#1941886 - 05/13/08 10:55 PM
Something I Noticed
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Part-timer
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Registered: 05/03/08
Posts: 86
Loc: U,K.
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Do we have any starving artists here? I mean the guys like I use to be when I was young and trying to carve out a living playing in a band,
It looks like the average member here is over 40 (so am I) upper middle class and music is a hobby, meaning it isn't their main means of making a living.
A lot of folks who invest in a lot of gear that most working musicians would never take on the road. One it is costly and 2, it is too much. Hauling all of the amps and effects let along guitars would drive a roadie crazy.
Don't get me wrong, I fit the profile perfectly. I found other jobs to make a living while I half heartedly chased the music dream. I stayed involved in music as support. Electrician by trade, I worked a lot of shows over the years. Middle class. I use to have all sorts of gear thinking one day it would all sound great in the studio.
Man, we have kept the industry in business!
I guess we all share the love of an instrument and the sounds you can make with it.
_________________________
Been There, Seen That, Done That...
Old? My hemorrhoids have hemorrhoids
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#1941918 - 05/14/08 01:16 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Part-timer]
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Jerf
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Registered: 04/17/08
Posts: 41
Loc: northern California
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I could eat.
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#1941940 - 05/14/08 04:07 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Jerf]
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Strategery
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 02/24/07
Posts: 2727
Loc: Georgia USA
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Yep, you hate to let the dream go...but the smart ones do.
Even the ones that make it...look at their lives...geez, I mean, there's stars out there that are so screwed up that I wouldn't change my life for theirs for any amount of fame and fortune. 
Still, there are those that just can't let the dream go even when they know they should.
When you run into them, it's just sad listening to them rant on about how close they are to making it big while they're living hand to mouth and trying to remain young.
I think the vast majority of us made the right decision, moved on with our lives, became professionals in our field, and make a good living and have a great family life. 
At age 50, I have it better than I deserve.
Upstairs in my office studio though, I still have a couple of damn nice Strats, a Gretsch, several other acoustics etc, nice guitar amps, keyboards, computer based recording, etc....
And in those times that we record or jam out every now and then, the dream lives on...even if it's temporary.
Randy
Edited by Strategery (05/14/08 04:09 AM)
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"I like them franch fried puh-taters...Uhm-Hmm."
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#1941994 - 05/14/08 06:15 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Strategery]
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Bill@Welcome Home Studios
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Registered: 08/23/03
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I was a former starving artist. For real. I went from high school (where I played in popular club bands, made demos, played on local radio etc) and moved away to college to study painting and sculpture. Tried to make a living as a painter, sculptor, and performer in coffee houses. Fortunately, I fell in with some better musicians, got into the business in a serious way, and it has been a long strange trip. Like Randy says, I might have more than I deserve to have. But I have not starved in a long, long time. Sure did though.... for what seemed to be a long, long time.
Bill
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"...it's easier than hitting the kids, and almost as much fun..."
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#1942111 - 05/14/08 09:06 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: miroslav]
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Dr. Ellwood
10k Club
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 16041
Loc: MoTown
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I have never been one. Music has never been a hobby for me. I've always been able to hit a balance of being able to play as much as I want, organize and field bands that are successful and profitable and kept a very good career as a engineer. It can be done!
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#1942132 - 05/14/08 09:56 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Dr. Ellwood]
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Michael Patrick
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Registered: 04/18/07
Posts: 1075
Loc: Madison, WI
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Music has never been my sole source of income. The money was never steady enough (or plentiful enough) for me to give up the day job. Did a bit of touring in my youth, but managed to do it using vacation time from my day job.
In a lot of ways, the fact that I don't need music to pay the bills has allowed me the freedom to get involved in projects that get my creative juices flowing without regard to the commercial potential of what we create. It's nice when you can have both, but in reality the times I've made the most money was the times when I was in bands doing covers, and not always covers that I particularly liked...
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#1942700 - 05/15/08 04:11 PM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Strategery]
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Part-timer
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Registered: 05/03/08
Posts: 86
Loc: U,K.
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good variety of answers!
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Been There, Seen That, Done That...
Old? My hemorrhoids have hemorrhoids
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#1942716 - 05/15/08 04:43 PM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Part-timer]
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Picker
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 7238
Loc: A few miles from the corner of...
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I remember the days when a corndog from the local convenience store was dinner, and KFC was more than I could afford if I wanted to eat more than once in 3 days.
