Chas......are you serious with this post?
Donny.....are you serious with this reply?

.........'cause if you both say yes, I have a comment I'm going to put forward to both of you.

Donny....I have to chastise you on your earlier post when I have time later. You mean well, but don't you get it yet? It's NOT, I repeat NOT, about “Be so good they can't ignore you!”

Think about that and I'll explain later if you still haven't figured out the obvious.

BTW....don't change your avatar...it makes you easier to find than the search box does!

Mark fire away I'm sticking to my guns sorry..

Sorry Mark, you're not 'authorized' to chastise Donny; only Fran, Uncle Dave and of course me, his best friend , are allowed, so back off.

chas

BTW, glad you've learned to question our seriousness before going off the deep end. Good move.

John came closest to what I was referring to. Go with the flow. If you can’t beat them.....join them.

One of the things I was thinking about for a long time now. You go on the "lecture circuit." I was contacted by a local library many years ago and asked to do a lecture on one man performance. Now I knew nothing about how to do a lecture, never did one before. But I was young and daring and filled with enthusiasm for music. I took that enthusiasm and used it to carry me through an impromtu lecture that I made up as I went along. Now this was NOT playing songs to the audience. It was things like explaining how an arranger keyboard works, how it replaces a band instrument by instrument, the many things a player has to think about as he’s presenting his music, my own life story about how I got into music and my adventurous life style after that, sound effects contained in the keyboard, song history, musical trivia, emulate bits and pieces of songs in popular Broadway shows, play songs from different countries and comments about each song, vocalizer demo, AABA (and others) song structure, major and minor music (I played Jingle Bells both in F major followed by F minor.....and.....the bells alone coming out of the keyboard really intrigued them). There’s so much more to talk about as one thought leads to another. I did almost two hours without blinking an eye. That’s how much there is to talk about that could mesmerize an audience.

What I learned from that experience is.....you don’t have to “play” songs to entertain people. That is, if you want to “entertain” people. If you want to “entertain” yourself, you play at home. I was always about giving people what I thought they needed to get their minds off their problems and associated stress. And that’s not always “playing.” People who don’t play are fascinated with any kind of insight into the dynamics of playing and listening to music and the latest keyboard technology, and stories, etc. as explained by a professional.

That’s the local libraries. They’re begging for unconventional entertainment.

Now, what do you do with these young technology oriented kids of today that don‘t go to libraries? You go on the high school and college lecture circuit where there’s big money and they’re also looking for unconventionality. Learn inside and out what a synth like Korg is capable of doing, weird futuristic sounds (think the synth in Uptown Funk), making up rhythms on the spot using just the keyboard, using the sequencer to set up La Bamba type backgrounds, using the sampler to sing a duet with yourself, etc. You get my drift by now.

I remember being at an ARP demo back in 1980, in the embryonic stages of synthesizers. The demo song was (theme from) Jaws. The demonstrator set up the sequencer to play that driving suspense line in the background while he played over it. I’ll never forget the huge sound he produced from just two instruments. Of course, HE was a pro and I was a relative amateur at the time. When I got home, I tried doing it myself just for the fun of it. I don’t remember the keyboard I used, (except for the flute after-touch and I think it was a Roland) but the sequencer was a Roland MC500, and for the bass part I programmed a Roland TB-303 bass line. It’s a primitive knockout version I did on the spot, but with a little sprucing up, it would knock the socks off your audience. Attached is the “primitive” version I recorded at home from about 30 years ago.

A lecture/show could include a lot of that kind of stuff and the kids would eat it up. I even predict synth sales might temporarily soar.

I’m all talked out. I have to save some energy to “chastise” Donny now. I can't figure Chas out...he changes personalities more often than Donny changes keyboards.

Gary, that was so observant and brilliant what you said here. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how right you are. Another startling, terrifying, exasperating fact, another episode from the soap opera: As The World Turns. Most time you're an interesting guy, sometimes you're "genius."

BTW: How much did you charge RS to let them use your photo on the cover of a Rolling Stone issue?

Mark

Donny....don't you think it's time you changed your tune and got in touch with reality?

In my case I have to "chase them" now because of a variety of reasons, all centering around an over-supply of musicians or fake musicians and an under-supply of locations to play.

Then there's the AD's, 90% have no idea what their doing. Then the friends of a friend of a friend looking for his first live playing job. The other day I played before the next act....a "professional chorus" singing Xmas carols. The accompanying pianist couldn't even play White Xmas without the music (and she still made mistakes). The singers were so disorganized, I thought I was at a Marx Brothers performance. But one confided to me then were simply locals playing for nothing. Then the "I just want to get out of the house so I'll play for nothing at a Senior place" persons. The high school jazz bands who play for nothing and "know nothing" (about how to play to an audience). The ever reducing budgets. Non-musical entertainment...lecturers, poetry readings, etc. The list goes on and on. It's a losing battle.

There's nothing wrong with "my music" or "my performances." 50 years of playing full time speaks for itself!

As I said before, I'm glad "I saved up my money for a rainy day."

especially if she has great legs, an ear-to-ear smile, and can do the Cucharacha!

Is that why posts almost constantly eventually "go South?" Scott Yee kept the group on course. I miss his enthusiasm for making music and introducing new ideas in "making music."

Arthur Godfrey

How can I fire away when I don't exactly know what guns you're sticking to?