Hard Times for Pro Giggers

[beykock]

The present Corona situation forces most of our ( Pro ) Giggers to stay at home.

I feel very sorry and sad, wish, hope and pray the good times will come back very soon for all of them.

Take care,

Babette
The Hopeful

[Pino]

Yes, I agree, but this affects everyone, giggers and music is well down the line.
One West End Show only opened last week and now closed and all the actors/musicians are self employed,
but, more importantly,
let's hope that the health workers will stay strong, they are the front line.
Pino

[Del]

When I was In Gran Canaria Last week all the animation team were sent home and all entertainment was stopped including outside entertainers/pro giggers,
restuarant staff were laid off and there were only skeleton staff because they had to shut the resort.
Abbey (Pianoman) has probably been hit with this as he entertains in Spain and they are on lockdown.

[beykock]

Indeed, hard times for Abby... his only source of daily income.

I wish him a lot of strength to overcome this horrible period.

Babette

[DonM]

I was thinking of Abby.  Hope he's o.k.
It's costing me big too.  We can make it, but spending habits have to change, at least at my house. 

[beykock]

Very sorry to hear this bad news, Don.

Babette

[Toril S]

Here in Norway artists stream their music. Several platforms for this have opened. Prople are creative. Some even have concerts from balconies and open windows. I think these times will change the world of entertaining for ever.

[King Size]

Yes,

no Income. All Gigs are canceled. I am healthy but broke

Siggi

[mikf]

I imagine the people who entertain in care facilities are all shut down as well.

[hammer]

All of my Independent and Assisted Living gigs have been cancelled for the next 2 months - 27 of them!   What I am hearing from them is they intend to stay locked down until they are very sure they have no residents with the virus. They tell me they will call me as soon as they feel safe about it.  Money aside, what I miss most is being out of the house and seeing all the people -some of which I have known for 10 years or more.   Sitting at home and playing is not the same as performing for a group of people. 

The people I really feel for are those MOM and POP shops that have been forced to close.  It will be very difficult for some of them to survive-especially if they lease their space. 
I guess only time will tell.

Deane

[Toril S]

I am just an amateur, I don't live of my music. The few gigs I have are cancelled, and I will lose a small amount of money, but not much, so I am OK. Musicians here ar earning money, they are having concerts streamed on the internet, and the audience send them money. But it is of course not the same as before. Many are facing hard times now.

[Genos!]

We make quite a bit from time-to-time, but haven't done much since my bro-'n-law passed.

What we do is sell CDs online... it's something you might think about as a possibility.


You'd be surprised how fast those CDs add up (all original music, of course)...

but even so, a mechanical fee isn't all that expensive here in the U.S.


I don't know what your laws are like elsewhere, but def something to look into, imo.

[Pianoman]

When I was In Gran Canaria Last week all the animation team were sent home and all entertainment was stopped including outside entertainers/pro giggers,
restuarant staff were laid off and there were only skeleton staff because they had to shut the resort.
Abbey (Pianoman) has probably been hit with this as he entertains in Spain and they are on lockdown.

Yes Del,

Abby has been hit terribly.

I was about to drive to a gig on the 14th of March when the venue owner called me  to cancel
the gig, saying that they were ordered to shut down immediately.

We have been in lockdown since the 14th of March and it appears that the lockdown wil
continue until the 15th of May at the very least.

My family and me depend on my performances for our livelihood, and this is a terrible blow
to our finances with no end in sight, so I'll have to devise a new way of earning money.

Trouble is that this is the only profession that I have had since I was a teenager.

There were some people here who were scoffing at this virus on the 8th of March.
I first thought of responding to the careless comments but then thought better of it
and refrained from doing so.

It is human nature, but also a product of the times that we live in, where our attitude is that
" if it's not happening to me then it's either overblown or fake news." or both.

I had visited Paris between the 18th and 20th of February, and 5 days after my return
I thought that I had developed a fever, so I decided to visit the emergency clinic here.

