[Dixielandjazz] The OKOM Wannabe

[Stephen G Barbone]

> Dixiejazzdata <dixiejazzdata at aol.com>
>
> This guy  obviously has not checked the nursing homes, and  
> retirement homes in the area to find out that they actually have a  
> budget to HIRE Live Bands to perform there once a month and some  
> more than that.    Some of the "Entertainment Directors" at some of  
> these facilities will however try to get bands to play for Free if  
> they can get away with it.  I have a friend who does 1 hour  Karaoke  
> shows at retirement homes and has a regular circuit of them he plays  
> once a month, and he makes almost $30,000.00 a year just singing to  
> tapes.  Some days he does two or three of them at $60.00 to $125.00  
> each.   He has been making a living at this for over 20 years  and  
> this is his  day job :))   He does not work at anything else.  He  
> used to do it at local clubs on the Friday and Saturday and Sunday  
> nights, but got tired of playing to the local drunks.
>
> Cheers,
> Bart.

> VOLUNTEER MUSICIANS WANTED (NO PAY GIG) (vallejo / benicia)   
> Remainder stripped for brevity.

Amen Bart:

Maybe that Craig's List band leader asked if they had a budget and  
when the Entertainment Director said no, he said OK we'll play for  
nothing. (VBG)

I don't know about California pay scales, but I just booked two  
daytime Mardi Gras trio gigs, one hour each, at Assisted Living  
Facilities. One in  Media PA and the other in Wilmington DE.  
Facilities are about 45 minutes apart.  One starts at 2 PM  and the  
other at 4 PM. Each pays $500. The second one ends in plenty of time  
for us to get a bite to eat elsewhere if we don't like the food there,  
and make our night time Mardi Gras Party gig with the 6 piece band. Do  
the math and you realize that the guys in the trio (Guitar / Bass /  
Clarinet) net more than if we spent 3 or 4 days at a trad jazz festival.

We have several one man bands here who play to taped backgrounds. Like  
you say, by stringing gigs together on the same day, these guys make  
more money than playing in bars or Pizza joints and those old folks in  
Assisted Living Facilities, Nursing Homes or Continuing Care  
Retirement Communities are an appreciative audience. We try to string  
gigs together like that with both our trio and our six piece band  
during the summer weekdays at a bottom price is $100 a man.

We do have the beginning of a problem here though. Some amateurs are  
now playing for very low, or no pay at some of these facilities. I  
think that's what triggered McClernan's complaint about musicians who  
ask "What is your budget" before doing some homework about the venue  
and event.

But, that all has a upside too as the venues now can spend more on a  
professional band since most of them work on fixed monthly budgets for  
music and many use it for 2 events a month. When one of those is  
played by some idiot for free, that enables the pro to get the entire  
monthly budget for his band. It is simply a matter of sticking to your  
price point and getting to know the Entertainment/Activities Director.  
Even if you are normally to high priced for them, they will call you  
for a gig that month when the other one is a freebie.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband