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I think that is generally correct except the having people to pay them to do it
comes first - if you can make a comfortable living playing music instead of
hanging sheetrock or crunching numbers all day, then do it - even if it means
playing music you're not totally psyched about - that's where being a
professional musician comes in - your are paid to play what people want to hear
- of it you're a sideman, you are paid to play whatever the band leader tells
you to play. So if you don't mind iiving in a van for several months out of the
year, or being stuck in a traffic jam during a blizzard and having the
occasional show cancelled, or any other of the myriad things that can go wrong -
the bottom line is, would you rather be working a straight job day in and day
out behind a desk or driving a forklift or whatever, or would you prefer to
gamble a steady pycheck in favor of the road life? If you can make some money
on the road or develop some skills or a business that can benefit you in the
future, then go fo it. A good example is Man or Astroman? - they toured all
the time, probably got to the point where they could make a living (not dick
dale money of course), but at the same time, they opened a commercial recording
studio (zero return) as well as a mail order fulfillment company (zerotec), so
its not like they wasted 10 years of their lives and no have to start over at an
entry level job somewhere (or maybe they do, I don't know how much income those
enterprises generate). And they were actually able to maintain their artistic
relevance - or at least they got to do what they want and get paid for it.
Dick is obviously trying to target the mass appeal crowd by incorporating
popular elements and standard behavior and songs into his set. If he just
played straight surf - some old, some new, it would be far too obscure to most
of the people in the audience and he would see his earnings decrease. I'm sure
his thoughts are why fix it if it ain't broke. Playing Miserlou and Pipeline
in his black leather while trying to grab arse on the side is what he gets paid
for, so I don't fault him for that - its his job.
There's nothing wrong with die-hard surf fans criticizing his shows - as a
thumb-twiddling surf geek, I don't care for most of what he does, but that has
nothing to with being on a high horse, or feeling morally superior because I
play the music I want & don't try to appease the particular needs of the crowd.
For alot of surf musicians - their surf band is mostly an expensive hobby (they
may play professionally on the side, but their surf band is probably not their
primary source of income, unless they live in an abandoned railroad car). Los
Straitjackets is another notable exception, but they play alot & are all
comsumate musicians and have other avenues of income. But for average moes
like me and many others, we choose to piss away the vacation time (as well as
alot of the money) from our "day jobs" in order to do something we (and not too
many others) love with a passion, regardless of who attends the shows - our
only hope is that we get paid enough to buy gas for the ride home. So, if
playing in a band is not a job, then play whatever you want - if it is a job,
you have to play whatever gets you the biggest payday (Poison songs, Limp Bizkit
numbers, etc) at the end of the night (and hope its enough to pay to get the
van fixed and pay for your hotel room, including the extra fee for semi-clean &
preferably dry sheets. I don't know too many girls....who would stay home
alone while their man is out traversing the country in an "action" van playing
in bars every night and getting paid in sweaty cash - which gets used to pay the
bar tab. Of course if you come home with $50,000 in your pocket, you bet your
ass she'll be waiting for you.
-tfj-
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Speed
The first is if they still like to do it and the
other is if people still pay them to do it. As long as those two
criteria are met they should do it as long as they can because few
other jobs short of winning the lottery pay so much while requiring
so little.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
