Old Rockers getting their ya ya's out

TAE

TAE

All you have is now
It's strange getting old and watching the winds of change blow your reality away.

Like most amatuer musicians, I never made a bunch of money playing...even big gigs never really rained money.

Living in LA there are a gazillion musicians and as strange as it may seem most venues are not really looking for a really good Classic Rock Band that has 250 likes on their Facebook account...Hell if you don't have at least 500 don't send a video..

So not so many great places my band of old misfits can get a gig anymore and when we do for a five piece making $600 for a show is good money...

Even the old guy bands that have horn sections and do all the dance music with the pro front man are finding it harder and harder to get gigs...

So...I'm heading into Target a few weeks back and I see this old vagrant looking dude set up playing his keyboard powered by a car battery singin and playin away with a little bag out in front of him with dollar bills in it...

He's playin a song I know, that I play n sing.... Dylan's "Make you feel my love" So I stop and take a listen and sing along with him for a few seconds...He smiles and finishes and says usually it's the young girls that sing along ;)

We start yacking and I tell him I play the keys and sing and he tells me to go ahead sit down and play....So I do and bang out my whack version of Patsy Clines version of "You Belong to Me" As people walked by the money dropped in the bag...weird


We got to talking and this guy travels all over Southern California to shopping malls sets up and plays his heart out for 5 or 6 hours most days and nets between $250 to $500 a day ..
He keeps some Voter Registration forms with him and when the cops come to tell him to leave he first ask them are they registered to vote...then proceeds to tell them he is exercising his right to free speech and promoting voter registration...in most cases the cops back off and he gets to stay whether the owners of the stores like it or not...

I found it pretty interesting that he can do his thing on his terms and easily make $4K a month tax free working five days a week part time.... Guess as them winds of change blow in your face sometimes you have to seek shelter from the storm....sorry couldn't help my Bob Dylan fan bad ass self :rolleyes:
 
Voter registration forms. Good idea. Going to try that when I set up in the mall next year :)

The times they are a'changin!
 
keith.rogers said:
Voter registration forms. Good idea. Going to try that when I set up in the mall next year :)

The times they are a'changin!
Click to expand...

Well for sure in Cali we're covered ..it is a first amendment thing now this speaks of petitions but voter registration totally falls under the umbrella and you can pick up the registration cards at the post office for free...then just occasionally ask passerbys if they are registered to vote.... done

copy and pasted...


Multi-Use Lots and Storefronts
Multi-use lots and storefronts are strip malls, outdoor malls, or any venue with a lot with more than one business.
According to current interpretation of the First Amendment and the California State Constitution wherein it reads:
“Every person may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible
for the abuse of this right. A law may not restrain or abridge liberty of speech or press.”
This has been upheld multiple times starting with the Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins all the way to the
recent narrowing of the decision in Ralphs Grocery Co. v. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 8.
In essence what this means is that you have the right to canvass and collect petition signatures.

Pruneyard wiki
 
Great idea!
It's probably gonna work like a charm till the homeless panhandlers discover this secret. Lol :D
 
Yo RFR ...Coincedently "Alex" the piano dude told me that some of the stores he sets up at actually WANT him to set up because the regular non musician pan handlers leave when he starts playing because everyone chooses him over them to donate to...

Don't forget to vote!
 
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funny story.
$250-$500 for 6hrs and low overhead lol!!

the bars dont payout shit mostly around here, even the travelling headline huge tour bus pull in $600 for the whole band ...commonly.
sure the bar is paying 3 or 4 bands, no one is doing 1 band around here , its always 3-4,5, and then each get a few hundred to asplit on a good night.

the fad seems to be fake-Led Zepplin or Pink Floyd or Tool bands that pay a lot more $$$$$$$$$....but then its not really your own stuf.
Kiss with make up on cover bands and all that.....novelty....like Elvis impersonators but for the 60's and 70's rock....80-90's....
2000-2010....

damn im getting old too. love that line...

It's strange getting old and watching the winds of change blow your reality away.- TAE
 
Awesome!
And at 61 years young (or something) you've got me thinkin'.
Not sure how well it would work in Vancouver Canada though...
 
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