Back before discos and DJs it was important for a cover band to at least play a similar arrangement to the hit recorded version. That's what people wanted to hear, and that's what I consider a cover band.

Now that DJs have that taken care of, we can cover or we can rearrange songs, do them a little different, do them very different, and even to the point where they are hardly recognizable.

Of course, how far you stray from the hit version depends on who you are playing for and what their tastes are.

Without an audience, without ears to appreciate it, music is just masturbation for your own personal "eargazm". There is certainly nothing wrong with that it works for a lot of people.

But for me, music is a dialog between the musicians and the audience. I feed off the energy of the audience, and it's similar to making love (second best thing anyway).

We're playing at a pool party today, and we've done this gig for quite a few years now. There will be over 100 people there. I know the audience, they are going to want dance numbers. They will definitely need "Old Time Rock And Roll", "YMCA", "Electric Slide", "Taking Care Of Business", "Mustang Sally", "Blurred Lines", "Cupid Shuffle", "Sweet Home Alabama", "All That Jazz", plus they will enjoy songs from Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Beatles, Motown artists, and some Latin American Salsa, Soca, and Merengue thrown in. It's always a lot of fun.

It's a party, and we are the life of the party. Leilani and I will have a great time interacting with each other and the crowd, and at the end of the afternoon, they will even pay us money! What's not to love about that??? It sure beats a regular job. (I know, I've had two of them in my life - they didn't last very long - how can the real world compete with playing music?)

Life is good when a musician is gigging.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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