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  • What to Do?

    I've got all these things, tools for fun. At 52 years of age, it's kind of ridiculous. Model flying helicopters in the living room. A pool table. The X-box for I-Wish-I-was-Racing. The website. And then, the grail, the recording studio. A heaping mound of sound making stuff, more than anybody in their right mind should have. The home owner's insurance people refused to cover the musical equipment. They said that anybody with that much equipment has gotta be a pro, and they don't cover equipment that's hauled around to gigs.

    I've been fortunate in my life to be able to accumulate so much hardware, but it all just reflects my preferences. Much like y'all's hotrods. Hey if you like it, you gather it.

    But I'm real concerned about keeping the day job that allows me to have such toys. It could go away any time. And it's hard to explain how much fun it is to make music. And music doesn't pay, except for a rare chosen few. And who decides that? Who "makes it?" It's a mystery to anybody who has played out.

    Tonight before I go to bed, I am shuffling through some old songs, thinking about this versus that. It's weird to listen to your own stuff. You hear evey mistake, when everybody else just listens past it.

    I thought long and hard...my buddy Chuck and I played a bunch of gigs, just me and the Dobro and him on acoustic guitar, in SC. One night a lady asked the stand-in harmonica player..."Are they GOOD?" She'd never heard the blues before, was really asking. We were playing to folks who literally didn't know what we were doing. But it was fun - they fed us supper, they gave us beer, they LET us play, and at the end of the evening, they handed us MONEY. Not a lot, but enough to make my sidekick Chuck say, "Is this a great country, or WHAT?"

    So I'm really starting to wonder about a fallback. I don't think music is it. It doesn't pay. All that to say and display...if I have any talent or not, it doesn't really matter in the scheme of things. You have to be young and look good to "make it," the music is secondary. Or tertiary.

    To pull my pants down right here, this studio song among all others is the best I can do. I can't play any better than this:



    And I'm thinking on the day that we get a new HR manager and I have to explain to him or her what I do....I'm gonna be shopping. I work in a dying industry anyway. Not a good feeling overall.

    Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

  • #2
    Re: What to Do?

    Kinda know where you're coming from, I'm 53. Not that I'm as talented as you are in our respective fields but what I have found is a niche. I'm a fossil but by some good grace, I've ended up in unique positions. I'm sure you'll find the same if and when push comes to shove.
    Tom
    Overdrive is overrated


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    • #3
      Re: What to Do?

      Not sure what you're saying here,kinda like a dog chasing it's own tail,am unclear what
      your meaning is.Worried about your job(everybody is)?If your passion is music,keep
      at it,to hell with ins.co.Do it cuz you like it.I got tired of working for others(good and bad)
      and focused on what I like.Always been interested in hot rods and the stock market.
      Have made $40,000.00 in 6 weeks sitting on my butt,and slowly putting my Model A
      Ford together.Own everything free and clear so why not?No,I'm not wealthy,but am
      enjoying my life,altho of modest means.I don't need much.
      Calypornya...near the beach

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      • #4
        Re: What to Do?

        I have a friend who is a great musician..... and makes his money as a producer - seems your talents are about the same as his


        check that I know two producers - one is a singer who makes no money at it, but makes his money as a producer in Tenn.
        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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        • #5
          Re: What to Do?

          Peewee

          All we can do is our best, and do our best to choose the right path when we are at a fork in life's road.

          My brother was squeezed out of radio after 10 years as a pretty major player in the Indy market.
          (had the #2 morning show next to Bob and Tom before they got syndicated)

          He had always wanted to be an on air DJ - started in our highschool station - continued in college, then his first real job was in Bloomington, IN, before he moved up to the Indy market.

          He was out of a job, two young boys, a wife that worked for not much money, a mortgage - etc --- the same place lots of people are in these days.

          He'd always done parties and weddings as a side job and was pretty good at it - but had never taken it all too seriously.

          He decided that was his best bet - and started to try new and different ways of filling his calendar with events.

          For over 6 years now he's been doing the wedding DJ thing full time - he charges $2500 and up, he generally fills his calendar with 36 weddings a year by April...he gets a lot of business through referrals - and has done many sisters / cousins etc....working for the same extended family several times. He has done many weddings where the florist bill was over $5k -- and the cake near $1k, not to mention the cost of some of the dresses. In his experience the DJ cost is generally cheaper by some margin than a good live band....

          Weddings and funerals - they continue through good times and bad....

          If you love music and are flexible enough and entertaining enough to play at events like weddings, birthday parties, reunions, etc --- you CAN make a living at it, he's living proof.
          There's always something new to learn.

