Part of the reason I don't go see more music, even now in my retired years when I don't have to get to bed or wake up based on a job, is that 90% of the bands here are trio with front singer. Nobody else even sings. Or tries to. Don't even have mics. So already, that limits the band to either doing songs that have no harmony or leaving harmony out where it should be.

Then we get to the instrumentation. When the guitar player solos, that leaves bass and drums. That makes it REALLY empty. (Rush fans please don't bother pointing out that Rush is a trio. These bands are far from Rush, They are not even Hurry, much less Rush...) So rather than sound empty, some use backing keyboard tracks. Well, I am home and available....

As far as the bottom line dollar argument, we now are into the art vs craft discussion. I would rather play in an 8 piece band with horns doing Tower of Power, AWB and EW&F music and make $40 than a trio playing marginally listenable music to make $100. I make money. Money doesn't make me. By the same token, I make music. Music doesn't make me.

In my lifetime, I have been an absolute WIZARD in the IT field. My IQ is 162. I am a good enough cook to cook at a small restaurant. When I had tools I made some really nice furniture. I wrote a column for a newspaper for 2 years until the paper sold and I was out of the picture. If something breaks, I can fix it. If I listed all of that on a resume or a dating profile of anything public, none of that would draw as much as a mention. But add "I play 3 instruments, write, sing, and produce music", NOW I get attention. I find that insulting. THAT is what I mean by music defining people. My self esteem doesn't need the phony inflation JUST because of something I have done since before age 5.

I would love JUST ONCE to have someone say "Have you ever had his gumbolaya? It's amazing!" Or "That column he wrote about going to Chicago and eating all those hot dogs at the Cubs game was REALLY well written!" I am 33,500 words into a book about my boring life in the midwest that nobody would ever care to read. But mention music and it's "Oh wow!!! You're in a BAAAAAAAAAAAAND????"

And I don't even know where this discussion took this turn and I am sorry to hijack the thread with my ranting.