Everybody knows it. The music business is a lousy business.
“Why would anybody want to be in it?” the Karaoke Queen asked me recently. She’s been observing my struggles to put my life as a musician back together. It hasn’t been pretty.
That’s a tough question to answer. Money is not a factor, since most gigs barely pay enough for the expense of getting to them. The other negatives are all too obvious. Playing in bars late at night isn’t glamorous. It’s a tough job. Bitter infighting with other musicians is just part of the game. You’d think that would go away as the players enter their 50s and 60s, but it doesn’t.
And, it’s rare for the music to really work. Something always seems to go wrong. You get to play on a big outdoor stage… and a wild thunderstorm wipes you out. Or, the gigs start to roll in only for the band to collapse as the players fight over who’s the one responsible for the band’s success. Or, the club goes out of business just as you are about to play there.
I stay in it for the same reason everybody does… I like to play. Hope springs eternal that the next band will be the one that works. The players will keep things in proportion. Everybody will agree on their roles, and be generous with one another. The band will get in the groove and the good times will roll.
I try not to get too excited about the highs or the lows. When it’s working, I thank God and pray for the good luck to continue. When nothing’s working, I concentrate on my multimedia business and my solo playing.
I make my living in multimedia. I’m too old to continue to believe that one day I’ll make the big time. That doesn’t mean that my ego is under control. Like everybody else, I’ve just pushed that big time dream into the closet. Give that monster a little air, and it will go wild.
So, I keep playing and looking. I don’t know what else to do.
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