Seattle has just issued an order to stop ALL live music performances for 30 days.
This cancels 1246 gigs, puts 320 entertainers out of work,
and results in a loss of nearly $476.50.

So they’ll probably be living on easy street once we get the $1000 checks that Trump is promising!

I'm getting a $20,000 check ...since I voted for him...and also the next election.

I don't care what Nigel says..

Good one Don!!

Haha, brave man. I would have too.

Boy you sure are a poor judge of character. Too many years in the music business of beliving what those club owners and agents told you.

What I think of is all these venues getting back to normal but trying to makeup for lost time. What's the first to go to cut the budget ?--Entertainment. And that includes NH, Do without it long enough and it will be forgotten and deemed unnecessary. As a side story friends of mine, and excellent husband and wife duo, Ross2, have been doing between 2-4 nights at a popular place in Shelter Cove Marina, a hotspot on Hilton Head. Due to husbands health issues the wife hired a new manager. So he has to prove he can improve things,- first cut ? Ross2 from and average of three nights to one.

Glad I didn't get back into it. Very sorry for the current entertainers though. Perhaps it will turn around at some point, but I tend to agree that once they figure out they can do without it...

Speaking about changes in the entertainment business, reminds me of the scene from Woody Allen's "Broadway Danny Rose." A bunch of guys are sitting around after their jobs (in this case comedians, but could just as well be be musicians) complaining about how the jobs are drying up and the business is changing. My band used to the same thing all the time probably as early as the late seventies. We would curse the DJs and the guys that were downsizing to duos or trios to save money. Of course, as we eventually figured out, the business (and life) is constantly changing and you have no choice but to adapt.

Funny, I don't care what Fran thinks either..

Bad news for the entertainer --- loss of income –
worried about the future????

If I were still entering, I would be happy they canceled the jobs. Can you imagine showing up for a job with 150 possible carriers of something I wanted no part of.

At this time, it is better to be at home, count your blessings.
Just saying, John C.

I lied, I did too 'cause I thought Nigel was going to put me in "time out"

FINALLY, the cat is out of the bag !!!
For many years now I have been wondering why this old man has been extolling the virtues of an arranger keyboard that gradually is demanding its space in a museum and not only that but maintaining it is still the best or at least one of the very best arranger keyboards around....
Delusional ?
Don't know about that but he voted for TRUMP and believe it or not , he is going to vote TRUMP again.
Puzzle solved, me thinks.......

regards
John

I would of SELF CANCELLED immediately if I was still active.

Hi Donny - yep, I did that yesterday for this Saturday's restaurant job. Just don't need to put myself (or others) in any worse danger than we already may be. The manager of the restaurant said they have seen patronage really fall off and are doing mostly take out now. I won't miss the gig and will stay hunkered down and will continue hoping for the best for all of us.

randy smart move ....
now you have more time to work on your music....

have fun

We couldn't in any good conscience put ourselves into any AL venues. How callous would that be? Most of them are locked down anyway. And that's a good thing.

Just got canceled for my April monthly ... don't know why they waited this long, but it saved me from telling them I wasn't going ...

All restaurants in RI have been shut down by the Governor - take out or delivery only at least until March 30 ...
Not that we are going anywhere ...

This new reality is quite a challenge. What a peaceful time we just had recently. I’m thinking about finding some job in delivery – just want to ride my car and deliver some things; it should provide me with some pocket money and keep me sane. Staying at home reading news is probably going to be much more harmful that the virus itself.

But as I had an ambition to become a composer or a songwriter, I guess, facing these challenges should be some source of emotions to me, which will transform into music later.

As we can judge now, the virus is not really that harmful; only numbers without the context can be frightening; but these anticipations, problems with the economy, they produce a lot of stress.

I guess, a lot of political stuff, which seemed to be so important before, now really looks as empty as it really is.

And, maybe, this is the lesson to be learnt. People saw other people as source of their problems and unhappiness; now we have an enemy which is not like people at all. Scientists of all countries unite and work hard, doctors work hard; and governments are now really need to show themselves as good managers.

In the same time, while we share one common threat right now, or an idea of it, a lot of personal stuff is going on with everyone, and objectively speaking, that stuff can be more important. For example, I often see a man not far from my house, who looks like a good man, he walks together with his daughter, who obviously has some serious disorder. I see how he’s tired of it and still committed to it (no signs of a mother); till recently his daughter was walking by herself, but last time I saw her in a wheelchair. So I probably should feel ashamed if I feel that the risk of getting some flu makes me very special. Life sometimes seems wonderful, sometimes it doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes it looks like people build a great society, sometimes it looks like one just wants to enslave another.

But what inspires me is how each one has his purpose. In some way I believe, that when a person doesn’t have this feeling of a purpose, that’s when he becomes a negative version of a human being. I know a doctor, a woman and my former neighbor, she’s been a doctor for all her long life and as she said, she had always known what she was supposed to be.

I’m also inspired by how beautiful this world is. It makes you believe that any sorts of evil is some sort of abnormality.

Well, probably I’m trying to distract myself with these reflections. While doing that, I concluded, that too much work/effort/obsession eventually turns into making stupid mistakes and bad decisions.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to communicate with you all; after all, everything in life would be meaningless if it can’t be shared with other people.

That's a good thing T...stay safe

Yes, it's amazing how 'groups' can get together to fight a common cause ...

