My first paying job was in high school. There were five guys in band who lived on the same street, thus the Oak Street Five was born.
I played trumpet and we had a drummer, sax, bass and trombone. We only played twice for money and made a couple of bucks apiece.
We only played songs we had music for and read everything. We played stuff like In the Mood, Stardust, Rock Around The Clock and
Wonderland By Night.
My next paying job was in college. I met a guy who was looking for a bass guitar player for a job coming up in about a month. I told him I would take it. I called Mom and she sent me the money to buy a bass guitar and amp at the hock shop. I learned to play it well enough in that month to get by, and played with the same group most of college.
It wasn't long before I realized how little I knew about playing bass and gradually got better!
My best job may have been traveling to Dallas to play at a huge wedding reception. One of the customers in my night club offered me a thousand dollars plus expenses.
When I got there, there was a fifteen-piece show band set up. He only wanted me to play during their two breaks. I played a total of one hour and enjoyed all the wonderful food, then went to the motel and watched the Cowboys win the Super Bowl the next day. That was a lot of money at the time.
Worst job was probably a few years ago when I agreed to help out a friend as a duo. He had booked a little club over in Shreveport.
We set up ON the dance floor. I packed up 20 minutes later after the second fight broke out. He actually stayed around and collected our pay, but I didn't take any of it. I was just glad to get out without losing any equipment or limbs.
DonM