Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Surviving as a fringe musician (was Re: open letter to Torn)



Liebig, Steuart A. wrote:
> 
> Unfortunately, I've been at a club were Eugene made $300 one night, and
> six months later, he  barely made $50 (I know, I paid him-and he got ALL
> the money that night, couldn't even pay the guy who lent him an amp).
> Luckily for him, he did real well in SF the night before, but I don't
> think that it really paid for his airflight . . .
> 
> But perhaps this is only in LA.
> 
> Dave's got kids right? That doesn't seem so promisng to me . . .
> 
> > Just like Eugene Chadbourne...that would be cool!!!!
> > -Rich

I've heard very little of Chadbourne's music, and what I did hear really
irritated me.  However, in an interview about 15 years ago, he outlined
a survival strategy which made a very strong impression on me:

At the time of the interview, he was playing in rural western
Massachusetts taverns, for the door charge.  Typically, there'd be five
to 20 people in the audience, most of whom would leave.  But, he said,
there would almost always be one person who'd driven 200 miles to hear
him, and would buy every tape he had.

And he had about 30 of them, mostly low-fi and possibly duplicated by EC
himself.  By making these available to the Ardent Seekers and True
Believers, he wasn't getting rich... but he didn't have to work a day
job or compromise his music.

The concept made sense to me, and I determined to do the same thing. 
Unfortunately, as my own record producer, I found most of my efforts as
a studio performer were below the level of acceptable mediocrity to
which I aspired.  In fact, my inability to come up with recorded product
was a major reason why I quit gigging.  But the strategy might well be
effective for some of y'all...

John
Troubador Tech (http://people.delphi.com/johnpollock/)