Bluewine

What's happening with my main man Francis Rocco Prestia? Blue

Big difference between being a great artist, being talented, being good and being born with a gift. Aretha Franklin is one of the few born with a gift. Poor quality but worth watching, she smoking on the Fender Rohdes. Blue

I know where your coming from. Our guitarists are great at certain things but not learning material that involves an understanding of music theory or learning specifif parts. It's why I never make suggestions on how to improve songs we play or bring new songs to the band. However, I knew that before I joined 7 years ago. I joined because they made money and gigged a lot and had a great front person which is still the case. Very few bands in my area want to gig much or make money from it. Most ads for Musicians state "We all have day jobs and we're not in this for money" Blue

Sorry, this was meant for the "How Was Your Gig Last Night" thread. ONLY A FEW TICKETS LEFT! MAPLE ROAD SATURDAY NIGHT! 8/25/2018 9pm - 11pmMilwaukee Boat Line Cruise101 W Michigan St, Milwaukee WI We play this gig every year. Any of you guys done this type of gig? Blue

Back to the topic. I think it's important to leave your band on good terms. You don't win if you leave in a " huff". Especially if the band has been a good source of income for you. Me personally, I wouldn't give notice until I was up and running meaning gigging with a new band. Some might say " why not play with both?" I content it doesn't work if both bands are gigging heavily on weekends. Blue Blue

Good idea. Blue

That Dorset/Yorkshire weekend sounds fun. Blue

Agreed, If you play as many bar gigs as me and you've been around for a few summers, you don't come in like "rock stars". It should be clear you are part of what we call " the help ". Your no different than the bar staff or those washing dishes. Blue

A once in a lifetime artist. I'm so lucky to have been the right age to grow up with her career and gift. By the way, ever heard this type of description, " she's the new Aretha" ? Well, there is no "new Aretha" and they'll never be one. Aretha, end of story. Blue

I would say $200.00 a man for a functions gig is a good benchmark. Function bands in my neck of the woods might ask for anything between $1,500.00 to $3,000.00. *Keep in mind most if not all function bands over here contract out for sound and lights. So at the end of the day I'm not sure how much more they actually take home than a bar band. Sound and lights usually cost at least $700.00 Our bar band has been gigging for the past twleve years , we won't turn the car key unless every walks away with $125.00. Friday night I walked away with $155.00. $125.00 for the gig and $30.00 in CD Sales. Sorry guys, I'm not British. You know how us Yankees are. Everything is about money. Blue * Guess who owns the sound & lighting company. The agency that books the band.

Was this a venue that has live bands on a weekly basis? Again we'll turn down gigs with owners that are not known for providing live bands and the crowd isn't there to hear bands. Blue

It's awful and makes for a long evening, especially with our US 4 hour bar gigs.ln most cases it's the "kiss of death". We actually turned down gigs with a separate barless room for the band. I don't get why owners would even book bands if you have them set up in a room separate from the bar. Blue

Fantastic, that always works out well for bands When the band is in a separate room from the bar, usually not good. Blue

Yes they do, all the weird advertised, promotional and marked down merchandise. There's a really cool 4k video cam that I'm waiting to see marked down. It's $69.99. I'll buy if it gets down to $40.00 Blue

I love Aldi, a pint of blue berries for $1.29. And their house brand of batteries are really good. An 8 pack for $2.39. Blue

That's the approach I was going to suggest. Diplomacy usually works. Or they could have abruptly and without warning kicked the table and chairs out from under the couple. That works too. Blue

Nice pics! Blue

People can be weird. I had to stop by the Aldi grocery store to pick up 1 pack of AA batteries for my wireless transmitter. The couple in front of me had a cart full of groceries. It's customery in the States to let the guy with one item check out first. Not these people. I had to wait while they checked out what looked like a months food supply for a family of 6. And I was running late as it was. I really gave them the " stink eye" Blue

Where's the bar, is it the same room you played in? Blue

We also suffer from lack of practice. We gig at least once a week but that's not the same as a band rehearsal. I'm also rareley happy with my playing. Blue

Dave, I thought it was a bad move adding Rabbit to our last set. I couldn't have been more wrong. People go nuts for that song. The crowd always sings along and it seems like people of all ages know it. Blue

I have absolutely no say in the material we perform and prefer it that way. There are several songs we do that I personally don't care for. I put more effort into those songs than I do for the songs I love playing. We played " White Rabbit" last night with an extended free form intro and I had a blast with it. I say; " Always play the best bass you can and stay focused." Blue

I have the best of both worlds. We're a cover band, but we have 3 CDs of originals. However, I prefer performing covers and for me and what I do with bass lines it's very creatively fulfilling. Unfortunately if we were to play only originals we wouldn't be a thriving gigging band. I think originals are fine for those local unsigned bands that are not interested in the gigging part of playing. But let's not forget location. There are some regions in the States where originals bands have a lot of support and there's plentyof paid gigs for them.I can't speak for the UK. Blue

Again it's about location. Your in a good location. If my band we're to fold, it would be impossible to find another gigging band that makes money. Blue

Depends on location. There little to no gigs in Milwaukee for Originals bands and actually no paying gigs. Cover Bands, the label is too broad. There's the Bon Jovi " Living On Prayer and Journey "Don't Stop Believing" cover bands which is completely different than covering Howlin Wolf or Slim Harpo. Blue