After describing my concerns and the fact that I had used the Paris Metro extensively, It
immediately provoked an uncommon reaction of fear and hysteria in these health
professionals who had seen their share of all kinds of illnesses.

I could actually see the naked terror in the doctor's eyes as she came to interrogate me
in the room where I was isolated.

She stood 3 metres from me and placed a mask on a chair near the entrance.
She then told me to pick it only after she had stepped out of the room,
before returning with a kind of thermometer that she stuck in my ear, with
her body and arm stretched as far back as possible.

Even though she found out that my temperature was a normal 36.4° and that
there was nothing wrong with me,  I was ordered to go home and stay there for 14 days
and that they would check on me by phone every day, which they did.

That was on the 24th of February when Spain was still virus free, so technically my
quarantine started on that day.

I had to do an unavoidable gig on Friday the 13th of March, but otherwise I've been
holed up at home since the 24th of February, listening to my wife with rapt attention
as she shares her great wisdom and knowledge with me every day.

Best Regards To All And Stay Safe.
Nothing else is very important right now.

Abby.

[Enildo]

Here in Brazil everything is stopped too. Some musicians are expecting a small financial aid from the government, around $ 120, which represents very little.
For me, this 1st semester is lost, I don't expect to do another show until July.
My hope is that from August this will start to change.
Thank God I don't live only on music, but the money I'm losing is sorely missed.

Enildo

[ticktock]

Hi Abby,
Nice to hear from you. Glad to know you're healthy.
Thank you for sharing.
Ted

[DonM]

Great to hear from you Abby and I'm glad you are o.k. health-wise.
I had taken my first vacation in MANY years, starting the first of March.  Made a short trip to see my grandchildren, and I'm so glad I did, since it may be quite a while before I can see them again.
I was supposed to return to work after a couple of weeks, but by then everything was shut down.
Although we will certainly miss the income, we will get by because my wife has a great job and she is considered essential at this time. 
I have lost two friends to the virus and I know several more who have survived it. 
The good news is that I'm getting about three weeks per gallon on gasoline. 
No sports on t.v., so I had a conversation with a really nice lady, who says she is my wife.  Apparently her name is Susan. 

[Enildo]

Here at home my wife is exploring me. I've already cleaned the yard, fixed the roof, worked in the garden, fixed some shoes on her, I'm doing the dinner dishes every day.
Another thing, my hemorrhoid seems to be trying to get inflamed from sitting so much at the computer and SX.
Phew! I hope it all goes away soon.

[Pianoman]

Great to hear from you Abby and I'm glad you are o.k. health-wise.
No sports on t.v., so I had a conversation with a really nice lady, who says she is my wife.  Apparently her name is Susan.

Hello Don and hello everyone.

I'm glad to hear that you and everyone else here is O.K too.

I can't help laughing about your conversation with a really nice lady who says she's
your wife, every time I read your post.

And thank you, and everyone else here for your concerns.
I too wish that we all get through this period in one piece.

It's not really too bad here in Ibiza and we haven't had the apocalyptic numbers of
infections and deaths as they do in mainland Spain.

We had peaked at 98 infections about 10 days ago and as of yesterday we are at
83 infections, and the total amount of fatalities here in Ibiza since this pandemic
began stands at 9 senior citizens.

Ibiza reacted in early March and banned incoming and outgoing passenger planes and
ships, with the exception of those bringing in goods and medicines,
and that helped to keep the number low.

Still, we are in lockdown because it is a national quarantine without exceptions.

I like the idea of streaming mentioned by Toril and I'll check out how one goes about
doing that. It'll have to be in the studio where I recorded in January.

They're a friendly bunch, and after 2 weeks of recording 52 songs together, we got to
know each other pretty well.

I guess I'll have to learn how to play for an invisible audience, something new for an
old school entertainer.

Keep safe everybody.

Best Regards,

Abby.