Im not sure why this thought struck me this morning while having my coffee but here it is. For all the people out there that love to see live local music I would encourage you to get out and see more of it for a few reasons, Ill cite a couple here. First of all its fun! Secondly, there is a wealth of local talent here that is really amazing and you might be surprised to discover exactly how much if you go out more. Probably most important is one many dont think about. A lot of our local musicians play so much they kind of sacrifice building up a nest egg when they get older. There are no 401ks to invest in for musicians, no old style pension plans and no health care plans to take advantage of. The more people get out then the more money the local venues will make and that should translate into higher pay for the local musicians. You dont have to stay all night but if more just stayed a couple of hours increases the cash flow in the business and given time the bands will be making more. If that happens many of the local players will make more money and maybe they can put some back for retirement. I know some will say a lot of them will party it off. Pretending for a moment that old myth is true I would put forth that as the musicians mature they arent any more likely to do that than any other proffession. Before anyone thinks this is a self-serving proposition Ill go ahead and say that my situation makes me a bit of an odd duck so to speak. With the exception of a few years Ive played a fair amount of gigs around here. Ive managed to stay somewhat anonymous and I dont rely on the gig money for my living. Not that many know my name as Im the bass player who blends into the background and the recognition I get is usually something like oh yeah, youre that guy that. Im fortunate enough to have some retirement resources through my day gig. Of course Id rather be playing full time or closer to it but for better or worse thats the road Ive traveled the last 25 years or so. Most players around here have to work conventional jobs to one degree or another because the deck is stacked against making a living as musician around here. Due to the demands of gigging a lot it kinds of limits what type of day work you can do. Make no mistake about it. playing gigs is work, most see the bands having a great time but dont think about the load in/load out time and the time spent booking and practicing. This is long way of saying get out and support your local music scene, the more that is done the more our great local talent can put it on display and receive something in return. You might even get something in return One hell of a lot of fun! Peace, love and rocknroll to everyone.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 13:51:54 +0000
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