Bluewine

Supporting national and international acts is not as big of a deal for me as it used to be. We've supported Peter Frampton and Lover Boy recently and It didn't do much for me. I prefer to play a club where a hundred people show up to see you specifically than to 2,000 people waiting to see Frampton. Blue

Hi Roger, You need a break in the right direction. It's so hard to find a good band with good people when we're limited to non professional opportunities, meaning people that don't play for a living. Life circumstances like family, friends and full time jobs come before playing. Don't give up. If there's any local gigging bands you like go to their gigs. Introduce yourself and see if anything is happening. You never know, they might be looking for a bass player. Blue

Nothing really strange. However we had one of those outside gigs " Wine On The Bridge" where the organizers knew nothing about band accomodations. I swear, they didn't even know we need electrical power. They provided a square piece of plywood so we didn't have to play on the grass. Blue

We don't communicate with each other much. The only messages we get are to confirm gig availability. And we only see each other at gigs. Blue

I wish we could go IEMs, however I think the investment would be to expensive for us. Blue

Thanks Pete, I've been gigging the G&L ASAT (1991) bass for a while. I finally understand the value and use of the active pre-amp. However changing the 9 volt battery is a pain in the derrière. Blue

I played about 65 gigs in 2019. That number is a combination of full band gigs and our acoustic service. Blue

New Years Eve 2019 Blue

All valid points. Blue

I've seen a few summers , so I've experienced the other side. Working with un-fun questionable people. That's always a losing proposition. Blue

Yes, as recently as NYE. Looking at the crowd , how great the stage looked with our lighting and gear knowing I'm a part of this. I know I sound like a broken record. I think very few of us hate being in a band or gigging. I think some of us hate the decisions we've made. Playing in bands with questionable people with no sense of direction, discipline or ethics. Face it guys, there are some folks out there that don't even know how to be in a band. I'm grateful I'm not the guy looking,wishing he had a gig. I love the attention. I love being approached by people that want to talk to me only because I'm in the band. However it's not easy keeping my spirit up after 50 years of gigging. Health issues and fighting to stay a live in a scene that's dieing. It helps that we cherry pick our gigs now. We know crap gigs when we see them and will not book them. And most of all, I play with good people. We're ego and drama free. Gigging is still a blast for me. While chronologically I'm 66, I still have the same spirit I had when I started gigging in public at age 12. Blue

How can you lose on New Years Eve? We played The Barley Pop Pub & Restaurant. This was new for us, we had played Ariba's in Butler for the past 10 years. Unfortunately new owners came in last year they didn't understand live music and brought in pool tables. They closed within 2 months. Back to The Barley Pop. Nice looking room even nicer once our lighting was set up. We started at 4:00. The place was packed with Maple Road fans. The band sounded good, this is our 3rd public gig with our new guitarist. We played until 7:00, I was home by 9:00. Tear down took a while as we used our full blown. sound and lights. Blue

It happens to all of us. It's why I always stress good people before anything else. My band is not the best local band around. We don't have the best singer guitarist drummer or anything like that. However we do have good fair people in the band , no monkey business. Blue

If it was good enough for John Lennon it's good enough for me. Blue

We're the other signs that these guys were not on the " up and up" ? Blue

Love that catch phrase. "Shake Some Action" Blue

I wish you luck Rev. Blue

Exactly what I thought. Enjoy the evening Lozz. Blue

Another member of the " Only Sober Member Of The Band Club" Welcome aboard. Blue

I'm not sure I know what ticketed means, however it sounds lucrative Dave. Nice! Blue

This is awesome. The assisted living market is something I hope we can tap into in 2020. These folks really appreciate live music. Blue

Yeah, same $$ Hiram. These early NYE gigs are getting very popular in my neck of the woods. My band leader was telling me a lot of local bands were having problems getting booked for NYE. Blue

Our 3rd public gig with our new guitarist. We're playing The Barley Pop in Germantown, 4:00-7:00. A 20 minute commute. I plan on being home by 8:30. Blue

Wow! I'd love to gig in Hamburg. Blue

New Years Eve is right around the corner. Tell us about what your band has booked. Blue