Greetings and Salutations!
I know, I know. It's been quite a while since I've posted a gig report. I still keep in touch with about a half dozen members here and we were talking about the old forum tonight. I thought I'd share a bit of what I've been up to since my retirement and escape from California.
I tried kicking around with a few cover bands right after I moved to the Milwaukee area. But it was the typical story. I'd drive three hours to the gig, unload a trailer full of gear, set up, play, tear down, load up, drive three hours home, for $150. In one band I always had to pick up the drummer because he didn't drive. He was only 20 minutes away.
Then, through a mutual friend, I met Debi. She plays all the high end retirement and senior centers in the area. She's been doing this for years since retiring from her own career and six piece show band. Debi used to play bass and sing. She lost her singing voice due to cancer and now plays guitar. She's a really good accompanist. I do most of the singing in our little duo.
Around this time of year, most of my load-ins look like this.
The rooms range from pretty nice to glorified rec rooms. Here's a view from my mic.
This room had a pretty nice little stage. We were a trio on this gig, with a drummer who brought his electronic pad.
As you can see, our setup is pretty simple. We don't even need monitors most of the time. I use a Rumble 40 on stage. All the instruments and vocals go direct into the Carvin powered mixer and comes out of the Carvin 12" two way speakers. Everything is light and takes little time to set up. Even a bass player can run the sound from the stage. I still have my big speakers for the larger gigs but I don't use them often. Debi and I recently played a double over the holiday season. My load up looked like this.
My commute to the gig looked a little like this.
Here we are at the first gig of our double. We played seasonal music along with our usual oldies (40s thru 70s) and told a few corny jokes. We are like the Smothers Brothers of the senior circuit.
Then we proceeded to our second gig of the day. It was a very nice facility.
This one also used a drummer but on an acoustic kit. No need to mic this one. We do not play at ear-bleeding volume, even for this crowd of 200 or so. But I did bring a couple of floor wedges.
This is drummer Pete.
As you can see, this gig is a lot less work. The majority of our shows are only an hour long. They are all pretty much within a half hour of my house. The pay? It's a buck and a quarter. We'll do six or eight of these every month. Another cool thing about this gig, besides being easy, close, and not bad pay, is that we can play all year long. A lot of the bands take the winter off. A lot of bands just play maybe 25 dates all year during the warmer months. We play very few outside gigs, mostly because Debi doesn't like to play outside. That's OK.
My favorite part of this gig is the fact that we bring joy to our clients. It's a blast when they sing along and groan at my dad jokes. We get asked back everywhere we play. Sometimes we will play a memory care facility. A good number of clients will get rolled in on their wheelchairs, looking practically catatonic. But when we play that special song, and spark a memory, their face will light up. They will smile, clap, and sing along. That really warms my heart. It's much more rewarding than watching a bunch of drunks gyrating on the dance floor. Although we do get crowds that dance sometimes. It's all fun. Thanks for letting me share a bit of my new little music career. Blessings to all.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I know, I know. It's been quite a while since I've posted a gig report. I still keep in touch with about a half dozen members here and we were talking about the old forum tonight. I thought I'd share a bit of what I've been up to since my retirement and escape from California.
I tried kicking around with a few cover bands right after I moved to the Milwaukee area. But it was the typical story. I'd drive three hours to the gig, unload a trailer full of gear, set up, play, tear down, load up, drive three hours home, for $150. In one band I always had to pick up the drummer because he didn't drive. He was only 20 minutes away.
Then, through a mutual friend, I met Debi. She plays all the high end retirement and senior centers in the area. She's been doing this for years since retiring from her own career and six piece show band. Debi used to play bass and sing. She lost her singing voice due to cancer and now plays guitar. She's a really good accompanist. I do most of the singing in our little duo.
Around this time of year, most of my load-ins look like this.
The rooms range from pretty nice to glorified rec rooms. Here's a view from my mic.
This room had a pretty nice little stage. We were a trio on this gig, with a drummer who brought his electronic pad.
As you can see, our setup is pretty simple. We don't even need monitors most of the time. I use a Rumble 40 on stage. All the instruments and vocals go direct into the Carvin powered mixer and comes out of the Carvin 12" two way speakers. Everything is light and takes little time to set up. Even a bass player can run the sound from the stage. I still have my big speakers for the larger gigs but I don't use them often. Debi and I recently played a double over the holiday season. My load up looked like this.
My commute to the gig looked a little like this.
Here we are at the first gig of our double. We played seasonal music along with our usual oldies (40s thru 70s) and told a few corny jokes. We are like the Smothers Brothers of the senior circuit.
Then we proceeded to our second gig of the day. It was a very nice facility.
This one also used a drummer but on an acoustic kit. No need to mic this one. We do not play at ear-bleeding volume, even for this crowd of 200 or so. But I did bring a couple of floor wedges.
This is drummer Pete.
As you can see, this gig is a lot less work. The majority of our shows are only an hour long. They are all pretty much within a half hour of my house. The pay? It's a buck and a quarter. We'll do six or eight of these every month. Another cool thing about this gig, besides being easy, close, and not bad pay, is that we can play all year long. A lot of the bands take the winter off. A lot of bands just play maybe 25 dates all year during the warmer months. We play very few outside gigs, mostly because Debi doesn't like to play outside. That's OK.
My favorite part of this gig is the fact that we bring joy to our clients. It's a blast when they sing along and groan at my dad jokes. We get asked back everywhere we play. Sometimes we will play a memory care facility. A good number of clients will get rolled in on their wheelchairs, looking practically catatonic. But when we play that special song, and spark a memory, their face will light up. They will smile, clap, and sing along. That really warms my heart. It's much more rewarding than watching a bunch of drunks gyrating on the dance floor. Although we do get crowds that dance sometimes. It's all fun. Thanks for letting me share a bit of my new little music career. Blessings to all.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