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          • #6
            Re: What to Do?

            As far a your talent - this from a guy who has hung out at the edges of the music business a little and I've played with a couple of really GREAT players who didn't quite make the big time and a LOT of so-so players who were still way better than I am.

            You are a considerably better than average picker and should be proud of your skills in that department. I like your songs but I have no clue about mass audience appeal - I'm a blues freak so I can't be unbiased in that department. Your voice is OK - but it CAN be refined. I wouldn't have believed that until I saw the people Mary Ellen has worked with. There are techniques that a voice teacher can help with and it can extend your range and help you be a bit more pitch-perfect. So I'm suggesting that while you have a day job you might want to find a voice teacher and see what happens. I don't have the lung power to follow my own advise on this one or I would - reduced lung capacity from a mis-spent youth. You have most of the package to play bars, county fairs, and the like - and there's money in that.

            The other Big Secret in music is that you're always better if you're "not from here". The band I was in in HS was pretty good, with a GREAT lead singer/guitarist (and disgustingly handsome - one of the good ones I've played with). Anyhow, we were "OK" in Milford Michigan. We got a gig in Toledo, Ohio (about 70 miles away) and when we got there we were the headliners! We couldn't believe it. There were like 3 other bands and we were the stars. We played well and the people went nuts for us. So it's better to be from somewhere else, from my experience. Makes it a hard way to make a living as you're gone from home a lot. Are you sure that's what you and Sue Unit want?

            I decided on a day job in the Gov and played for several years at parties, etc. with a pretty good band. I got out of it when I realized that I was the "weakest link" and I didn't want "IT" like the other guys did. So I stepped aside. Still, Music IS fun to make.

            As far as your day job - don't sell yourself short (you've met me - not a stature joke!). I'm sure you're providing the company something they need or you would have been out on your butt by now. Especially in this economy, they don't keep people on the payroll for nostalgia's sake. I suggest that instead of asking yourself why they should can you that you begin asking what you bring to the table that no one else does/can. I'm betting you're WAY too hard on yourself.

            Dan

            OOPS! Almost forgot - on the insurance. ME's out of town but I'll check with her. I know she insures the fiddles thru the Suzuki Association (makes it affordable) and she carries liability insurance thru the National String Teacher's organization. I'll wager there's similar coverage available for serious amateurs like yourself. I suspect she'll know who does this.

            Dan

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            • #7
              Re: What to Do?

              Your insurance agent considers your equipment "pro" ?? that's bogus. You have a older, small digital HD recorder, some mics, and some other stuff. My advice: shop around. You're getting hosed. I insure about $80,000 of recording gear and it didn't add much to my homeowner's policy, since I do NOT do it "commercially"

              I tend towards more "pop" production than your stuff. I *like* your music though, you are obviously creative - and a good picker.

              The only equipment I had to get a separate policy for, was for the equipment I used to take on the road with me. Drums, mics, a small mackie mixer, etc.

              -scott
              www.realtuners.com - catch the RealTuners Radio Podcast on Youtube, Facebook, iTunes, and anywhere else podcasts are distributed!

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              • #8
                Re: What to Do?

                Thanks so much for the words, guys. This forum is truly something special, for sure. And I guess I shouda labeled that one ***rant*** before I ever started.

                I can tell you two things for a fact.

                1. I'm painting our back porch. I stayed out there over 8 hours yesterday and got way too hot (90 degrees ambient) five or six times. I'd do all I could before I was drenched with sweat and huffing and puffing and come into the house and lie down in front of the air cleaner, catching a breeze. Meanwhile I was fixing that with beer, so by bedtime I was probably not in a completely stable frame of mind.

                2. BUT delerium is often truth serum, and all I expressed concern for is completely true. But my story is either way too long to tell or way too common to be of any value, in today's economy. The bigger picture is I'm going crazy. Waiting for the hammer to fall after 34 years of doing all I've ever done for a living with the same company. And I don't know who's holding the hammer. Any minute, it seems by my own imagination, at least. It's agonizing. And too I realize that worrying about a job is far better than not having one. So at least as of yesterday evening, I was way off base.

                I harped for a while to Unit about it, but I had to stop. It was only dragging her down, and bless her heart, she IMAGINES things to worry about. She sure doesn't need anything real on the list.

                But a common thing I'm sure. Thanks so much for the boost and advice, guys. I love you all, even those of you I haven't met yet. I'll meet ya. I'm working on it.

                peewee
                Charter member of the Turd Nuggets

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