How cool is that?
If you give an old guy or gal just five minutes of their youth back, you've done more for society than most have in a month. That's something to be proud of at any age.
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Age Discrimination
- Thread starter Biggbass
- Start date
If you give an old guy or gal just five minutes of their youth back, you've done more for society than most have in a month. That's something to be proud of at any age.
I worked for a couple years in a Country band with a guy who used to run a high school music department. When I met him, his main gig was principal bassist with the Springfield MA symphony orchestra. In the band, he was playing lead guitar, including laptop steel and violin. When I first joined, he gave me a lot of stink-eye, until he noticed that I was taking all the suggestions he made. These days, the bulk of his income derives from playing hits from old Broadway shows at retirement homes, senior centers, etc. He travels with a keyboard, a guitar, a clarinet, and one of those Tasco backing track gizmos. He makes far more money off this that he does with Jim-Joe Greedy and the '61 Ramblers.
My last gig with Jim-Joe (I took home $14):
Not sure, which picture you were referring to. But, FWIW, here we are:
Regarding staying in shape; I will say that too much wear and tear on my knees has made staying in shape much more difficult. That and the obscenely dangerous roads in Tucson, which make biking a non-starter for me.
And, FYI, the gig I was referring to was Westward Look, where we've had some very successful gigs the past 6 months.
Three Chords, Twelve Bars and a Damned cool Story
Blues = nothing but three chords and the truth right?
I can agree with a lot of what you say..but I dont know any youngsters that have $120 disposable each week to spend on drinking and partying..
I cant agree with that..maybe its that way where you live..the neanderthal look is out..
the "cell phone constantly in hand and face" generation is a lot of what is going on now in many clubs..like Bob Dylan sang "the times they are a changing"..the young muppets are all on a different mission than the baby boomers that supported the music scene years ago..so..there is a constant change in the way clubs are run..as well as the audience that comes in the door..
yeah..if you can get out there and play and burn the house down..nobody cares how you look..not many actually get it done though..
Probably depends on the part of town you play in, but what I see a lot of is the kids sharing a bucket of $2 PBRs while the older people are drinking craft beer and top shelf liquor. The kids stay in the bar longer, but the old farts are the better customers.
Whip out the Grecian Formula and give yourselves a makeover
Then remind the guy that The Fabulous Thunderbirds are still making big bank...
nobody really cares how old ya are, just care how well ya play!!
Blues = nothing but three chords and the truth right?
Fergus sings the blues, in bars of 12 or less... ?
yeah..everyone can go on and on and talk about what clubs..bands..grey hairs do or not do....its a freaked out world out there right now..and everyone feels like they can do whatever they want to do because its their world..people are better at complaining than they have ever been..................just want to make a couple of mentions..first of all..clubs are owned and run by a variety of different people..in all cases..club owners have a LOT more invested than stage musicians..and their mission is certainly different..a club owner has a right to run his or her club as they see fit..regardless of how right or wrong it is..everyone of them make their own mistakes..and they also do a lot of things that are hopefully right..stage musicians are a dime a dozen..all of you have to churn your own path..and make your own way..and you each have your own mission..regardless of how right or wrong it may be..for all the musicians that think they know everything about how bars and clubs should be run..get out there and open your own place and gather all your musicians together and show us all how it is suppose to be done..as far as the grey hair goes..yes..grooming is an individual thing..people see images on the internet and TV and that sets the pace for them..some musicians appear to be satisfied to play in clubs and dives all their lives..others move up to bigger and better things..and they each have their reason why they did what they did..regardless of how old you are..if you have talent..you can play anywhere and always be in demand..like here in my town..Reese Wynans lives and plays here..he is an older guy..and a great player..I am fortunate enough to get to play with him from time to time..for those of you who dont know him..he played keys for Stevie Ray Vaughn..and many..many others..nobody age discriminates against him..his ability and effort always puts him over the top..oh..did I mention Reese has some grey hair..musicians stand in line to try and get him to play on their stuff....now...I dont play the little stage anymore..I have moved up the ladder..but I did it all on my own..and because I wasnt going to settle for anything less..and after all..isnt that what life is all about about..?..we each "settle" for a different level in life..we each have our own comfort zone..whether you can move beyond that is all on you..
Dang. I’m 65 and have no problem finding gigs. But I get where you are coming from. As for the venue, they have a right to hire whoever they see fit. It may or may not work. It’s my observation that the younger hip sorts don’t drop the cash like us grey heads.
Rich let me say again that we did $2k more in gross beverage sales at the bar alone AND cleared enough at the door to pay the band their $600.
The band began at 9:00 PM. The kitchen was closed by 10:00 PM so very little was sold in food once the music began. It was too packed so no one was eating. We did this as a special night to show we could make this work out profitably.
