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No disrespect meant Rick, but you seriously can't get gigs that make you more than $50 in Santa Cruz? I live up in the sticks of Norther California and I'm pretty sure our local bands/performers can make more than that just putting on house concert/parties. I'm just asking because that would be really really sad if that is the case. I always assumed that that kind of money was available pretty readily if a) you had any kind of following or friends willing to come out for an evening of whatever and b) you were willing to put all the leg work into creating the gig (which up here is not much more than finding the place and doing some posters/facebook type stuff. Is it the glut of musicians and those who want to be in a place like Santa Cruz that make it so bleak for your finances? Asked respectfully from my full time day job. Kevin On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 4:52 PM, Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com> wrote: > On 1/30/2013 12:24 PM, Daniel Thomas wrote: >> >> Local musicians cannot do all that much about fat cat greed. But we can >> stop playing out for dirt wages. No pearls before swine. > > I really agree with you on this, Daniel, but as someone who's still out > there in the trenches trying to make a living > wage as a performing musician (with a small amount from the dwindling > number > or people who pay to take music lessons) > there are very, very few decent paying gigs any more. > > In the 80's, it was a point of pride to me not to take less that a > couple > of hundred bucks for a gig. > In 2012, I had one gig that paid $60............all others were paid > less > than that. > > I am really interested in playing jazz (one of the historically worst > paying > forms of music there is, admittedly, but also > representing one of the few remaining ways of getting in front of an > audience where, ostensibly, other gigs > and potential students and studio work can be generated). > > In our area the places who pay for jazz musicians to play with offer tips > and a meal or up to $30 and a meal. > I'm struggling to find out some way to keep living doing what I've done > professionally for > the last 35 straight years so I've elected to take those low paying gigs. > > There are still higher paying gigs (in the $100/person range) in Monterey > and Carmel, but there are very, very few of > them and the people who have those gigs are jealously holding onto them. > Wedding, Parties and Bars that have > constant, employable live music have just dwindled to very, very little. > > But as unfair as the sub-liveable wages are, the restaurant where I > play, > weekly, couldn't possibly afford to pay more.............for them, > it's a > labor > of love to have Jazz at their establishment and they are also struggling > financially. > > So, I'm with you but at this point where we live, I wouldn't play ever > in > public if I insisted on a liveable wage. > > It's a tough nut to crack and I'm not wild about it, to be honest. > > respectfully, Rick > -- Till now you seriously considered yourself to be the body and to have a form. That is the primal ignorance which is the root cause of all trouble. - Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)