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Topic: About playing the bright lights.............. |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 19 Dec 2013 9:45 am |
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How many of you actually gave up your day job in order to pursue your musical aspirations and the bright lights with all those Nudie Suits and glitter?
How many of you have lived a life of disappointment because you never were successful in nailing down one of those prestigious high paying, playing jobs with stretched limo's, screaming female fans and all the rest of the glamour that goes with it?
How many of you truthfully..... have enjoyed more, the freedom of playing loose in a local country dance band, playing some 50-60 great songs per night, including instrumentals and never knowing for sure where the song was going without tabs or other clues?
How many of you would today be willing to give it all up in order to play just twenty tunes in your lifetime, night after night, eating crappy restaurant food and having to ride in the back of the bus?
That talent scout from the Grand Ole Opry that was rumored to be darting about in the shadows looking for new, raw talent, probably overlooked me because he felt I had little/no talent.
Anyway, I managed to end up with a lot of little benefits that had I been playing full time, would never have materialized. But still.......... |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 19 Dec 2013 2:13 pm
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| Quote: |
| How many of you truthfully..... have enjoyed more, the freedom of playing loose in a local country dance band, playing some 50-60 great songs per night, including instrumentals and never knowing for sure where the song was going without tabs or other clues? |
You bet, Ray, just tell me the key and play!
The quality of life for local players is often, but not always, much better than it is that for touring folk, as well as the variety of music one gets to play.
As for jumping on the "big-time" wagon or missing out on the fun, I spent many years of my youth wishing I was playing in in a certain mega-band, and convinced that I had what it took to do it. Such fortunes never materialized, but as an audio engineer I have since met and/or worked with most of those folks, and I feel now like I have dodged a bullet. Those whose bodies have not been destroyed by the lifestyle, are decidedly not the sort of folks you want for a neighbor. I'm quite satisfied now that I did not have the "opportunity" then to become one of them... |
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Steve Spitz
From:
New Orleans, LA, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2013 4:07 pm The big time
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| The road work I did had some high points, mostly in retrospect. No real regrets. I wouldn't have learned everything I know about working on cars if I never played the road. |
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Posted 19 Dec 2013 5:55 pm
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My musical and lifestyle role models had day jobs, and had the luxury therefore to regard their band (one of the biggest things in bluegrass in the 70s and 80s) as "our Thursday bowling nights."
The other acts at the festivals all looked like they had it rougher
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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Ed Heins
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2013 6:36 pm
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In the 70s, 80s and early 90s I wrote lots of music and sent it everywhere with no success. After all those years it became evident that the industry at that level took more commitment and risk than I was willing to spend. It still was a good ride for a few years. Some backstage passes and a chance to meet people I felt were my idols until I saw that it was really a job even at the pretty big time. So now I play with friends, some small gigs, free shows and enjoy myself. If the crowd doesn't like the act, they got what they paid for.
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Sierra S-10, GFI SM-10, Martin DM, Fender B250, Peavy Millenium, Ampeg B15N |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 19 Dec 2013 8:57 pm
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i pretty much wished i could get on the stars bus. like dave, i thought i could cut it. but now i'm a bitter miserable old man who failed. ha ha. course i played the same stages earlier in the show and got there in a motorhome instead of a custom bus.
i really am thankful of the millions of hours of jammin the honky tonk circuit. it's the wildest and most enjoyable training camp you can imagine.
i've got friends who ride the big bus, and as cool as that is, they admit it gets old fast.
as ray says, you learn to play anything that comes up-without a clue or a key- just by playing every night in a club. |
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Zeke Cory
From:
Hinsdale, New York USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 5:23 am Still Can't Get Enough ...
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I started playing music in 1962 while also working at a radio station. First played bars and clubs (the Training Camp as Chris called it), then later went on to work the road a while as well. That got old after about 5 or 6 years so it was back to semi local work. Hats off to the guys who play the road, thats a very hard life. For me, I get to play steady and make a good living, and I get to go home to my family most every nite. I have learned that as a musician only, you must also become your own unemployment insurance for those inevitable down times. Still, after all these years, I cannot get enough of the lights, loud music, dancing, and the crowds. I couldn't ask for a better life. I was truly blessed in this regard. I only wish I had another 51 years to do it all over again...
Last edited by Zeke Cory on 20 Dec 2013 6:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Chris Brooks
From:
Providence, Rhode Island
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 5:48 am
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I'm like Zeke.
Played for 23 years, a lot on the road. Learned about Dodge vans and how to stay awake after the Saturday night gig and 2.00 a.m. packup.
