Is the Club scene as bad all over as it is in New England?

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 16 Apr 2001 5:37 am

GREAT COMMENTS: For the first time I read through all the posts on this thread, and I feel like I've just lived my life over again with all the things expressed herein. I see honest opinions expressed from different viewpoints and experiences and truth in all of them.

I spent much of my youthful working days playing Thompson, Wills, and Price; and later Hag, Jones, Owens, etc, and those were great days, when all of those songs were on everyones playlist. You could walk on a bandstand in a club, shake hands and meet musicians for the first time, and play the music and arrangements by "eye contact", or improvise and know everyone in the band had their toe in your butt encouraging you to play all you were capable of....and also knew that when the job was over you would feel fulfilled and that you would take home enough pay to buy groceries another week....and all of that without a single rehearsal.....In those days it was expected that when you hired on you would be able to play anything from pop to swing to country that evolved, and if a musician couldn't "cut it", the word went out and natural selection ensured that you would work with good musicians even on "cold" jobs.

If I could re-live some of those days I'd gladly do it for free, but I just don't see any of that existing anymore in my world. Apparently you can still experience some of it (the comraderie) in the Nashville area, with a surplus of good musicians, but from my observation it is the exception.

I still love playing enough to compromise so I can keep doing it, but the bottom line is that to do so I find that I have to work harder at it than I ever have in my life. For my current job I had to rehearse for two solid weeks to learn the arrangements, and the material is not what I would select....but it usually fills the house so it seems to prove that my perspective is in the past. The musicians are accomplished professionals in everyway, but they are a generation or two removed from mine, so we don't have the built-in "we all know what each other is going to do" relationship of my past because our experiences are different...

But by mutual respect for each others musical ability and different backgrounds, we make it work and there is still the fulfillment of working with professionals and doing a job well when I go home at night because the audience loved it....and the pay is better than average.

The bottom line is, that I know that I am past the age when most musicians are retired from this "young mans" career, but I still love it, and it's worth the compromise to keep on doing it as long as I can. The music doesn't have to be my choice anymore, as long as it is done well...but that is my choice, and I can also understand those that would rather not do it than compromise.

Peace and good will to all....I appreciate all the comments made in this thread. www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 16 April 2001 at 06:39 AM.][This message was edited by Gene Jones on 16 April 2001 at 06:40 AM.][This message was edited by Gene Jones on 16 April 2001 at 06:41 AM.][This message was edited by Gene Jones on 19 April 2001 at 09:23 AM.]

Bob Hayes · Post by **Bob Hayes** » 17 Apr 2001 10:23 pm

Amen to that B.Cole! That's what it's all about.now
Grouchy

Bob Hayes · Post by **Bob Hayes** » 17 Apr 2001 10:24 pm

Amen to that B.Cole! That's what it's all about.now
Grouchy

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 18 Apr 2001 1:53 pm

Re:RETCOP88...I understand and agree with what you are saying about the working conditions in the Nashville area and around the country in general. I've carried a union card and paid my dues too.... but I think you misinterpreted my statement that "I would work for free to live those days again". I was referring to the "relationship" between and among musicians, not that I'd work for free just to have a "job". As I said above:

........."You could walk on a bandstand in a club, shake hands and meet musicians for the first time, and play the music and arrangements by "eye contact", or improvise and know everyone in the band had their toe in your butt encouraging you to play all you were capable of....and also knew that when the job was over you would feel fulfilled and that you would take home enough pay to buy groceries another week....and all of that without a single rehearsal"...........

Fortunately, I have plenty of work, and I'm probably paid more than I'm worth....but my point was that the cohesiveness of an earlier time is for the most part gone because we now have to juggle so many different musical styles and trends to stay in the game. Consequently we have to work harder, and it's not always as much fun as it used to be. (I do disagree with those who believe that if one person has a job and another doesn't, that the one with the job must have "kissed someones a-- to get it". There may be other reasons) www.genejones.com

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 18 April 2001 at 02:58 PM.][This message was edited by Gene Jones on 18 April 2001 at 03:28 PM.]

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 19 Apr 2001 6:19 am

My only reference to Nashville in my original post was: that based on other Forum posts, there are apparently a lot of professional musicians there who are unemployed, and some of them get together to play because they know and respect each others musical ability, just as I would do.

I don't know how that could be turned-around to indicate that I "envy" the musicians in Nashville "because they have it made" and to generate the controversy that followed. I have never, ever, had any desire to live or work in Nashville.

My posts are always intended to be non-confrontational....so when my words are proported to mean something other that what I said...and then followed with criticism for "saying something that I didn't say", then I get defensive.

Gene Jones

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 19 April 2001 at 08:13 AM.]