Can't argue with that! The best thing I ever did in this business is get out of the bars and restaurants. Since I switched to the senior circuit I've booked more private parties than anytime in the past, the pay is excellent, no drunks to contend with, mostly daytime work, nearly all jobs are within 10 miles of home, and the audiences are fabulous people. As 124 stated, it takes a little work to ramp it up, but once the ball starts rolling, it's just a matter of keeping up on the PR work and you'll have all the jobs you can handle. How I wish I were 20 years younger and had today's technology to work with. I would be doing three jobs a day, working 7 days a week, look great, and be skinny. (wouldn't have time to eat)

Diki, I have to agree about the guitars, but keep in mind that the guitars really haven't change that much over the past 30 years. I played the same Yamaha 12-string for a decade, and it always sounded pretty darned good to me. I also played a 6-string Ibanez that sounded pretty good too, but not quite as full as the 12 string. In contrast, arranger keyboards seem to have improved dramatically over a period of just a few years. Granted, those improvements, at last from my standpoint, have been subtle each year, but after a decade of playing the PSR-3000 I was still pretty reluctant to upgrade. Now that I have the S-950 tweaked and tuned to the point where I'm fairly comfortable with what I hear, the 3000s will soon go up for sale. I think the thing that convinced me to keep the S-950 is all of the positive comments from my audiences and activities directors during the past few weeks. It's still a work in progress, but I'm rapidly gaining on it and suspect that within a few weeks I'll have a finished product.

And, of course, you know that I was just joking with you about the band mate conflicts. I'm sure I really pissed off several of the guys I used to perform with when I unexpectedly brought an arranger keyboard to the job. The guy that ran the outfit flat out told me to get that damned thing off the stage and if I didn't I was fired. That was the next to the last job I worked with that band. Ironically, those that are still alive haven't worked a music job in more than 20 years.

Cheers,

Gary