Mark, I think the take away from these posts is simple - it is what it is and it has always been that way. In my area I now have over 400 senior venues within 50 miles of my house - all doing entertainment for the residents. Like you I too have had AD turnover that has cost me gigs. Not much you can do about that after you make your initial attempt to reestablish the relationship and it doesn't work out. I don't give up but frankly I have had little success with the effort. Strangely enough, months later I will get a phone call from that same AD who suddenly heard about me or found my info in the files and the bookings resume. I suspect this is because I did not cause the new AD any problems but just moved on. Heck, I have shown up for a gig and everyone in the place has been replaced and they want to know who I am and why I am there. I have had 2 or 3 other entertainers show up at the same time for the same gig. Like someone said, it is part of the senior venue gig system .

Right now I have more calls than I can play and how I got there was to simply move on and put my recruiting efforts in the new places being opened almost on a daily basis here. I too have several places I would not like to lose but I know it can happen and will adapt to whatever happens.

Perhaps my age makes me more mellow about this. At 77 who knows how many more years of very active gigging I have left so I don't worry about it much. Also, it is not a main source of income for my wife and I and it provides me with the ability to buy good equipment whenever I want and take a few vacations each year without hitting our main income. Perhaps if this was not the case I might have a different approach to it all.

Mark, good luck with your situation and I hope you can make it work out for you.

Deane