PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Here's how the restaurants and bars feel about musicians...even when they do pay them.

It is dismal, to be sure. I have not played for my living in 25 years, and I won't go back to it now even being retired and not needing the money. There are just things I won't do, and every live act does them. I refuse to play that lowest common denominator copycat set list. If my original music is not good enough to hold the crowd's interest, then I am not good enough at songwriting. I will not play if there are TVs on in the room. I am the entertainment. Pay attention to ME. Once again, if they do not pay attention to me, it is because I am not good enough. If it's a big game night, like an Ohio State football game, don't book entertainment, or book a short set night after the game is over, at which point you must TURN THE DAMNED TV OFF! And while you are switching things off, turn off any video games as well.

And don't expect to hear any Jimmy Buffet, Van Morrison or Skynard cliche songs. Not from me. You will hear 2 sets of 45 minutes each, containing 10 Eastside Eddie songs, and maybe ONE selected cover, done in my own arrangement, not exactly like a CD. If you want them to sound liek the CD, play CDs. If you don't like my songs, then I apologize because I failed as a songwriter and I promise that I will work harder at it. I like being in a position where I don't care if I play live again or not. I completely understand people who play music for a living doing what they have to do to draw people and keep them there. It's just not for me. I did it for years when I needed the money to pay bills. Now I don't, so I won't. I love being retired. And financially solvent.

I miss "music clubs" like everybody else does. I HATE the thought of having to play in restaurants where you can't set up until 15 minutes before starting time because they want to turn those 4 tables where they stash the entertainment "just one more time". If I play at 9, I want to set up at 3, sound check thoroughly so I have time to troubleshoot any problems, and come back to play at 9. My take on people who refuse to do that is that they are lazy and don't care about their craft enough to do so. That is just my opinion. (I have heard MANY players tell me "I'm not driving there twice.") Feel free to flame me if you like. Also feel free to fumble with an equipment problem at 9pm when there are no music stores open to buy whatever you need to replace in order to fix the problem and save the gig.

Cleveland used to be a really good music town. And if you were to look at the band listings, it appears to still be a rockin' town. However, once you go to visit some of those places, it gets sad very quickly. Almost nobody has a keyboard player anymore. They either play "live karaoke" with recorded keyboard tracks or just do without and sound empty. The same with backing vocals. Most of the bands are a power trio with a singer. There is a core group of about 25 players who all play the same 45 songs and mix and match pieces and book gigs for $250 under different names, but it's the same bunch of people playing the same crap. One place I used to visit often when they first opened has not seen me since about May because the owner is now booking "junk bands". 2 people from a 5 piece blues act go in there as a "Lite" version with just the guitar and bass player. Sometimes it's 3 of them. Then the 2 of them play with 2 people from another band under a different name... and on and on. None of them rehearse, none of them are tight, and they all just wing songs as they go. They will never get a dime of my money until they go back to having REAL bands again. It's mainly solo and duo acts now, again, all because of the big mamuo. Minimal PA, minimal lighting, no set lists, no sound checks, nothing. Just wing it. If it sounds bad, so what? I still get money. And I really don't like to see those acts. That's why I rarely go out is that the music scene is so diluted. For about 6 months I did sound for a band while they looked for someone who actually wanted to do it. In 6 months, maybe 17-19 gigs, their set list changed ONCE, and that was to plug in 2 "new" copy songs.

I long for the return of the days when music was about music and not money. But as long as bars pay bad bands just to come and play SOMETHING, it will continue to suffer from the major suckage we have now.