The cost of goods (draft beer, wine, alcohol) is no more than 25% in any place I've been associated with and many times less if a club jacks drinks prices a little when they have a band. So on that one night we made at least $1500 more net profit over the bar alone than a typical Sat. night when we may have done $1000-$1500 and that would have included at least 10%-20% in food sales which do have a higher cost of goods.
Any increase in labor costs was minimal at best. We still needed the same two bartenders one of whom was the bar manager who always worked Sat. nights and we might have added one more floor server. It was over 10 years ago so I don't recall but that would have been at the minimum wage for a server so maybe $3.00 an hour. The rest of the overhead costs (rent, etc.) are the same no matter how much business we did.
We made a killing that night but all one owner would focus on is that $600 we paid that band. They had a big following and no doubt that added to the night as well but we still had a ton of regulars who supported it and also paid the cover and spent heavily at the bar to encourage the place to keep this kind of entertainment going.
I'm not trying to say we could have done that well every Sat. night but we could easily have added enough to sales on any given Sat by hiring some decent bands and paying them $300 and shift drinks to justify it without a cover just by raising drink prices $.50-$1.00 and no one would have complained.
Instead that owner figured he rather just give the band a $100 bar tab period for them and whoever they brought in with them they wanted to share it with. So what we ended up with is an occasional lousy garage band who'd take that deal and who'd become a drunken lousy garage band by midnight as they and their 10-12 rowdy hangers on downed and spilled cheap pitchers of beer and shots of tequila and began to drive the regulars away early.
IMHO, that's not the way to run a successful live music club.
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My $0.02... If you look good and sound good you should get the work. All the guys in my band are in their 50s. We do mostly 60s, 70s, 80s rock covers. We play pretty well, and we get work about as regularly as we want it. We dress basically; jeans, tshirts or button-up shirts, no shorts or camo or running shoes. There are bars we play where young and old alike still want to hear Led Zeppelin, Cream, Bad Company... But there are bars with mostly younger audiences who'd rather hear Bruno Mars, Jason Derulo, Katy Perry... and we don't play in those. So you do you due diligence and find where your target demographic hangs out.
But people in throwing out names like Jagger, Richards, Springsteen, McCartney, Di Meola, The Fabulous Thunderbirds... saying "They're still rockin'!".
Well, sure. And they're well known artists who are outstanding in their fields/genres and have a massive back catalogue. If someone said to me "Hey, there's a couple of septuagenarians down at BarNameHere this weekend and I hear they're pretty good" I might go if I had nothing else to do but I wouldn't excatly clear my calendar for it. Of course, if I knew they were Page and Plant I'd be sleeping outside the bar for two days to make sure I got in. We all know they're shadows of their 60s/70s selves, but I'd still give anything to see those two guys play together again. What are you doing (or what have you done) to make people want to come and see you? You need to be able to answer that question to any owner/manager whose place you want to play in.
But people in throwing out names like Jagger, Richards, Springsteen, McCartney, Di Meola, The Fabulous Thunderbirds... saying "They're still rockin'!".
Well, sure. And they're well known artists who are outstanding in their fields/genres and have a massive back catalogue. If someone said to me "Hey, there's a couple of septuagenarians down at BarNameHere this weekend and I hear they're pretty good" I might go if I had nothing else to do but I wouldn't excatly clear my calendar for it. Of course, if I knew they were Page and Plant I'd be sleeping outside the bar for two days to make sure I got in. We all know they're shadows of their 60s/70s selves, but I'd still give anything to see those two guys play together again. What are you doing (or what have you done) to make people want to come and see you? You need to be able to answer that question to any owner/manager whose place you want to play in.
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+1 to all of that. I have zero envy for what club managers face. Still, between their rate of turnover, lack of staying ability, and desperate experimentation, they can be extremely flakey folks to have to do business with. But, an essential part of the biz.
That makes sense so you do that. I see myself as a musician capable of playing nearly anything and no doubt any band can find newer material that fits into their basic style. My objective for any band I've had a hand in running is to be as eclectic as possible so you can bridge musical generations and tastes.
One of my pet peeves is when a band learns 50 tunes or so and then never rehearses to add to that list. IMHO we have to have far more than that and evolve and revolve that material so if you're playing the same club often enough you're not the same band each time you do. Never be lazy and/or complacent.
1998 (Note 57' P)
2000 Playing more smooth jazz
F
2018 Sun. Blues/Rock Jam
Ya gotta have attitude, Bring It!
2000 Playing more smooth jazz
2018 Sun. Blues/Rock Jam
Ya gotta have attitude, Bring It!
