As the live music industry withered away in the 1980s, the then future Mrs. Notes and I were in a 5-piece band.

Two things were happening:

1) Club owners were paying less for bands, because there were more bands needing work than places that used bands. By then DJs, Sports Bars, Comedy Clubs, Open Mic Nights and so on were filling places where bands formerly gigged.

2) Personnel problems further withered our income. In one year, two members quit and we ended up out of work for 3 months while we found and trained new musicians.

Knowing that as a rule, smaller groups make more money per musician than each musician in a larger group, we decided to form a duo.

I bought a Teac A3440 4 track 15” reel to reel deck. Since I play sax, flute, guitar, bass, drums, and some keys, I could make my own backing tracks. This was very new at the time. So I recorded everything but the parts we wanted to play live, mixed to cassette and got gigs.

We got a 3 week with options gig on a Carnival cruise ship. Carnival liked us because our lounge generated all-time record-breaking revenue. We weren't that good yet, but we figured out what the cruise ship was lacking and focused on that. The 3 week options ended up 3 years on the ships, and we gave notice to take care of Mrs. Notes' ailing mother.

By the time we got off the ships, we were well seasoned and as good or better than any duo in South Florida, where we live.

On the ships, we collected requests, and learned the songs that got requested most frequently. We still do that.

Also MIDI came around, so we redid everything with MIDI as we learned new tunes.

We haven't been out of work since, except during the COVID drought.

We had a house gig in a club for 12.5 years, the plague came, the club got sold, and the new owners wanted to pare down to single acts. So we went to a competitor, he hired us on our reputation, and we've been there a year and a half now. He says we have the gig for as long as he owns the resort.

Yes, it's a business.

We are employed because we take the business side seriously.

1) We learn what the public wants to hear. Songs requested frequently or by a regular customer get learned.

2) We are pleasant and easy to get along with. The bartenders, wait staff, management, and owners like us as people.

3) We go over and above what the club hired us for. Crowd having a good time and it's break time? Skip the break. Our shift is over, and the audience wants more? If no one is following us, we play long.

4) We put ourselves in the proverbial shoes of the person who hired us, and make our decisions with that in mind. In a commercial club, anything that we can do to make the club more money is a go. For private parties, anything we can do to make the guests tell the host/hostess they had a great time is a go.

5) We don't do set lists, but read the crowd, play what they need, when they need it, even thought they don't know when they need it.

Besides the business end (above) Mrs. Notes and I really enjoy singing and playing. It's the most fun we can have with our clothes on.

We are very good at what we do, the backing tracks are great. Mrs. Notes is a fantastic singer and she plays guitar and synth. I'm an excellent sax/wind synth player and decent at singing, guitar, and flute on stage, and because I also play bass, drums, and keys, I can make our own backing tracks, in our key, and our arrangement.

I don't know what works for the zillions of songs uploaded that can make you an overnight star, but I do know what it takes to keep working, and as that changes, we adapt to the changes.

Mrs. Notes and I have been in this duo for 38 years now. I tell the audience, “The only band who has been together longer than is, is the Rolling Stones.” After a pause, I'll add, “And we still have all the original members.”

If making a living doing music and nothing but music is the dream, we are living the dream.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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