El Lobo

I had a jazz-funk group. We added a soprano sax player, a woman. One by one, each of the other 4 guys slept with her. Eventually, they compared notes. 😁 I never slept with her because I had a solid relationship with a woman who was far more attractive and sexy. But women in a band with a bunch of men can create problems. Many years later, we had an excellent woman drummer in my main band. The other guys are all older and married life-long musicians who have been in many bands. No issues. I think the problems happen if you're younger and can't manage your sex drive. It's like learning to drink so you don't get drunk. I like having women in the band. It adds a certain other thing to the music which is hard to define.

My late wife understood and supported my desire to play live music in bands for the 44 years we were together. I feel I was lucky in that respect, and it was also key to why we were good partners for all that time. My first wife, when we were going together and before we married, kept what she called the "shit list" which was my gig calendar. Needless to say, that marriage ended in divorce. I'm 78, retired, and a widower. I'm playing in 2 regularly rehearsing and gigging bands. I've just been asked to play in a 3rd band. I first declined, then started to think about it and I may go to their next rehearsal, maybe play 1 gig and see how it goes. I'm hyper-aware that life is short and you can't know how much time you've got so I'm conflicted about how much I should try to do at what I call my advanced age. But when I think about it, I've been playing in bands for 60 years. Might as well continue as long as I can do it ...

"I don't know that one, but I'll play another one with a lot of the same notes."

+1. That's all you need to say. If more chatter happens from there, it's all good.

I share the concern about this being a requirement of the gig. If so, what does management want you to accomplish? What's their deal? If it's simply something that management encourages, you can make a minimal attempt. I always thank people for coming. "Hi. Nice to see you. I hope you're enjoying it. Which wine are you drinking? The merlot? Good choice. That's my favorite." It's what every server learns to do to maximize tips. "Requests? No, I don't do those. I can only play what's been planned." "Are you on vacation?" "Celebrating anything - birthday, anniversary?" Etc. And I share Reezekeys' concern: do people want to be approached? I think you have to use the stage hypnotist's technique of looking around the room to see who might actually be interested in talking to you. I've been in situations where I know the player(s) and want to talk to them. I've also been in situations where, if the musicians approached my table, I'd want to run screaming from the room. (Oh please, don't come towards my table. I'll look away and down at the floor.) You need to suss out the situation and the patrons to see who might be easy to talk to and welcoming of your attention. Edit: and always ALWAYS thank people for coming. Most of the time, that's all you need to say.

I guess I don't understand the question. Yes, I play it with both hands, just as I would any other keyboard. It sits on my lap when I'm on the couch. Maybe it's not clear that I use the guitar strap to go behind my back to hold it in place on my lap and keep it from slipping off. I don't play it with the strap over my shoulder, like a keytar. I also put it on my dining room table and play it sitting up in a dining room chair.

I use 2 K8s on either side of me a couple feet back. They're on these On-Stage SSAS7000B Mini-adjustable Speaker Stands so I can turn them away from me or towards me as the need arises. I'm stage right so I usually angle the speaker on my left towards the band so they can hear me. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SSAS7000B--on-stage-stands-ssas7000b-mini-adjustable-speaker-stand-single?mrkgadid=1000000&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gdsa&mrkgbflag=0&mrkgcat=livesound&lighting&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=39700065013198126&lid=39700065013198126&ds_s_kwgid=58700007229425429&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=9031924&creative=537361853727&targetid=aud-297527862170:dsa-1385849846370&campaignid=6730319011&awsearchcpc=1&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-_mvBhDwARIsAA-Q0Q7DIn1KdvJVbjdQkylnkVHyVfPOZDnYfn7X3eoEKH_ajDCv7EWJxmAaAqceEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have a Casio S1. It's the true couch piano. Lotsa fun. Lightweight. Runs on batteries. I put the guitar strap on it to hold it on my lap. No stand or table needed. Onboard speakers are about as loud as acoustic guitar. If you want louder, like when there is an electric guitar, you'll need additional outboard speaker.

JBL Eon One compact

old skool 😁

Here's a more recent stage plot I did in Keynote. It's a screenshot of a pdf.

I haven't done it in a while. As I recall, I do the plot in Keynote, then save it (or print) to pdf so I can send to sound guy or production person. Search internet for free Keynote icons. Here's one place to start https://thenounproject.com/browse/icons/term/guitar-amp/

Hi. Just saw this. The icons come with the Keynote app in Mac. It's the Mac version of PowerPoint. Also, as I remember, I just searched on the web for icons to use in Keynote. Edit: this thread was started a year ago. Since then I've done more elaborate stage plots for 2 bands.

There are compilations of AI-generated piano music.

K-Pop girl bands Eternity and Mave's videos have racked up millions of views. None of these singers are real. https://www.cnn.com/videos/style/2023/08/22/ai-kpop-watson-pkg-intldsk.cnn