[Dixielandjazz] Free Gigs

[Steve barbone]

> Didn't poor Kaye Wade get her chops busted awhile back on DJML for
> supposedly playing a lunch gig for tips?  Now, someone else is proposing
> it as a GOOD idea?

Seems to me the gig Kaye spoke about was an ongoing lunch gig at a
restaurant where folks came in to have lunch and a Dixieland band played
there FREE except for tips. Typical audience comment was something like,
"Where else can you have lunch for $12 and hear this music?"

I asked if the gig was a paying gig and got no response.

Point being, if a band works in a restaurant, and helps draw customers, the
band should be paid a living wage. E.G. at least union scale for starters.
To give the music away as above is a horrific waste of talent and further
dilutes the market for paying live music gigs.

Gee whiz, restaurant owner, charge a $5 music fee per lunch and give that
money to the band. Why can't the customers pay $17 for lunch/music?

Damn, a show and lunch like that would have cost at least $5, 50 years ago
and since everything has gone up at least by 10 since then, $17 is a bargain
which virtually everyone can afford.

There are exceptions where it might be wise to play for nothing, but they
are few and far between and this was not one of them.

Cheers,
Steve