I finally got the Genos... Impressions

[Lee Batchelor]

Good post as usual Gary ! Thanks for sharing your history. Like the old saying goes (if I have this right), "Never judge a man until you've walked a thousand miles in his shoes." Of course, the same goes if we're talking about a woman - although, I've never worn women's shoes (LOL) .

Bedsides all those things you mentioned, there's also the burden of upgrading your repertoire. Not only do you need to write the charts but you must find the time to practice the new tunes. I'm not nearly as busy as some of the people on this forum who play every day - like yourself and Abby. My busiest years consisted of doing 140 shows with about six different bands. That's a very lax schedule compared to you guys. I found that I needed to keep up to date on each bands' charts and music. There were also a fair number of practices. I also ran a business during those years but I sold it 14 years ago.

As I wind down my musical career, my hope is to just become the best player I can. I'm 66 years old and hope to keep going for another while yet. Fortunately, I have hitched my wagon to four bands that do nothing but corporate work. No bar work. No longer need to put up with the drunken idiots, late nights, crappy pay, and morons who huddle in doorways having a cancer stick without the brains to get the hell out of your way when you're carrying out your gear at some ungodly hour. Nope, I don't miss that one bit.

As for the Genos, I have received more compliments about it than the combined compliments from all my previous PSR and Tyros keyboards. She's a keeper !

[Toril S]

Interesting posts! Guns, fair ladies and angry boyfriends/husbands! I understand that being a professional entertainer is A LOT of work. Being an amateur I have just a few gigs, and my audience is very docile! But i take every job seriously, do much practice in advance and plan the gig, prepare the keyboard with styles and so on. They have asked Toril to play for them, and I don't want to disappoint them. As for danger, the only danger I have encountered was a lady that spilled some wine on the panel of my PSR 2100. The particular button is a little tricky to push after that
I really value to hear your stories, you all made my day!

[beykock]

Hi :

As I said before the real gigger's life is not an easy life.

There is no business like show business.

I herewith would like to thank Gary for sharing his experiences.👋

Babette

[mikf]

I played a lot of gigs in my hey day, and on and off for years, a similar schedule to Lee, so I know a bit about what it takes to be a gigging musician. I think you could argue that holding down a day job and having 4 young kids at the same time might actually be harder than being full time and playing more gigs. I had a cousin who was full time and I know I worked a lot harder than he did.
I started out accompanying singers on piano in pubs when I was hardly 16, and playing in Scottish country dance bands. Moved on to rock  bands for a while after I taught my self to play guitar and bass, then back to electronic keyboards in cover bands for functions. I even had a spell in a vocal harmony trio doing cabaret in local clubs.
Like all jobs, there were the odd bad moments, the occasional unpleasant people, mundane times like loading up the gear at 2 am with work at my day job the next day. But I never stopped playing because I got tired of gigging or found it hard. I had a pretty good band going at the end, and you never tire of people applauding or telling you they had a great night. I stopped when I was about 40 for three reasons - 1. my wife kept asking when I would stop: 2. the money was not that great compared to my day job :  3. I changed day jobs and my new employer frowned on me doing this kind of thing.
So, yes Gary, I understand the behind the scenes work that goes into gigging, and agree there is more than people see. I have the utmost respect for musicians and entertainers, it takes talent and dedication to become good at what they do, but if you are good enough, it's certainly not a miserable way to make money.
I believe that aspiring players think it must be hard and stressful to play for an audience, because it would be for them. They are terrified of making mistakes, or being badly received.  But, if you are good at what you do, and experienced, the playing part is not stressful at all. You don't think about mistakes, the music just pours out. Just like Abby describes, it becomes almost auto pilot.
Keep sailing Gary
Mike

[beykock]

Hi Mike :

You stopped gigging when you were still young. Only 40.

If my information is correct :
Abby is now in his early 60's and Gary was even much than 10 years older when he left the show business.

I think that is a big difference ...🐻

Babette

[mikf]

Better to be playing keyboard than digging coal at that age. 

[travlin-easy]

Better than digging coal at ANY age, Mike - no doubt about it!

My point is that being a full-time, gigging musician is no different that running any small business. Unfortunately, most of the musicians I know never did this - they shoved the money in their pockets (mostly cash), then just pissed it away. They rarely reported any of the income, I only knew of 2 that set up retirement programs, most went to a tax preparer that claimed to be a retired IRS agent (HA), and nearly all had some other form of income while he or she was a gigging musician.

When I had my band, a 5 piece country band, I think I was the only person in the band that reported the income. However, I was the guy that showed in the full-size van with all the gear, amps, cables, lights, stands, etc. The other guys just showed up with their instruments in hand. I did the setups and tear downs, they left within minutes of playing the last song of the night. That was the main reason I opted to strike out on my own and become an OMB entertainer. That, and they took an equal share of the income but shelled out nothing for new gear or booking the jobs.

Could I have made more money working for a large corporation or going back to the field of medicine? Probably, but I enjoyed doing what I was doing as an OMB entertainer, my wife said I was a happier person than when I was almost always coming home depressed while working in cardio/pulmonary medicine. In fact I just looked up the average coal miners salary, and at $70,000 a year, I would have made more money in that endeavor - just would not had as much fun.

All the best,

Gary

[mikf]

Gary - You got to do what you enjoyed for a very long time, you were good at it, and gave a lot of people a lot of pleasure. You can look back with much satisfaction.
Mike

[travlin-easy]

Thanks Mike. The past 30 years or so has been an incredible ride for this old codger.

All the best,

Gary