General Music Chat

Back around 1980, I had a rockin' little four piece called "The Needles".
We were notorious for playing too loud, disturbing the peace, and bringin' the law to most any party we played.
Once, we were jamming (for free and the sheer joy of it) at a graduation party for one of our fans. The party was busted and our young friend's dad was cited (and subsequently, heavily fined, for raisin' a ruckus!

The silver lining to all this, is the fact that the renowned artist Sterling Strauser was in attendance, and sketched a portrait of The Needles.
He produced an art piece and it recently was sold at auction at several thousand dollars! (which benefited a local charity) So something of value came of the whole ordeal.

In life, sometimes you just have to take chances. Inertness gains nothing.

That being said, its a fair bet that Zip made the right choice by not gigging, since his inner judgment was raising red flags.

Some decisions are sometimes hard to call.

Ol' curmudgeon Howlin'

Nice call!

You came close to becoming "that" band....
You don't want to be like that.

Gigs don't always need financial rewards...but SOME rewards...It's a respect for what we do. Do'nt like it? Get a damn radio...

The whole "We'll play anywhere for nothing" is stupid...Musicians that are whorish piss me off, and fail to realize crowds know they get what they pay for...If they aint paying, guess what they think they're getting?

percieved value matters.

My time? My Gas Money? My Talent?

Pay to play? Screw that....

Not worth it. That's a waste of gas. I play house parties only if most equipment's provided and/or I'm getting paid for it. You made a good decision.

Truth is only a few here would expect to be paid for what they play/perform.
If you like what you do, I doubt it matters.

And the rest of you are smoking the rocks, not throwing them.

Until your favorite band invites you to open for them, quit deluding yourself about how good you are. No one even knows your name.

You'd be better off getting a DWI in California and making the 11 o'clock news, jr. Then maybe someone might even recognize you and then you could tell them about your music du jour.

Crip, Are boobies all U think about?
How about the intellectual aspects of .. n/m .. T&A Yeah!! Puszzy!!!!

Yeah,T&A BAY BAY... I figure Im an ass man....CAUSE people are always sayin YOUR AN ASS MAN IDK , Now that its SAT nite and Im home alone (no gig this week ) that party with teenyboppers sounds pretty dang good. . At least with those kinda partys the youngins would prolly carry my drums in for me. .Hey ZIP, and anyone else while we're on the subject of underage partying,are there any teen clubs in your towns with live bands? Just curious.We had 2 here that ran every weekend for a while. The one still going is just once a month now...Shame. I ran sound one nite for the kids.They did everything I told them NOT to do.. I needed 7 hands that nite..

Truth is only a few here would expect to be paid for what they play/perform.
If you like what you do, I doubt it matters.

Really?!? So with this kind of logic, just because we like to do it means we would ALWAYS do it without being paid. I LOVE what I do, and that is WHY it matters. People *ahem* *club owners* *ahem* take advantage of this.

"No, I don't want to play a damn Monday-Tuesday-Sunday at your club for nothing! I'm not going to bring my friends to hear me play while you charge them outrageously for drinks! Get a damn jukebox and friends of your own to drink!"

Good Cpt...trust me, Man...I know what your saying. It's in our DNA to just play...anytime...anywhere...but after so many years you look up and realize we get taken advantage of. I hear you, man!!!

We're better off doing our own thing! Have our own House Party! Rent a small hall, and charge a couple bucks! OR (what the hell!) Walk in to a crowded club that doesn't have any live music...set up, and just start playing! At least then you know you have the ears of some possible new fans.

It saddens me how un-rebelious music has become...

It's what seperates the pros from the wannabees...

That's what de-values artists. It's not that we are out of touch and think we are better than we are...some of us are pretty damn good. Actually a LOT of us are pretty damn good.

You'll find the musicians lining up for the race to the bottom suck. I'm not saying I have a 2k + the door every night...I don't. But I don't think ANY musician should be a gig's whore.

A few bucks for gas? A simple "You guys were great"? Judging a wet Tee contest? There should always be SOME kind of gain for us. Otherwise you aren't worthy of ever getting paid for what you do...and never will.

By all means, play gigs for free...if that is what you are worth.

curmudgeon: [n] Crusty, ill tempered [usually old] man.

Yeah you're a curmudgeon. AN old fuddy duddy. Probably cranky in the mornings and I bet ya fart dust!

And I think you did good. No sense playing for free and taking the risk it sounds like that could have turned out to be.

I don't mind the occasional jam session, a benefit for a good cause, but if somebody wants me to load my gear and put gas in the tank, I don't think they should expect me to do it for free.

