Deane

I have run into the same thing in SW Florida. One example is the State Veterans Home here. I was on the State vendors list for years, and received my $100 like clockwork. About two years ago they lost their funding for entertainment, and I was forced into a decision, play for nothing or drop them.

Mark mentioned "paying back", so I did, in the case of old vets I had gotten to know. I volunteer. However, this is no different in that once they get something for nothing, it will not change in better times. They load up on church groups, guitar and boombox, and fools like me.

Before I get ridiculed, I would like to point out that our vets is an exception.

Bernie,
If asked, I would play for any of the vets places for free. In the Dallas area the places are being bought by major Corps who are doing their best to increase the bottom line. Two of my long time venues have had budget cuts allowing only paid entertainment of any kind once monthly. What this has meant to me is once I had as many bookings as I could play with only 22 clients. Today it is taking 80 plus clients to get the same amount of work. It is not only entertainment that takes a hit. At a lot of my venues the Corps have also cut staffing while at the same time increasing the fees they charge the residents.
Texas does a pretty good job of monitoring the senior homes and I don't see how all this is going unnoticed.

Deane

Are we not part of this problem too?? We play arrangers,we kill bands.Where do we draw the line in music??I still don't get how DJ's get more money than live music???

Did WE kill bands, or did DJs kill bands and force us into arranger kbs ?!?

DJs get more because they can provide the client with the ORIGINAL recording, which is what people are looking for ... for 'live music' to do that it would take an 8 to 10 piece band made up of excellent vocalists and musicians and the price - RIGHTFULLY SO - would be much greater than that of a DJ ...

BTW - besides myself, both the drummer and sax player in the band we had for 26 years eventually started playing AKBs after the band broke up and played in the restaurant and NH 'circuits' ...

Don't get me wrong.I love arrangers, but they are still far from live band.
I don't see what is the point of listening to original recordings. We can do that at home.One thing about live music is it doesn't sound like recording.

Tony,
You are right on target here. I worry about playing the same old songs all the time but each time I change things up people complain. When I played with the big bands we did the same set night after night played the way the original bands played them and the people not only love it but paid big bucks to get into the places.

I doubt any single event or person is responsible for what is happening in the music business today. Four or five years back when people lost jobs and quit going to the clubs the club owners had to find a way to provide music at a lower cost. Seems that idea caught on and here we are today - Karaoki bars and DJ's.
All who make more pay then those of us playing the real thing.

Deane

We had a 5 piece group -guitar, drums, stand up>electric bass, ALTO sax, accordion>cordovox>Fender Rhodes- from the late 1950's to 1984 ... 26 years playing weddings/dinner dances/ private parties ... we played music from the '40's to pretty much whatever was being played on the radio AT THAT TIME, and we did it in 'our style' which we got complimented on all the time ... The 4 of us who remain (RIP Fred) talk about how we would NOT be able to do that today ... we were very fortunate to have played in a time that was GREAT for small bands/combos ...

I think that playing big band music IN a big band is different in that people see the size of the band and EXPECT the music to sound like the original ...

mirza ... I agree on the 'going out to listen to records' ... but that may be the 'creative musical gene' in us that has a conflict with that ...

I'm with mirza on this one. Until the 80's and MIDI, bands were 100% live. Then we, as keyboard players, got the ability to do away with old fashioned drummers, bass players, even guitarists (a ton of 80's pop was all synth). We did solo acts with out DMX's or early MIDI sequencers, we embraced samplers to do drums and strings, horns etc., we had a really good run for a good 10 years or so.

But we opened the door to where we are now.

I'm sorry, but this sits squarely on US and our generation (if you played in the 80's).

But again, this is nothing new. Remember the first recording devices...? OK, the wax cylinder wasn't that big an issue, but the 78, and then the LP and the radio killed more bands than anything since. Back then, you either went to hear a live band, or you didn't hear music at all! Technology is a two edged sword.

Don't forget, the world is in a financial recession the likes of which hasn't been seen since the twenties. Everyone is tap dancing as fast as they can to deny it, but the pot got a LOT smaller recently. This is usually the time when new technology that makes entertainment cheaper gets widespread use.

But it's always a pendulum. We all pi$$ed our pants about DJ's killing the music industry in the late 70's disco era. It went away. Now it's back... It'll be gone again, in a while.

If you wait by the river long enough, the body of your enemy will float by...

Well put Diki.
Deane

Like Tony Mads, I had my first paying gig back in the 1950’s with a 5 piece “combo” We were called a wedding band back then although we played everything from sock hops, and proms to bowling banquets and spaghetti suppers as well as weddings. I did play trombone in a big band and a community concert band. The band broke up when our drummer and sax player went on the road and I started playing in gin mills and dives with a trio. After a 4 year stint with Uncle Sam and 5 years of college, I did about 25 years as a children’s entertainer using cassette taped accompaniments. In the late 70’s, I tried to get a band together again. After only a half dozen gigs the band thing fizzled … seemed that a couple of old band mates acquired drug and alcohol problems. I made and used a cutdown Cordovox with a little toy like Casio for rhythms and eventually a drum machine. In the mid 90’s, it was the Korg i5M with an Excelsior Digisyzer and an i5S. I was playing in 3 different restaurants during the week, a different venue every weekend; Cooperate parties, picnics, product launchings, dinner dances … 2 of the restaurants changed hands and I was out. I played in a one of restaurants for 13 years and have been cut back to one night per month; I have only 2 cooperate functions per year now. I was not replaced by a DJ on any of these gigs (Although DJ’s did move in on most of the New Years Eve. gigs in this area). I am becoming what most people in discussion are referring to. I am now taking agency jobs – in nursing homes - for less money than I had been making. I’m relying more and more on sequences so that I can fit into whatever the theme of the day is at the NH. This week I was called for a gig and asked to include karaoke in the performance. I accepted. I have no idea how to do karaoke yet, but I’ll do it. I LOVE playing out. Now, I play less, entertain more and eat regularly.