Essentially, you must learn to read the audience, which is a skill that is acquired through many years of being in this business. It's really not something that can be taught, or handed down from one entertainer to another. It's an inner feeling that you get when you look out in the audiences and immediately determine what would get their undivided attention. Not everyone has this ability, and to those of us that do, it becomes very obvious when we see an entertainer that does not have this inner skill. They tend to play and sing the songs they enjoy, and not the songs that captures their audience. Additionally, those that have this skill tend to interact with their audiences, even those audiences with mental impairments. They communicate with their body movements and their vocal expressions, both of which are extremely important in order to be successful as an OMB entertainer.

A classic example of the inability to read an audience was seen at both of my children's weddings. They both insisted on having the hall use their DJs, neither of which had a clue what the Hell they were doing. In my daughter's wedding, which dear old dad and mom were footing the bill, the first five songs were hip-hop and rap - not what you play to an audience of 55 to 80 year olds. I had a serious talk with the DJ and informed him that if he played one more of those songs he would have a much higher pitched voice. He asked me what to play for the next song and I suggested Unchained Melody. Everyone got up and danced - EVERYONE!

At my son's wedding, they scenario was similar, and the DJ walked over to me when the 5th or 6th song was playing and asked what would it take to get the crowd on the dance floor. I wrote down a dozen songs on a napkin, handed it to him, and he responded "Those songs are old!" To which I responded, so is everyone in this room other than the bridal party. He took my advice and it was a great reception. Old, BTW, was 60s through 80s stuff.

One of the things I did early on was to go and watch what the other, successful, OMB entertainers were doing. It was a smart move on my part. I got to see the best of the best, took notes, and thanked each and every one of them. The list is fairly extensive, but it included Donny Pesce, Uncle Dave, Eddie Shoemaker, Don Mason, and a dozen others that frequent other forums. I learned a lot from them all.

I also learned a lot from watching those that were not very successful, and determined what they did wrong and why they did not garner the audiences I, and others did. This too can be very helpful. This was especially true in resort areas of the US. Have guitar will travel OMB entertainers are a dime a dozen in Florida, particularly in the Florida Keys. After watching a couple dozen them in the various marina restaurants and tiki bars, there was no question in my mind why they were rarely called back for repeat performances. They did not know how to read an audience, and every song they played sounded the same as the previous song. They had absolutely no diversity, therefore, they were quite limited in the audiences they would attract.

Hope this helps,

Gary