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Thunderbird Club

#81,802
Making plans now to meet the dude tomorrow. And look, it's even got a Blues Bros signature model bottle-proof wire speaker grille!

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#81,807
Chucky Stiletti said:
This is a really good subject. I remember folks paying for their mortgages in FL in the 80s as full time players. Of course for many gigs such as the bigger hotels and venues you needed a MU card. FL is cool this way in that lots revolves around the tourist industry so contractually these venues HAVE to have a band. That said, you are under contract so you have to dress appropriately and in some cases fill out a form of what songs you cover for issues of royalties.
A lot also depends on the local going rates and competition. Getting 100/player in New England is common since the competition is not that of California for example.
Europe is the best place for pro live music. I played 6 nights a week (and a Sunday afternoon beach gig) at the Costa del Sol for 6 years. We played at a place called "The Navy Bar" in Marbella and compensation was 100 dollars a player per night, free accommodation and meal tickets. The only place where I have seen this regularly in the US is Vegas.
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Things have changed in FL.Union has all the power of a mosquito fart, you're fighting for gigs against singles playing to tracks:banghead:, many of the clubs have a 4 band rotation and won't try anything "new" no matter how good you are. Pay the mortgage? Yeah, I did-in the 70s. Now it about pays for gas(not GAS). It's a labor of love not profit. The hotels Chucky mentions- that Used to have entertainment 6 nights/week? Not now. A Very few have live music. The rest? DJ's. The venues that do use live music tell you what they pay-take it or leave. Ain't like it used to be. Even WDW has cut out almost all live music.:( Addendum: best paying gigs right now are country club dances and Service related clubs like American Legion, VFW, etc., and a couple of restaurants. All of which require "dinner" music and fairly low volume levels.
 
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