Well, for me it is a God-Send to be a paid performing musician. I have played professionally since 1955 and have been very fortunate to have played with some of the best know big bands in America. I took about 30 years off and never played note during that time. When I started playing arranger keyboards - about 12 years ago I started playing for retirement homes and now I am lucky enough to select the ones I will book and still will play about 250+ gigs this year.

Chas, like Gary, I am sorry to disagree with your idea about extra money.
I keep very good records of miles driven, equipment costs, on the road food stops, marketing costs and anything else that is deductible and it is not very difficult to nearly break even. The money I earn pays for a lot of fun things for my wife and I and we never have to touch our normal income sources for these fun things. Thanks to a very wise accountant I have been able to buy whatever equipment I wanted to try out and nearly break even on it when applied to our overall tax situation.

Anyway, that is how it has worked for me and even at age 77 I am still going strong and have no intention of giving it up in the very near future.

Deane