Now here I am, living in a rather quirky, artsy Northeastern city, pretty close to relatives, working an interesting and challenging day job helping people learn stuff,and building up my social security.
As you guys have said, The Road looks great--in retrospect. I think of it as the great training ground: those afternoons "in the window" at Tootsie's, the radio and TV shows, my first country steel gig in Fairbanks, playing a concert in the bull ring in Sevilla, 5 guys + equipment in a van driving to Homestead, the rodeos and car-dealer and prison gigs . . .
Today, I take the jobs I want. Just give me the key; the tempo; and tell me whether you want a 1511, a 5551, or a 4511 intro.
Plus I get to play all kinds of gigs. Recently, straight country guitar; straight country steel; Hasidic music on tenor sax; pit band for a college play; alto sax in the college orchestra; jazz guitar in a duo; and a roots/acoustic/singer-songwriter set next week at Narragansett Beer's 123rd Birthday Bash!
No big dreams of "making it." But hey--maybe I *have* made it!
Chris |
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Zeke Cory
From:
Hinsdale, New York USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 6:20 am Chris - you said alot there ...
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| I had to reply to your statement about - "making it". I remember being with a show band at Hershey Park PA. We were opening for Shenandoah. Our drummer said to me something like- now I have made it out of the lowly beginners dancing bar scene to the big time show world. He took offense when I replied about missing the dancing, and about only playing a one hour show. All my bar & club experience was that when people were dancing, you were doing your job. I was ill at ease with the crowd just setting there staring at you. And secondly, and honestly, I usually aint worth a s**t for the first hour or so till I get loosened up. As far as "making it", mine came when I realized where I was meant to be - back in a 4 hour dance atmosphere where I could just go off and jam on something at will versus playing the same 15 songs the same way 7 days a week. Like you said - making it to each of us means to be where you are most happy. IMHO that is ... |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 6:21 am
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| I enjoyed both road work and club work, but road work was much more tiring, and less financially rewarding. I quit college to go on the road with a local singer, only to quit road work and go back to college a year later, smarter and wiser for the experience. Of course, the "fame, fortune, and stretch limos" never came to mind, because there weren't any (for sidemen) in '60s country music. At best, there were tour buses, which we were lucky enough to have. But they were, at best, cramped and constrictive (though it did make me feel kinda special...stepping off that '49 Brill to greet the locals). The later club work allowed me to have a very comfortable day-job, and to not have to sell possessions to eat and pay the rent. Yes, I still wonder what would have happened if I'd taken the job Del Reeves offered me back in the '60s, but I'm pretty sure I'm better off that I would have been with a life of nothing but m-u-sic. |
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Bob Hickish
From:
Port Ludlow, Washington, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 9:22 am
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| Quote: |
Quote:
How many of you truthfully..... have enjoyed more, the freedom of playing loose in a local country dance band, playing some 50-60 great songs per night, including instrumentals and never knowing for sure where the song was going without tabs or other clues? |
I never know there was any other another way ! Most every one or every band I’v played in where there for the fun and to blow out the cobwebs from from the day job . maybe like the days you just played music on the front porch .
that was the bright lights for us -- I guess its what I would call accidental music or music by default - or even, not being a real musician - I wouldn’t trade it for anything .  |
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David Spires
From:
Millersport, OH
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 2:52 pm
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Ray,
I left my engineering career in 2005, to pursue my dream of playing for a living. I can tell you that I have never regretted that decision. That doesn't mean choosing this lifestyle has been easy on me. It certainly has taken a toll in different ways: days and nights away from loved ones, having to live with co-workers, a schedule that isn't my own, etc... but I know I would have never tested myself personally or musically as much as I have, or been able to learn from all the wonderful musicians I have gotten to work with, if I hadn't taken the chance.
I suppose I have eaten and slept in every extreme good/bad situation you could dream up, and even some you can't dream up. I think musicians who spend time on the road have a little 'kinship', because you kind of have to live it a bit to understand it.
Everyone makes different choices - hopefully based on what they want in life, and I am glad I made the one I did. Although --- I do giggle to myself when I think back to being 18 yrs old, and telling Hal Rugg that I wanted to "do what he gets to do for a living"... He laughed in a way I didn't understand then...
David Spires |
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Jim Bob Sedgwick
From:
Clinton, Missouri USA
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Posted 20 Dec 2013 3:44 pm
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It's easy to make a million bucks on the road. Just start with two million  |
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Rick Schacter
From:
Portland, Or.
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