El Lobo

Yes, Erika Lewis is perfect for Tuba Skinny's music. She's not always with them for live performances, but there's lots of videos of her with them on utoob. The other players are all very good too.

I don't think it matches your visit schedule, but Tuba Skinny are at dba on Frenchmen Street July 1, 8, and 15. They are my favorite live band.

And screw top wines are getting better. Wine consumers are slowly realizing that screw tops are better than corks. Wine snobs are appalled. And the French are the last to go there. But I have a couple of French reds with screw tops. They're perfectly fine wines.

I use Wurli if I'm trying to blend with guitar and fill out a rock/blues sound.

Repeat: Josh Paxton. Frenchmen St. Maple Leaf. Add WWOZ radio https://www.wwoz.org

My fridge beer is Stella Artois. I like a good pilsner. In the SF Bay Area I get Trumer Pils at my local gig watering hole, and also Fort Point Kolsch. In wine, I drink French and Italian reds. As bill5 above, I'm grateful for Total Wine. For special sipping, it's Redbreast single pot still Irish Whiskey

Interesting thread; looks like lots of different situations. I'm in the SF Bay Area. I'm in 2 bands - 1 is covers, the other is originals. Both bands gig 1-2 times a month. Gigs are almost always weekend afternoons or early evenings – bars, concerts, special events, festivals, fairs. Pay is mostly low, some good pay, some freebies. I'm old, not in it for the money. I turn down gigs that are more than an hour away from home. I don't play late night gigs. Several of my bandmates are in other projects, sometimes more than 2. One of them makes most of his money doing solo guitar and vocals at retirement homes. OP's question was "how are you finding the work?" Different members of the bands get different gigs. Some band members don't do anything about getting gigs, some members get most of the gigs. But different members have different contacts, past experience, relationship with bookers/venues/festivals, etc. That can be one of the advantages of being in a band. .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Winston https://deadline.com/2023/06/george-winston-dead-pianist-grammy-winner-1235410106/ https://variety.com/2023/music/news/george-winston-dead-solo-piano-instrumental-music-1235635327/

How tall does is go for playing standing up? Edit: Amazon link says it goes to 33.5” 2nd edit: the graphic says it goes up to 34.75"

I've turned down gigs just by saying I'm not available for those dates. In truth, I wasn't available for the gig because 1. it was too far away (2 hour drive), or 2. pay was not enough, or 3. music wasn't what I wanted to play, or 4. I wasn't up for playing with those players, or 5. I'm too old and tired. I'm playing in 2 bands, each one gigs (and rehearses) once or twice a month, one is covers the other is originals, I sit in sometimes with a friend's band when they're close to home, I don't do jams anymore (there are many in my area but I'm not anxious to play any more), some friends who are good players may start jamming at my house, and I don't do gigs more than an hour away. I'm playing as much music as I want to. I don't need to make my living from it. I'm grateful that I get to play live music with other good players at what I call my advanced age. Life is good.

My main band usually rehearses 3 or 4 new songs before each gig, then we try them out and see which ones stay on the set list and which ones don't. At the gig, all songs are adapted in the moment in response to audience response. Yesterday's gig: we added Certain Girl, Nothing But A House Party, Polk Salad Annie, a rearranged Money (closer to Barrett Strong version in recognition of his passing). Audience dancing and sing along participation made us extend some in the moment, add more choruses, emphasize horn parts. Money is corny cliché frat-rock but audience loved it and sang along. Polk Salad and House Party went over great and we'll work those into bigger and better arrangements. We did a great version of Certain Girl, faithful to the Ernie K-Doe original recording. I love that Allen Toussaint song but it probably won't survive on the set list. Nobody danced, I think a few people recognized it, but it's not a rave-up like House Party. We've been doing Right Place, Wrong Time which is a killer song, funky as you wanna be. It gets pretty good response but I don't know if it will survive on the set list because it doesn't get as good a response as it deserves. The point: all cover songs are re-arranged in live performance.

I always want to hear it (and The Entertainer) in more "ragged" time. It's Black American roots music, the roots of jazz and blues. I always want to hear it with more soul.

