I thought people moves to the Villages to have fun. Damn you people sound "old"
Get off my lawn !!!

LOL Only kidding.

We are old! Drinking and dancing is big here as are drunk golf cart driving arrests, it’s an eye opener in more ways than one. Been there done that in my mid-spent youth. We took up pickle ball do a lot of bike riding, shoot pool, hang out by the pool.

Speaking of eye openers here’s one for you
https://www.lakeandsumterstyle.com/the-untold-stories-of-the-villages/

Playing, entertaining, interacting at parties where kids need to be entertained. You've got to ask yourself: "do I do entertainment for ME and play what I want to play, or do I do it to make people happy which translates to “do I try to make the world a better place through my musical skills? If it’s the former, it’s OK to do whatever floats your boat. But if you want to keep working (and making money) rather than moan about the times.....adapt.....like Donny says: either work on fitting into a new groove or.....sit it out at the train station.

I chose to adapt in the past. Sure I was hesitant and uneasy with each new change but as I began to take possession of each new role I was entering I found the change to be quite therapeutic. Woke me up out of my hum-drum. Life was never meant to be static. The human body and mind was never meant to decompose from non-usage.

I was smart enough (and lucky enough) to be able to adapt to all the changes over the years. Well, all the changes up to now....now they're coming too fast to get a handle on them.

But it went like this for me. Started, like most of us...a musician playing my instrument…the accordion. Realized I eventually needed to sing so I took years of singing lessons. Saw the arranger age coming and slowly transitioned to my first arranger keyboard…a Casio. Then realized there's money to be made in the "piano circuit" so I spent time polishing up my piano chops ‘cause the piano is a whole lot different than an arranger. Next, DJ's came into vogue. That meant another year transitioning into that starting in the early 90's. Did most of my work as a DJ at parties at night and a musician during the day at the nursing homes for the next 20 years. During my DJ years, I found I liked the freedom to move around and the enjoyment of "listening" to music now instead of playing it but eventually I became bored just standing around spinning records. So I began developing “patter” with the audience, singing with Karaoke tracks during the DJ performance, and going out on the floor and interacting with the people. Next, when I ran through that phase, I found I really enjoyed working with the kids and for a few years that’s what I did. Became the circus master. Whatever kind of party I DJ’d, I made it a point to get the kids worked up with party games and whatever dancing they could relate too. Got to the point where I was doing 3-4 hours mostly working the kids. We were all happy.....me.....working with the children and feeling important giving them the attention their parents didn’t, me.....picking up a big paycheck for the “specialty” work, the kids.....having fun with a temporary father/authority figure that they needed (me), and.....the parents.....as one parent put it to me one day: “thanks for taking them off my hands for a few hours!”

I’ve been lucky that I had the ability to shift gears all those times. But the real talent is working hard at what you‘re walking into. I have to give myself credit. I worked ferociously.....really really hard and put countless hours into learning every one of my new “musical careers” I was starting at every step of the way. I didn’t walk into anything blindly.

Kids are great to work with if you know your stuff.....what songs to play, playing kid’s games, determining what they will react to both musically and verbally, realizing how they need a “leader” to follow because many of them are lost in today’s complex environment having no parental guidance, etc. The best part…..after working with them for a few hours, you walk away feeling young again, rejuvenated, refreshed and mostly.....the innocence of the children reminds you the world is really a beautiful place when you get the adults out of the picture!
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Mark adds the next morning after a good night's sleep:

When I say "kids" I mean up to around ages 14-15. After that they start to approach "unruly" stage.

Thought a lot about what I wrote above. At this stage of my life, I could easily throw in the towel. The creature (music industry) attacks with so many tentacles now you don't know which one to address first. Maybe it's time to pull a "Gary" and "Donny" and bow out gracefully!

I had over 400 students in my music store/school, the school was the major source of income. Back in those days the accordion ruled. We had accordion bands, groups, accordion everything. When accordion sales began to go down, I was not sure what I had to do.

One of my customers said “John you must go with the flow”. She was right, R&R was here to stay, and accordions were on their way out. Then came jokes like; He was a bad guy, so he was sent to hell, and for extra punishment we were going to put an accordion player in with him. The accordion had its day.

I switched to guitar everything. My business continued to prosper. Accordion students were few.

Those of us who have a choice are fortunate. Feed my business, or feed myself. It’s my life and my business, and whatever I decide is right for me. Amen!

Why did I leave New York I 1984? I’m glad you asked. Because I was playing more and more R&R on the job. I had to be true to myself, so I moved to Florida, R&R was not ruling at that time.

Now I could still be selling accordions, and still be playing R&R, but being what someone else wants you to be eliminates most of the joy in one’s life.

Just saying, John C.
This keeps rolling in my head: Either relieve yourself, or get off the pot.

Ah, the dichotomy! You can play music and instruments you like and starve, or research the market and play what pays.

For instrumentalists...particularly, jazz instrumentalists, while your ability grows, your potential audience shrinks.

That's why so many jazz musicians end up incarcerated, committed or dead.

I'm a cop-out. I did find a way to play and get paid, but it is playing 2nd fiddle to a ham sandwich or playing scores behind images of trucks, fried chicken, pizza and staircases.

A small part of me will always regret the decisions I made.
I did provide a good life for my family and help thousands along the way.

For the rest of my life, I will live on my SS and retirement and give the rest away. I have contracts thru 2025 that pay in the mid-6 figures. My enjoyment will be derived from what that money can do for others and supporting my son and another business partner who need me to write the scripts, take the pictures, design the research projects, do rough layouts, etc.

And (cross my heart), hopefully, music will be a part of everything I do until I die.


Russ

Mark
Good points. I like you went thru the changes of the business but moving here has really put me at a disadvantage. I don't play guitar, don't know or like most of the stuff they play here, and I'm not the right age bracket for most of the jobs.
I miss working with kids as a teacher. I had a lot of fun with them, especially the Middle schoolers. Maybe because mentally I'm 12 years old sometimes ! Its does kep you young.
PLaying and singing is still my #1 thing and I do it whenever I can. DJing I do for the money but I do do enjoy making people happy.
I haven't bowed out yet but just pick and choose what I feel like doing as I don't depend on the money as I used to.
Hang in there and just find what you enjoy, you can't do it all anymore..

I can't help it but the mental picture of a golf cart getting a DUI is funny to me.
That artical make the Villages sound terrible, who would live there ! Wink Wink
My Father in Law wanted to buy a place there and never did. I wish he would of.

Bill, I had a couple friends that lived there, the golf carts are absolutely wild looking, and that place was party central. Everyone seemed happy and really enjoying life. I tried to get my wife to move to the Florida Keys 35 years ago, but she didn't want to move away from her family, which we saw an average of twice a year. I'm pretty confident we would have seen them a lot more if we lived in the Keys - especially in the winter.



Gary

There is even a case now where a guy driving DWI had a woman fall out of his golf cart. He had just picked her up at one of the local watering holes. After she fell off and was unconcious he dragged her into the bushes . She died of her injuries there's a lawyer trying to get the driver off now claiming it was her fault she fell off.

The Villages is a great fun place but like anywhere in the world when you get 120,000 plus residents there's bound to be problems.

We just got back from one of the town squares, this evening they had a Camaro Car Show and one of the best bands here Rocky and the Rollers played. Below is a link to a few photos I took to give you an idea what Friday night is like.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmBrQJrT