What A Drag It Is Getting Old

Summer is right around the corner and I'm just not prepared for it as this is my first year of trying to plan around the summer heat.

Last year I was caught off guard and I had to depend on the community to get me through the summer until I could get an ablation to stymie the misfiring heartbeat a.k.a atrial fibrillation.

My current state of health is forcing me to consider some options that just don't seem financially feasible like a summer vacation.

I've never had much luck selling myself to prospective clubs... my buddy Allan can walk in and the next thing you know they are offering him a hundred gigs and paying him more money than they usually give musicians.

Harder still for me is I'm trying to fill band dates. I'm not thrilled about playing solo gigs and/or background music gigs.

I love to play my electric guitar with a loud band, not play dinner sets and be more decoration than entertainment, seen and not heard.

The solo gigs pay the best especially when you consider how much more equipment a band needs and splitting the tips more than one way.

As a band we are undercut by karaoke, dj's and band in the box guys- many of whom don't have any real ability to play an instrument or sing on pitch.

I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened but it used to be the bartenders and servers would tip the band for holding a crowd which translates into more money in their tip jars especially if it was an off night like a weekday night - now they expect the guys in the band to tip them out of the chump change the band members get paid. The average server walks with at least double what the band members make.

No consideration for all the equipment and associated maintenance...not to mention transportation costs.

Most clubs don't even offer the most basic of staging like decent lighting and sound reenforcement adequate for the room.

The bummer about lack of a "house" system is the inconsistencies between bands. One night the sound is good then the next night the sound is lame. It's like having the good chef one night then a trainee the following night...

Cheap equipment doesn't last very long and it becomes scratchy like static crackling on an old a.m. radio and in no time the cost of a cheap system that needs replacing every 3 months adds up fast.

It's not fun or easy to play when you can't find your sound, your comfort zone.

Outside gigs never want to pay especially if there is a rain out, "welllll, you only played 1 set sooo, we're going to give you cheeseburger... sorry all of your equipment got wet" or "it quit raining so you can finish the night", says the manager.

"But all our equipment is soaking wet and not dry enough to turn back on without blowing shit up", says the band.

"Wellll, if you want to get paid..."

Never mind the fact that we just spent two and a half hours humping gear, plugging it in, troubleshooting the inevitable bad cable somewhere amongst the hundred or so it takes to make the whole rig work...

The musicians NEVER win. That's the way it has always been.

I'm on my last leg- literally- the left leg is having clotting issues again...I can no longer do two and three gigs a day- loading in and loading out once a day is all my poor old heart can take, barely. And not in the summer heat at all.

Hopefully something cool will come along and enable me to keep the band rocking. Oh well, whatever happens is good enough for me.

I'm at a point in life where if I can't do gigs anymore I need to go ahead and drop off the planet. All I've known for the past 30 years of my life is playing live music. I don't have connections in the recording industry, I don't have any residuals for anything like a hit song or movie soundtrack or any porn...

Something will come along, it always has. As the Stones song goes "You can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need". Thanks Mick for those warm words of encouragement.

Peace and Love!

The inspector inspecting.