In the music business it’s either sink or swim!When it comes to gigs, either it’s dead or it’s crazy busy! You know the saying, “How do you make a musician complain?” —“Give them a gig” I prefer to have a gig!! Sometimes I’ll do some crazy things to make a gig. Here are some examples of some things I’ve done recently……..
1.) Play a gig in the evening in New York,then drive 3 hours that same night to play in Maryland the next morning @ 7am then drive back 3 hours to Brooklyn,teach for 3 hours then make another gig that night.
2.) I was playing 3-5 gigs a day when I was performing at schools for Jazz at Lincoln Center a couple of weeks ago, the call times were so early, that I had to wake up @ 6am, sometimes drive for an hour, then play.
3.) Wake up with only 4 hours of sleep, teach for 7 hours, then play a duo gig(guitar and saxophone for 5 1/2 hours, while driving to make each gig.
It’s rough trying to make all these jobs, I run on steam, trying to rest in bed in between some days so I don’t get sick.
Here’s the question?
“Is it worth it?”
Damn Right!!!!!
This is my career, not a job. I am one of the lucky musicians who can say when some straight 9-5ver asks, “What kind of work do you do?” I can proudly say, “I play music”. They always look surprised!!!!
It’s a tough business, it’s takes more than just being a great musician to make a living. I’ll write about that soon. Peace, Ron
http://www.ronjacksonmusic.com
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