigs.  I 
have,
> over the years, made the occassional "suggestion" while having dinner 
or
> drink at a place, that maybe the band would be good for business, but 
that
> is the extent of my delivery.
>
> That, then, brings us to the crux of Mike Vax's original message, that
> constant reminders by some on the list that things should be done 
this way
> or that may not fit the mold of others, the way they work or where 
they
> work, therefore it is meaningless and boring to read over & over.
>
> I really don't like to look at my gigging with the band as a 
business.  I
> have enough of that during the day!  The band is a perfect escape 
valve,
> rather than a business.  If it's not that way for others, that's 
fine, but
> it's up to each one to decide how & why he handles his music the way 
he
> does.
>
> Jim
>
>
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