Last night was the first of three scheduled gigs I have at a local Italian place...
http://www.lapiazzatroy.com/home.asp

...where I've been hired to play background keyboard from 6:00pm - 9:00pm. The place has my appearences noted on their website and when I arived last night, I was shown a postcard...(full color, glossy with a nice blurb about me) that was sent out to their mailing list customers. Roughly 650 people I'm told. The staff was expecting me and were friendly, welcoming and helpful. Several employees introduced themselves to me and wished me luck.

...Set up was easy...Tyros with the Yamaha small speakers...The space for me was cleared out and overall it took less than 20 minutes total to be ready to play.

Some random observations:

*The sound from the small Tyros speakers is surpringly effective. The layout of the place is a very wide hall floorplan. Three main section...one far to the left, the middle and one to the far right...Primary seating for the evening is in the middle, where I was located. Sound was optimal in the main room...hard to hear in the others.

*About 35 minutes into the gig I (once again) realize just how much of my act is based on my singing. I understood this was different going in...It actually serves a good purpose for me, additional exposure with a break for my voice, close to home...It will, over time, clearly improve my KB chops, which is always a good thing.

*The crowd was supportive in a reserved way. A few tables stopped by on the way out and complimented the music...I also saw several smiles and nods in my direction. I did have one women in her early 30's who approached me and asked if I could play something from the "70's or 80's." I said "Sure, what jazz piece would you like to hear?" She couldn't come up with a title or anything so I went into Pop mode and played Daniel and Wonderful Tonight. She was happy enough to put a few singles in my tip jar when she left.

*The traditional Jazz keyboard players in my area have no threat from me whatsoever, lol...

*The place should really bill me as playing favorites, easy listening, something because while I have a few hard core jazz numbers...that's really not my bag. I can angle my songs that direction and most people THINK I'm playing jazz...but I'm not.

*Volume ranged from 10am to 1pm and was adequate all night. A little went a long way.

*I played tons of old standards, latin and some pop...

*GM was there during set up and a sound check, then left for the night. Assistant manager was very pleased at the end of the night. Comments included "Made a big difference"..."added a different vibe to the place"..."very festive" ..."You know what you're doing."

*Business was up according to the manager...not sure if it was due to the music...

*Staff open about looking forward to next week.

*Made under $20 in tips...which I think will improve over time if this turns into a steady gig.

*Not to repeat, but I always feel a little incomplete if I'm not singing. Its a comfort zone kind of thing, I'm sure for me. Like I said before, I'm a very functional piano player, however, singing is my forte.

...We'll see how the next few weeks go then meet with the GM to discuss the future, what ever that might be.

Bill in Dayton



[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 08-12-2005).]

Got to be honest .....after readung your review...Id say your not too happy and thinking you made a mistake ....I personally hate these kind of gigs although Ive done them many times thurout the years ....but I would never take them for any long period of time, 1 or 2 nites to fill in is enough....If I cant perform & be happy doing it the way "I do It" including vocals I'll turn down the gigs every time, theres too many other jobs out there which are the right venue I'd be happy with performing for much more money....in these dining situtaions I always feel like a low key,low paid, Robotic "MUSAK" Mood Machine....
Too boring & agravating for me. .....but who am I?
Anyway I hope the gig works out for you and thanx for the post.




[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 08-12-2005).]

Bill sounds like things went well for you, glad to hear it. I'll be looking for more posts from you with this gig. You may recall I'm fairly new at gigging and am not a singer(but started some voice lessons about 4 weeks ago). I've played some coffee houses recently and your comments in the quote are the type of reactions I've received as well just playing the PSR 3000.

Good Luck

Bill . Well, it sounds like things went well, even if the gig wasn't what you preferred to play ... There is a BIG difference in a performance where YOU are the attraction, as opposed to the 'wallpaper', but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy both ... As you said, this gig will help you improve your piano chops, so use it for that ... AND you can also make it more interesting for yourself by playing the same tunes with different styles/rhythmns ...
You should ask the management about advertising you as YOU want to be advertized ... If they are billing you as a 'jazz' player some less 'sophisticated' ( ) people may not want to go because of what they THINK you are going to play, and if you're not a jazz player, some jazz fans may be disappointed ...
I think I mentioned before that playing some of the more 'pop' stuff (Beatles/Elton John/Billy Joel)in bossa or latin styles often works very well ... the listener recognizes the tune, but the style fits in with the ambience of the restaurant ...

ALSO ... make sure you have your business cards prominently displayed and available ...

While Donny (with ALL due respect,God Bless him) might be in the position to turn down these types of gigs, others of us (for whatever reasons, including sheer lack of opportunity/market) may have to settle for slightly less than optimum in order to increase our following and demand ... and then who knows, maybe someday WE can turn down this type of work as well ... ...

Love ya Dnj !!!

Best of luck, Bill ... keep us posted ...
t.

Gotta' agree with DNJ, and to some degree Tony with this one. I've been turning down restaurant jobs for the past 18 months, mainly because in our area the pay just plain sucks. It's $150 for Friday and Saturday evenings, $100 fow weeknights and I'm not overly fond of cigarette smoke and drunks, which is usually the case toward the end of the night.

Good luck and I hope things go well for you,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

Bill,

I started out 30 years ago playing background music from 6 to 9 at a restaurant. I played every Friday and Saturday. It was a good gig. I didn't sing back then and it certainly helped me keep up my playing chops.

I always figured that because the tables turned over every couple of hours I could repeat songs after a couple of hours because the customers would never know.

Good Luck

Tom

..... the GREAT thing for musicians in li'l rhody is that the State has gone "Smoke free" ... we still have to deal with the drunks, but at least your not coughing when you do it ... ...
t.

Can't resist guys!

I know that Bill, Donny, Gary and many others are real pros, you all do some great stuff with your entertaining and kudos to you all, lots of respect too.

I've learned more in the last few months reading your posts than a couple of years playing gigs could have taught me. But as a newbie I'll take whatever I can and I know this is the price I probably have to pay. ( did someone say don't quit your day job? ) For a guy like me a newbie playing a lower priced gig beats just playing at home to my wife, the dog and 4 walls.

The good news is that in Rhode Island smoking is banned in all restaurants, the bad news you can't get away from the drunks. I've got a gig Sunday at a Starbucks, hopefully no one has overdosed on caffeine.

Tony, I love ya man

If people cant book better paying jobs that they really want & makes hem happy doing, there is a reason......find that reason, fix that reason, do what ever it takes to enjoy this
"Thing Of Ours" ...if ya got the product it can be done if you go about it the RIGHT way ....make it happen !!
there are many fish in the seas...
BUT DONT SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST!!

I hope I havn't offended anyone ....
Im trying to remain calm....I love my proffesion too much to see this kind of stuff happen to my fellow musicians.

Donny ... I agree with what you are saying, (and please STAY CALM ... no reason to get the BP up ) ... What I am saying is that in some locales the OPPORTUNITIES for doing what we do may be more limited, and therefore sometimes a person may have to 'settle' for something a little less just so they are playing, gaining recognition, and making some money...

... And if I had my "druthers" I would be the headline act 5 nights a week in Vegas, and since THAT ain't happening, anything else I do could be considered "SECOND BEST" ... ...
t.