Danny, I hear ya about low fees BUT, was that guy playing for the restaurant for $75 getting tips or was he just sitting there like a lump just playing? A friend who passed some years ago was a real entertainer on piano, he could sing anything plus some comedy. He had a steady weekend gig at a restaurant in Newport Beach for years and routinely got $150-200 a night in tips plus a hundred from the venue.

Another friend is (was until this virus) doing the same thing at a marina bar in Long Beach. He has a Journey tribute band but when the band isn't playing he does a single and uses backing tracks for his Journey stuff. He's a pro, these are not cheesy tracks, they sound like a Journey concert. He does even better, he told me on a good night he gets $500, $100 from the bar and $400 in tips. You can imagine his voice if he can cover Steve Perry. He plays keys, guitar and trumpet.

Performers look at a place like that as a launching pad. They get paid enough by the venue to cover expenses but it gives them the opportunity to do their thing and collect tips. It's exactly the same thing as the wait staff. Their base pay is minimum wage which is roughly the same $75 to $100 but a good waiter/waitress cleans up in tips. They're climbing all over each other for the opportunity to work at a good restaurant because of that.

Years ago I read an article in Variety about the wannabe actors working as waiters in Hollywood. They have their own clique going on with all the top restaurants and a good waiter puts on their own version of a show too. They were making over $75,000 a year in the top places and this was 25-30 years ago I read this and it's as hard to land a gig at the Polo Lounge as a waiter as it is to get a part in a movie or TV production.

It's all up to the performer. If you're not an entertainer putting on a show as well as a player, forget it. It's a symbiotic relationship between the entertainer and the staff.

Bob

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