Being retired with a modest income has two main advantages; choosing your gig and choosing how often you want to play. I only play once a week and only at two clubs. One is strictly a jazz club while the other is a large, posh, club that has 'jazz night' once a week. Both clubs, like all the jazz clubs in Atlanta & suburbs (and there are many) feature live music exclusively, not even OMB's. The people that frequent these clubs are mostly middle and upper-middle class Northern transplants (mixed drinks are 7.50-10.00). A few are real jazz aficionados and come in to hear someone blow the house down. Almost all of these clubs are poor-paying and as with most jazz clubs, tips are almost non-existent. So why play them? For the music, what else. We play as an organ trio and make 400 or 500 a night depending on the club. We have 'guest' musicians sitting in for free (no shortage of some really good musicians) just for the exposure, the joy of playing, or the possibility of a free drink. Any vocals are done by 'guests' (we encourage the ones with a following ). It's almost like turning back the pages of time. Little has changed (including pay) in the last 40 or so years; we still play essentially the same tunes (80% standards) and nobody seems to care, especially if it's done well. Over the course of a year, we'll get two couples that get up and dance and they are usually an older couple out celebrating something (????being alive?).

There are some clubs, usually with dirty bathrooms, that will only pay 2-250.00, even if it were Herbie Hancock . They know that there is no shortage of musicians who will accept it. It's the main reason pay has remained so stagnant all these years.

These ramblings are of little interest in 'arranger land', but I (and probably a few others) am interested in the state of the 'club scene' in different parts of the country. BTW, clubs featuring blues (Southern style) and Country, do very well in these parts. Don't see too many pure Rock clubs (under 40 crowd) but then I've never sought them out either, so there may be more than I know about. There are also probably lots of clubs featuring Hip-hop in downtown Atlanta but since I never go down there, I don't know about those either. I don't hang out at the music stores as much as I used to (starting to feel uncomfortable around all the young rockers - even though I'm usually the only one in there with any real money to spend ), and that's where you get the best feel for what's going on in the local scene.

chas