I've made a career out of music since the 1960s. It's possible, but it's getting more difficult. Clubs that used to hire bands 6 nights per week are down to weekends. Smaller clubs that used to hire weekend acts are down to one night a week. And because fewer people are going out, the entertainment purchaser is strapped for cash, so the bands have to get smaller (enter backing tracks). Now I see single people playing private clubs buying karaoke tracks and singing along while not playing any instrument at all.

To me the big culprit is TV.

I was talking to my mother-in-law a couple of years ago, and she remarked how in her day, first it was radio, and then black & white TV. She said the sound was terrible and if you wanted to hear good musical entertainment, you just had to go out to see it live.

Now people have giant TV screens with 7.1 surround sound and a monthly Cable or other subscription bill that can easily run into the hundreds of dollars. There goes the entertainment budget right there.

According to the pollsters, the average American watches 6 hours of TV a day. Add that to working hours and the monthly subscription fee and who has the time and money to go out to hear live entertainment?

Plus, TV is the most abused, and biggest drug habit in the US.

Drug you say?
  • It's habit forming. Try turning off the TV for a week, I guarantee you will get withdrawal symptoms
  • The drug needs to get stronger and stronger - it was "Our Miss Brooks" in the 50s and "Sex In The City" by the 90s
  • The drug user (TV Watcher) can't tell the difference between the drug (TV) and reality. Just ask any actor/actress who plays an evil person on TV. If they go to the grocery store or anywhere else in public, people shout verbal abuses at them is if they were actually the character they are portraying on TV

So if you want to contribute to the demise of live entertainment. Stay home and watch TV.

If you want to do something to help keep live music in your community. Go out every week to hear live music -- and not just the headliners, go to the local clubs where local musicians are playing.

Just say "no" to TV.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

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

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