This last week I played Wind and Sea Monday night, had a home session Tuesday and rehearsal Tuesday night, played Saddleback Church night of worship Wednesday and Thursday night, did a session for a friend Thursday morning and Hennessey's late Thursday night, worked on the studio and uploaded video, pictures and updates thru the free time, had 3 business lunches for the CD release and then started the weekend.

Friday I had a meeting, a wedding single and Gentiles club gig. Saturday was spent setting up for and recording a recital at USC, including video, Protools session audio and Pictures thru the event. Sunday I was at Calvary Chapel Vista in the AM and Saddleback Church in the evening - 4 services. 

Today is a new week and Monday morning. I am feeling the old back ache, but am very grateful for a week of REAL WORK! When it happens, I always feel like it as in the old days. You youngsters have no reference, but us old timers know - MUSICIANS USED TO WORK, BE BUSY AND GET PAID WELL!! 

There is a whole new generation of young players that don't know that! Skills have value! Good players are supposed to get paid for their services. A gig is not supposed to be a chance to play, making a few dollars off CD sales and T-shirts to pay for the gas. Things have changed a lot and not for the better. The levels of quality continue to drop as the music marketplace becomes something that only a young, hobby oriented musician can afford to do or would be willing to do. 

How unusual it is to be blown away by a band you see in a club anymore. How predictable it is to be laughing at the total lack of musicality represented by the duo or trio you see in todays clubs. 

I took my Mom out for Mother's Day with my sister and we did dinner and a movie together. As we waited for the movie, we were drawn to the sounds of an outdoor venue with live music. As we got closer we could hear painfully lame vocals and found a need to go see who and what could sound so bad. I don't know why we are drawn to things that suck as much as things that rock but I digress.

Two chick singers, one on keyboards and one on sax, and add a guy guitar player singing too. To be honest, I don't think any one else as there to listen to how bad they were but my sister and I. She noticed the lack of hands moving on the keyboards as I was laughing at the old Casio they had put before her to pretend she was playing. The sax chick did play and at a pretty solid high school level, but was not that annoying since she actually played within her abilities very well and was appropriate to the music styles, and really soft in the mix! The guitar player was a little harder to figure out, since he could play guitar pretty well, but was just turned off 80% of the time. When a bad guitar sound did become audible, we figured that out.

What we had here was an attempt at professional Karaoke. The problem was not that they could not play or sing very well, but that they were frauds. Even to the point of the keyboard chick being unable to move her hands if she spoke or sang, and then acting like she was playing when she had nothing else to do with pained facial expressions and all.

WE HAD FUN BECAUSE THEY SUCKED. This was not the case 10 years ago. Hacks could not get gigs in LA, recorded nothing since studio time was too expensive, and still had some fun playing at home and for friends. Now the gigs pay so bad that no one else can afford to do these gigs. Add to it a continual dumbing down of audiences, that are fine with how lame this sounded, and realize the entertainment options for this major city are near zero on any given night - I'm done.........

Well, almost done - RECORDED MUSIC - There was this concept 10 years and more ago, that one could take some great music and put the very best musicians together to record it and it would at least pay for itself, maybe even make enough money to start a new recording. Since the world decided music is public domain and should always be free, the quality and frequency of any high quality has started spinning to NEVER. How can one spend 20 to 30 grand, loose it, making very little back on the investment, and be able to continue the cycle?? 

It is really simple if you take all the arguing out for a second. How can a great song writer afford to work all year and make no money to pay for food? He can not. Same goes for anything else. The quality of songs goes down. The quality of musicians goes down. The quality of recording goes down. With the lack of expectations from the ears and users of music in 2009, it seems to be working for all but those with the experience to do any of this really well. 

This would just be a rant if I didn't add an action step. 

I am calling MAY 15th - National give someone a dollar day. If you have not paid for a single song this year, yet have downloaded and shared any songs this year - I encourage you to go to iTunes and pay 1 dollar to an artist or band that you like, even if you already have the song. National Give SOMEONE a Dollar Day - MAY 15th. Help Support the music you love by paying a whole dollar toward the possibility of another song coming from that artist one day! It's a concept.... Run with it.... Buy a song or pay for a song you have and love. 

Comments are always welcome and usually really fun. Thanks for listening to a sax player for a minute. Blessings and congrats to all our Graduates and blessings to our Mom's!

greg