Beautiful sentiments, Sergey, thank you ...

Sergey,

Maybe you should be a writer. You sure have a great command of the English language and a great way to express yourself - very uplifting, thank you.

Sergey, that was beautifully said. Thank you.
I'm thinking that non-Americans may misinterpret the original message, as it was joke because the amount of income lost by the "musicians in Seattle" was so ridiculously small.
Of course none of that was true.
However, there certainly is a big problem with our ability to work, interact and carry on normal lives. Sergey is exactly right with his thoughts.
I can survive without my income, but believe me there will have to be compromises made to compensate for it.

I had been piano solo weekly and that gig has been canceled. What baffles me here in Central Florida around The Villages many restaurants are still open and people are going in to sit down and dine. Many other restaurants have opted for take out only. Starbucks & Dunkin Donuts are take out only, but Panera is still open and you can order food and eat in. They have separated the tables so there’s no one within about 8 feet of those who choose to dine in one. WE WON’T BE DINING IN THAT’S FOR SURE!

Sergei,

That’s a great commentary with a wonderful message!!

Totally agree. You are a wise young man.

Haha, I missed the decimal point in the $476.50.

Still had to agree with Fran, though. Haha

The big financial crisis, a few years back, the government at the time was so busy splashing out money, they were sending $1,000 cheque’s to
Citizens who lived overseas, who had no intention of stimulating our economy.
Dead people, who’s relatives happily cashed them.
and Dogs who had been given human names.

It would have been laughable except they were squandering money from decent people who paid taxes.

Thank goodness the other side of politics is in charge this time round. Haha

In Washington state, which I resided in back in the late 1960s, the pay scale for a nite club musician, single act, have guitar will travel guy, was, on average, $25 for a 4-hour performance, plus free food and beer. And, they were damned glad to get it!

From what I am able to determine, mainly from OMB entertainers I know throughout the nation, most restaurants and nite clubs pay $100 for week nights, and $150 for Friday and Saturday. The only exception I know of is the casinos, which tend to pay about twice that amount. However, casino jobs are hard to come by, at least around here.

So, Don, your pay scale might not have been that far off the mark.

All the best,

Gary

Kabinopus, your depth is the most precious part of you. There is so much that you see that most others do not, or cannot. The way you described the little girl walking with her father – then you saw her in a wheel chair, and then wrote, no mother. I am impressed.
I wish there one of you here in the states, you would be my special friend.
Take time and put some of your music to the thoughts you shared today. Give it a special name.

Thank you, John C.
PS, you made the world a bit sweeter today.

So did you, John C.

Gary...did that bring back memories! I remember....working seven nights a week including Monday's, Tuesday's, etc. The places were packed with people...at the bar...on the dance floor. I would throw my equipment (accordion and amp) into the trunk of my 1965 Chevy, setup was 5 minutes (plug the cable into the instrument and the other end into the amp). Strict dress code...either a tuxedo or a sport jacket. And every job paid the same for years...$25 CASH! (a heck of a lot in those days!).

Sergey, that was moving.

You deserve my respect and admiration.

Russ

In the 60s $25per man for a four hour wedding or dance was union scale - double for the leader for booking the gig, filing the contract, etc. ... with our band, the double went into a kitty which we used to purchase PA systems, tuxedos, etc. etc ...

In the early 60's I was with the "house band" for the most popular place in the area "The Golden Horse Inn"..

Pay scale was $12 a man for 5 hour gig.

19 years old wearing a tux and an accordion

in the 50's and 60's I too played the accordian aka the stomach steinway
and if we got $20 a night it was a good job.
MEL

We played a wedding at "The Pisa", one of the Brooklyn 'wedding factories', (they were called that for the number of rooms they had) ... so the general manager hears us and tells the guy who had the 'house band' contract to hire us, and have us play there ... The agent wanted to pay us $15 a man ... we said scale is $25 or we don't play ... the gm said "pay them"
In those days, you did not argue with the gm of a catering hall in Brooklyn ...
It was a great deal for us ... we would call the agent on a Wednesday and he would fill in any open spots in our weekend ...

Kabinopous, your talking and your "playing" are the same....deeply mired in emotion. That was a compliment.

I've been thinking about this for a long time now. Pop music has absolutely no melody to it these days. The attraction to young people, who are pretty much lost in life, is the...."message" with the song being the "carrier." Stupid lyrics like: "Baby, my eyes are open now, I see you like I never did before, come back to me and we'll make it work now and forever." I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. People let the song lyrics say what they are unable to express to each other.

So...why don't you take your song writing strengths and combine it with your philosophical and emotional thoughts/messages (like you expressed above) and make some money writing good music with good words?

Instead of your repetitious "come back to me, baby" written into every song made in the last 20 years, maybe an original song with some of your thoughts stated above integrated into it. I think people are ready for something like this and the musical world can do with some of the same. I can see you writing and putting lyrics to a song like the Windmills of Your Mind. That song is 100% you.

Up to the 70's, most songs were about "love" in some way, shape or form. I referred to them as "love songs." I refer to today's junk music as "message songs" (with mindless messages).

Tony I played there many times years ago also....

Donny, I was thinking you may have, that's why I put the name in ...
Even though we lived in Staten Island, Lydia's sister had her wedding there ...

Wedding band days we played every Hall and much more..