I remember feeling enough like a failure after 3 years of chasing the dream that I joined the Navy, but still held onto the dream by thinking I could bank the majority of my pay and buy a PA and van to haul it when I got out.
I remember thinking, after I became a Christian, that I would eventually become a full-time traveling music minister, dispensing not only tasty licks but also seeing God work miracles before my very eyes.
I remember waking up one morning and realizing that the dream had passed me by a long time before, and I was hauling around a corpse that hadn't quite begun to stink yet, but wasn't far from it. I had been marking time for the previous 27 years, waiting for the time that I could finally start living the dream. And, I realized that I not only didn't have another dream to take it's place, I couldn't even think of one. I didn't have a career direction of any sort that interested me at all.
And I remember realizing, just the other day, that after all that and the time that has passed, that I have been mentally playing with scenarios of the band I'm in now getting so popular on the blues circuit that I had to decide whether to go full-time with it or not.
Some dreams never go away, dead or not...
Honestly, I don't know whether reliving the excruciatingly painful memories of all the disappointment and frustration are worth digging up 6the stinking corpse of "the dream". I am honestly afraid of having to live through it all being quashed
again, and leaving me right back where I was, without a direction to follow. God help me.
Edited by Picker (05/16/08 06:32 AM)
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Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.
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#1942878 - 05/16/08 06:40 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Picker]
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Eric Iverson
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Registered: 08/03/05
Posts: 2482
Loc: Jackson Heights, NY
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I was a starving college student at one time... well, not really starving, just eating salads when I wanted to eat steak!
I never played music for a living, though I've earned a few bucks on the side a few times.
Re: dreams that won't die. I'd still love to be in a creative Christian band that played Sunday mornings, and a biweekly (or monthly) coffeehouse. That wrote and recorded songs, and occasionally played for bigger audiences.
I never did really have the dream of selling millions of records or anything like that. There are still times when I hear a great player that I dream of being as good as him! In the above context.
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#1942885 - 05/16/08 06:55 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Strategery]
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splitting hare
Gold Member
Registered: 05/29/07
Posts: 869
Loc: The 'Nooga
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I certainly can't say I was ever a starving artist. We played the circuit back in the mid 80s - made enough money then to cover expenses - food, lodging, gas, etc. but never put any money in our own pockets. But during that time we would often go home and I was able to keep my job and work part time when in town. After loading up and heading home after a long and hard gig in "Nowheresville", MS I remember finishing my driving shift and crawling into the back of the truck for some sleep and seeing our keyboard player crashed back there. He was 32 years old (the rest of us were between 20 and 24) and he had no other occupation and lived at home with his parents. Nothing against him, but I thought then no way do I want to be that guy at 32 . I decided then and there to finish out what we had booked and go back to school and earn my degree. I had given up an academic work scholarship at a local community college to go play the circuit so I would have to pay my own way to go back.
About 5 or 6 years ago I got back into playing with a band. Like several others here, I balanced out playing with my regular job, and generally put an average of $100 in my pocket after each gig. Took a couple short vacations to do some cushy gigs down in Key West a few years back which was really nice.
Not really gigging right now but back playing with another band and doing some recording. It is all fun and although lugging around speaker cabs and such is a bit harder on my 42 year old body than it was on my 20 year old, it is always rewarding to be playing. Probably more so now than ever. 
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#1943255 - 05/16/08 09:46 PM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Part-timer]
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GuitarPlayerFL
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Registered: 10/06/02
Posts: 1458
Loc: Florida
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I taught guitar and also played in bands in the 80s...and still lived at home. Not much of a future, so I quit bands (and pretty much playing) and got a real job. In that time, I've graduated from CSULB.
BUT...
I'm now getting back into playing and having several opportunities opening up. Most are playing songs I actually care to play as opposed to playing Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul songs like I did in the 80s.
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A great Jazz/Chord Melody Master (my former instructor http://www.robertconti.comLP/Strat/Tele/PV/Wolfgang/POD/JTM 45 Keys: RD700SX/XP-10/Karma (FKA GuitarPlayerSoCal) "I Love L.A." - Randy Newman
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#1943312 - 05/17/08 03:58 AM
Re: Something I Noticed
[Re: Justus A. Picker]
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Picker
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 7238
Loc: A few miles from the corner of...
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Now you're an artist, back then you were a whore!
There's a difference?
_________________________
Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.
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