Uncle Dave: you made the point that you charged $150 for your "nightly" gigs in another post and then said you charged more than your competitors in this thread. I brought that up as a minor and rather amusing point to a larger and more important point, but of course you and your fans here took up the bloody defense banner because your name might have been mentioned in vain. None the less, the topic is how much to charge so any on-topic post should be welcomed, unless you are way too vain to take a bow shot from others here that might be just as experienced as you for all you know.

I have over 32 years of solid pro experience and I am trying to contribute just as much to the discussion of arranger keyboards and professional performing as anybody here. And so far I think I've done so in an intelligent and factual manner, even if I take a poke at some of you long-timers with your own words. But this group can be ridiculously sensitive to bruises for any discussion group on the web. If you don't want anyone to poke fun at you for $150/gigs, don't put that information out here. It wasn't required, and in fact the person who started that particualr thread wasn't looking for $ amounts anyway but percentages of types of gigs.

And if someone like UD chooses to post their earnings, there's no need to rally to his defense if I or anyone else wants to take a shot at him for the sake of discussion... let him take his own lumps if he's as established and all-pro as you guys and he think. A little provocation can make for a more interesting conversation, rather than the same old "oh I've done it this way for years blah blah blah".

UD isn't the real subject here but his $150/nightly-club statement should be. I think that figure is about average for this business, and that is a shame because as I said earlier that figure hasn't changed much in two decades except for those who have stepped out of the mold. So perhaps we should talk about stepping out of the mold. Any takers?

(Please note: this may turn from a cocktail party to a football scrimmage without notice, please dress appropriately)