Sorry, guys, but I'd turn the damn job down.


R.

Why Russ? .....someone has to make em dance ..

Personal preference, Donny. Don't like the music, the dance or the people who do the dance. None of the places or people I play for would allow it.

Just not my thing...Remember, I won't do ANY Buffet music, either. A local complex, with a dinner steamboat, outdoor bar, 5000 sq foot dance area and dining room wanted me to come down to check out if I wanted to play in the dining room. I went down Monday after a VA job. Buffet was on in the dining room. I turned around and left without even asking for the owner, who had called me.


So there!

R.
(no offence intended. It's just not for me, and I don't participate. If line dancing and Buffet is your thing(s), GO FOR IT!).

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 05-27-2009).]

Russ, I've enjoyed your posts in the past, and I think you have a lot to add 99% of the time, but I don't see why you had to go out of your way to comment about how you would turn down the job and express your dislike for the Music, the Dance style AND the PEOPLE(!) who do the dance.

I realise threads have off-topic comments in them (I'm *ahem* guilty of postng those myself occasionally... ) but I don't see why you have to remind us (again) that you "don't do Buffet" and whether you mean it or not, it comes across as you looking down on those of us who do.

Yes I know you say "hey it's just not for ME" etc nevertheless, you seem to go out of your way to tell us, often enough, how it's pretty much beneath you.

I'm not trying to start something here - it's a genuine observation and I wonder if you've thought about the reasons why you post this particular opinion time and again.

Feel free to tell me where to go, but this is what I honestly think.
Do you ever wonder, deep down, why you post your thoughts the way you do on this subject?

(I'm honestly interested in your reply)

Peace.

Hey Russ,

Next time a 5000 sq' job comes up (especially the type money you get calls for) and you thumb your nose, send it my way - I love everything and all sorts of venues.

I played a nursing home the other day and a poor little old lady who couldn't even hold her head up told me how much she loved the Buffet song I played

I'm a bit surprised too at your comment. A person with your success doesn't do the type thing you explained

Man, I crawl, beg, kiss, etc - anything I can do to stay gainfully employed - it's a tough world out there.

Before Russ replies, I can tell you I understand where he is coming from. Like you, Hellboy, I am not as picky as Russ and will play for a wide variety of clients. However, neither you, nor I, are in the same position as Russ or the same market.

The most successful local guy I know has two bands, one rock, one country. Two very different names and images. Each appeals to a very specific market. I dare say, each of his target markets would look down on the other. He doesn't care. He just plays the jobs and cashes the checks.

Russ is true to what he likes, plays and is good at. He is in a market where he is known and doesn't have to be anymore than what he truly is. He has a reputation and has steady employment at the same venues with a following. Very cool and every entertainer's dream....although he doesn't call himself and entertainer.

I don't play to the same kind of audiences he does...and I have to be more of a chameleon than he is...but that is show biz...on a big scale or local market.

We all do what we have to do to survive in the biz.

Eddie

Sure Eddie (and Zuki) rest assured I'm NOT denigrating Russ's talents (I probably couldn't hold a candle to his playing - though we probably actually DO share some songs in our setlists) what I'm getting at in a (hopefully) polite and genuinely curious way is WHY Russ felt he needed to comment at all in this thread (for example) as to what he would do with the gig in the first place. It's obviously not his bag as he said (and I'm fine with that - really) it's just I guess I don't see why he needs to share that attitude in a thread that never called for it.

I was also surprised he went on (when asked, to be fair) about how he not only didn't like the music/dance but even the people.

Perhaps in the States it's a different scene, but in Australia for example, Linedancing is practiced primarily by older people (mainly ladies) who have, in many cases, lost their Husbands/Significant other, and now have no regular partner to dance with, and Linedancing is often one of their only outlets for exercise and public contact.

I often feel for them, having lost probably the love of their lives, and linedancing puts a smile on their face and a song in their heart (if you don't mind the Cliché) so we happily play for them, and moreover we play whatever they want, including specialised Linedancing songs we never would normally play.

Russ's post, to me, portrays him as a bit of a "Grinch who stole Christmas" figure - which I actually DON'T think he is - so I wanted to know his real feelings on the matter, apart from his matter-of fact post.

Maybe I'm going too "deep" for this thread...lol

Anyway, again - Peace!

[This message has been edited by hellboy44 (edited 05-27-2009).]

[This message has been edited by hellboy44 (edited 05-27-2009).]

There's plenty pf scorn on this forum for musics of ALL kinds...

Few would accept a techno gig or a rap one (what, these people got no right to dance, either? ) and many are pretty vocal about this or that genre's lack of any musical merit...

What did Russ do any different?

Oh, that's right. He criticized something you DO play....

Wow, you really DO just skim posts doncha Diki?

No hellboy. I actually READ them. Do you read your OWN posts BEFORE you hit 'submit'?

If Russ had have made a comment about NEVER taking a rap gig or a techno one, the rest of you would be merrily posting away that you feel exactly the same...

But he doesn't do Buffett, and you DO... I rest my case.