I've played solo gigs at a few parties years ago, only once did they bother to pass the hat for me, and usually nobody paid much attention anyway, but that was one guitar and no big deal. These days if I have to load up guitars, amp, cable bags, mic stands and burn at least $10 gas to get anywhere, I expect to at least get the gas money back...not to mention the chance of trouble with noise ordinances, underage drinking, and underage boobies...no thanks, I'll pass. I think you made a good decision.

Hey GT, I have played many house partys, young, old and many different venues and always had a good time. You never know what's going to happen. Remember, you might pick up a few fans. Isn't that what it's all about? Have yourself a good time and show the young folk what your all about....

I am not here to argue this point. Everyone has their own reasons and you do what you do, just like it is what it is.. (poetic today BURP)

Having said that, some of us play because it makes us feel good.

I propose EXPOSURE over $, because good things happen for those who wait.

Case in point, we just got invited to GERMANY to some festival.

We can't go as we all have family and or responsibilities, but I made that contact while playing at a FREE VENUE. I met him after I got done talking to the guys from MONSTER MAGNET. ((I like MONSTER MAGNET very much, not really my genre, but closer than others)

Now if ED had said, "let's go to BERLIN", we'd be on a plane already.

The point is if you are playing and it's happy, then you ARE getting something from it. You just can't put your finger on it immediately.

Truth is only a few here would expect to be paid for what they play/perform.
If you like what you do, I doubt it matters.

And the rest of you are smoking the rocks, not throwing them.

Until your favorite band invites you to open for them, quit deluding yourself about how good you are. No one even knows your name.

You'd be better off getting a DWI in California and making the 11 o'clock news, jr. Then maybe someone might even recognize you and then you could tell them about your music du jour.

Thing is, I do if it's a private event, unless it's for a close friend and they really need a favor. I happen to love what I do, but things cost money. And yes, my current favorite band did actually invite me to open for them just a few days ago, thank you very much. I have more to say, but I'll stop.

I propose EXPOSURE over $, because good things happen for those who wait.

But when you have 10,000 bands doing that, and most of them suck, clubs use that against the good bands to under-value them, or in some cases, make the band pay to play. It IS whorish, and if you are talking about coffee shops and corner bars, that's one thing, but this problem, or mentality, has trickled up and is affecting the bands that truly deserve to be paid well.

Yeah,T&A BAY BAY... I figure Im an ass man....CAUSE people are always sayin YOUR AN ASS MAN IDK , Now that its SAT nite and Im home alone (no gig this week ) that party with teenyboppers sounds pretty dang good. . At least with those kinda partys the youngins would prolly carry my drums in for me. .Hey ZIP, and anyone else while we're on the subject of underage partying,are there any teen clubs in your towns with live bands? Just curious.We had 2 here that ran every weekend for a while. The one still going is just once a month now...Shame. I ran sound one nite for the kids.They did everything I told them NOT to do.. I needed 7 hands that nite..

Not any specific 'teen clubs', but there is one that is the home for the young, new school music kids. I havent been in there but I think they do all ages stuff at least half the time.

Capt. Scott, I know what you are saying... basically a chance for performance rehearsal. A practice sesion with drunk people watching you. That does have some value, but...
If I want to do that, I'll just invite people to the rehearsal building.

GTZip, not the same deal..

The rehearsal hall can be crowded.. Most of those people know you.

When you do a drunken frat stop, no one knows you. You can do just about anything you want. And in the trouble that it all causes, that's where I really dig it.

If we play and afterwards the people are ripped up and want to tear the place to shreds, I love it. (I just try to get my equipment out in 1 piece)

Even better is sometimes we play and the little cheesies are soooo drunk, it gets almost cult-like. (No, you don't want to drink any of the Kool-aid, cause either it came from JIM JONES or JIM MORRISON)

And we will stay on stage and just weird, evil, eyes-barely open, jam.

Those jams are very near either the center of the harmonious universe or the 9th dimension, we're not sure which as of yet.

Sure boobies are nice, but I really feel like I've won when I mesmerize/hypnotize them into dancing oddly/pretending to convulse in place.

It is at the point that everyone can hear the sub-harmonies of the universe and feel the tranquility of ALL things at once. (staring off into a non-existent point in space)

OOOOOHHHMMMMMM LOL Stop bugging me, Buddah. You'll get your turn.

Crip, Are boobies all U think about?
How about the intellectual aspects of .. n/m .. T&A Yeah!! Puszzy!!!!

I can't help it.... I'm around all different kinds every freakin' weekend be it onstage or outside!