be a working musician

yeah. it was cool – i’d like to make above-starving wages this time tho. i am constantly amazed that the average joe never realizes all the YEARS of study/practice that go into the finished product (the musician/honing the talent). they don’t want to pay you anything… i think since the word “play” and “music” are often used together, that is why people don’t want to pay to hear it. “play” insinuates fun (ie., not work), when alot of times, as anyone who’s done this knows, it IS indeed WORK. nobody wants to pay to see someone having fun. they figure if you’re having fun, that should be your reward. uh, NOT.

i’ve played for 32 years. i can play beethoven on guitar, note for note. i can play bach til i drop. lol nobody wants to hear that stuff. well, wait, correction – they want to hear it, but for free.

tonight i’m playing for tips in a coffee shop. this was not what i had in mind when i went to music college…but it gets me out of the house. :)

At the Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. Should be fun. Have to decide what I’m going to play tonight! Hmmmmmmm…

Now, I know this is one of the hardest career choices to become successful in, but damn it I’m gonna do it. I made the conscious decision to be a professional musician earlier this year, but have always dreamed of being able to live off my music. At the moment I’m doing the open-mic circuit until I have my band up and running again, and hopefully we’ll get paid!

Once again, my big greedy employer is talking about layoffs, and my livelyhood as a software engineer is threatened. It would be great to make a living doing the one of the things I really love to do.