To me, Music is ART, SCIENCE, MATH, EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION, and so much more.
To sit in with Yes or Genesis, or some Prog rock giant.
THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK.
As a toddler, The Muppets.... Then as a young kid, classic Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.
ELP, RUSH, YES, GENESIS, TRAFFIC, MARILLION, IRON MAIDEN, THE BEATLES, PINK FLOYD, JETHRO TULL, DEEP PURPLE, ect...
LIFE.
DONT FUCK WITH ME.
DEPENDS UPON THE AUDIENCE.
STOP DOING STUPID THINGS TO GET MONEY FROM THE MUSIC BUSINESS. STOP ACTING LIKE CIRCUS FREAKS ! DONT LET THE POP MACHINE USE YOU LIKE A FASHION MODEL. MAKE REAL MUSIC. PRACTICE! GO TO MUSIC SCHOOL!!!
Time will tell!
Why so many Shitty corporate clubs and “Big Shot” promoters are KILLING our local Entertainment Scene By: Mike Randolph of Ja... AUGUST 21, 2018 · PUBLIC So many bars/clubs & PROMOTERS (BIG BASH, ENTERTAINMENT, AFTON MUSIC, GORILLA ENTERTAINMENT, etc.) in & around the Pittsburgh area simply don't wanna pay. Many places clear $3,000, $4,000, even $5,000 profit on a good weekend night, yet, typically bar bands get $250-$500 bux here. Some club owners and promoters act so anal/lethargic when it comes time to honour their agreement with bands/entertainment. With so many confused, the local live music scene is suffering severely. See, contrary to the belief of so many club owners, it's not the bands responsibility to promote! Professional entertainers, are not paid to promote, not for time, materials, or costs to post to large audiences. Promotion/advertising is a responsibility charged to professional promoters, who are supposed to post ads, band photos, print flyers, or paint a billboard. The promoter helps the club/venue owner with attracting a crowd into their establishment. Good food, drink specials & crowds of sexy people are more than enough promotion to build a good regular customer fan base in the real world. If selling something good, at a fair price, a clean establishment with polite staff, can make a killing here. Now, having established the jobs of the promoter, and the club owner, let us expound upon the responsibility of the Entertainers! The Bands job is to ENTERTAIN the crowd, and any good entertainer shows respect for the venue owners by talking to the crowd & keeping that audience hungry/thirsty! The entertainers should always take half a moment to tell the crowd to respect servers & bartenders and tip well. A good band doesn't mind taking a little extra time to help the venue advertise for the show, but it's not really our job. My bands usually supply venues with full color flyers & often practically take club owners by the hand to explain why advertising for us before our show will help them do more business. Many club owners here expose themselves for their inexperience/ignorance, by suggesting they take all the bar sales, and let the band split the door money. The main problem with that is: Suppose admission is $5. That means 50 people paying to enter = $250. The band's expected to split $250 bux 5 ways. equaling about $40-$50 bux each member - but if 50 people each buy 5 drinks (just about enough to catch a buzz) at $5 a drink, the bar makes $1,250, because 50 people would be spending $25 each to drink, and that's not even figuring in tips!!! (Not to mention, the band has to pay for every drink& every scrap of food.) Why is it fair for one bar owner to make that kind of money pouring drinks, while the entertainers trained most of our lives to perfect an art, lug & load all the gear, lights, pa & sound equipment, and instruments, then work hard to perform for a 3-4 hr show & tear it all down, load out up or down stairs & carry it all home? If 100 people bought 5 drinks each at $5 pr drink, that equals $2,500 not including tips!!! Why is it so hard for them to hand us our fucking $500??? They all try that same shit! "We didn't make any money! Boo-Hoo-Hoo!!!" Sorry, but that's Not the bands fault!!! One prime example is an owner who promised us Thursday nights, starting any Thursday we wanted. Then, after we started advertising and negotiations were to be concluded, he decided to change our night to Wednsday, & make Thursday another DJ night. How Brilliant? That would'a fuct us, cause Thursday is really the new Friday on Carson street, but Southside is super empty on Wednsdays. The same club owner wanted us to play all night Wednsday for the door money, while he took ALL the BAR profits. After doing the math I showed you above, would you be willing to go for such a deal? LOL!!! I DIDN'T THINK SO!! LOL!!! Good musicians are not stupid, or too greedy! We would have settled for $400-$500 bux. We never did play that bar, & that's a shame, cause we were willing to build a reggae night there from the ground up. Now, here's the real kicker... Out in the middle of nowhere, small town clubs might take a total of $500-$1000 on a good night, but they appreciate the band so much, they keep their agreements with us! They pay us $500, $600, or even $700, usually hook us all up with free food & drinks and once the booze starts flowin' out in the country, just watch the women! They get a few drinks in 'em, start dancin' & takin' their clothes off, while the husbands look on! They're so happy with the caribbean music & vibes, they often invite us back before it's even time to leave! I can tell you why these local club owners are so stingy, 2 words describe the real reason. GREED and DISRESPECT Much of the local bands fighting over bread crumbs is largely because Greedy production companies of Big Bash Entertainment, (formerly Joker Productions) are attempting to control the entire music business scene in our city, by importing bands & entertainers from all over the country to come play pre-arranged, scheduled shows on a corporate bill. When I contacted Big Bash Entertainment to attempt to obtain booking info, they actually told me in writing they don't pay local bands. Local bands are used chiefly to sell tickets for the "national" "touring" acts, then they MAY get a cut, but - there's no guarantee of any pay at all, they said... we'd be working only for exposure. So, they usher bands from around the country by plane, or tour bus, most likely pampering them with perdeum, and hotel accommodations as well, while a local band twice their age, and skill levels are used like cashiers to promote, and sell tickets for the event they will open for in their hometown. So, these are some of the main reasons why local bands are struggling to float in our city. We must travel over an hr away from the lights, money, and crowds of the city, where all the commerce is centrally located. Away from all the crowds of college/university students, thriving business districts, theater strips,and densely populated residential neighborhoods, to recluse way out into the sleepy, little, economically starving, rust belt ghost towns far away because so many of these jive wannabe corporate club owners are afraid of getting hit with a law suit from A.S.C.A.P./B.M.I. so, many wanna be corporate club owners now only book D.J.s/Entertainers through talent agencies based in other areas far away. Seems like we have a long way to go as a cultural society, to actually becoming a better audience as well as promoting and supporting local musicians.
I WAS TRAINED IN MUSIC SCHOOL ON HOW TO BEHAVE AS PART OF AN AUDIENCE.
Genuine musical skills.
JAHOUIJA BONES