This video of the original piano roll is slower and sounds more "natural" to my ear. The youtube poster's note says "Although I have a perfect re-cut of this roll, I felt that viewers would rather see my original roll from 1916, the year it was first issued. Sorry about the discords at the beginning, but the roll was patched poorly by some moron, and I have to fix it one of these days. You will notice that Joplin's left hand is more complex than the sheet music that was issued to the general public."

This. I always say I use the chromatic scale in all my playing. In truth, it's really more like 11 tones, not 12. But I might use that 12th note as a passing run up to something else. I like the 6th ... also the 2nd/9th ... chromatic movement up through passing tones ... the dominant 7 ... the major 7 ... and all the other notes. Music is fun. The notes are fun. Play all the notes.

I gig with my Nord 5D. Rehearsing with my other band (I'm only on horn) a keyboard player came by to sit in. I set up my old Electro2 for him to play. I was amazed at how bad the sounds were in that board. I thought it sounded pathetic and I was embarrassed that this very good player was playing it. When I first had it and gigged with it, I thought it was the coolest sounding thing on the planet. Times, technology, taste, and sounds change.

I liked that way of putting it.

I've always said there's no substitute for actual moving air. I love the sound when my friend moves his B3 and Leslie to the concert hall for live performance. That said, though, there is also no substitute for the convenience, weight, and dependability of my Nord 5D, with drawbars and fast, slow, and stop rotary speed. Plug and play. Band members can hear the rotary effect slowly speed up or slow down. Not too bad. At what I call my advanced age, I'll go with the single 61-key board, sax, Knox stand, 2 speakers and short poles which all fit into the trunk of my Camry hybrid, which is a small trunk to begin with because of the hybrid battery. EZ duz it.

I posted earlier in this thread. I got a Knox stand because of info here. I love KC! The Knox is everything I've been looking for and bought many stands until I got this Knox. Trying to reduce my rig, simplify, lighten the load. The Knox is easy set up and take down, light, simple, very stable, goes tall enough to play standing, and the least expensive stand I've ever bought. Why did I not get one of these a long time ago? Thank you all for being here.

Yes, play harmony under top trumpet on B3. It will sound better than fake horns and it will blend.

The Kingsmen - "Louie Louie" and "Money" 🤣

I guess the Beatles own the opening chord of Hard Day's Night. Or would that just be Paul now? I wonder how much it would cost to buy it.

I use the chromatic scale in all my playing.

I agree with you.

I'm smiling as a read these posts. Yes, almost everybody in LA is in show biz in one form or another. The people that live in my son's neighborhood are grips, costume designers, script writers, singers and name musicians, relatives of famous performers of the past, and so forth and so on. My son is at the center of the live theatre world there and frequently has brushes with celebrities. I lived in Santa Monica from age 12 to 16. My wasted youth was spent on the Santa Monica pier. Venice then was not hip and trendy, or bougie like it is today. It was a dump and poor, a place where broke artists and musicians and beatniks lived because they couldn't afford to live anywhere else, kinda the exact opposite of what it is today. In my 30's and 40's, I'd go down to LA (from San Francisco) for parties and do some recording at my brother's studio or hang out at another recording studio, just a hanger-on and wannabe on the scene. We went to parties that were really funny because they were all gorgeous people hanging around wanting to meet celebrities, producers, directors, agents, anybody who could get them into a movie -- very pretty people all staring at each other with nothing going on and nothing to say. (One of my brothers is an actor, director, screenwriter and another brother is a musician who used to own a music store in LA but now lives in Santa Barbara, my son is in the center of live theatre in LA. I know this world, but I am not part of it.) My son moved to LA from Seattle about 20 years ago and now I only go to LA to be a grandad and let my son be the One Who Knows LA. I agree with the comment above that the best way to experience a city is just to hang out on the street and take in the city's vibe. There are parts of LA that you probably don't want to do that in. The problem is LA is huge. You can drive all day and all night and still be in LA. And amid the carpet stores and discount whatever, there's always an all-night taco stand that either has terrible food or some of the most sublime stuff you ever had but you'll never know it until you try. If you can't tell, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with LA. If you're adventurous, LA can be a fun and interesting trip ... if you can just get off the freeway.

My son is a Big Man in Hollywood. I asked him for recommendations. Top music places are: The Roxy The Troubadour Hotel Cafe Ace Hotel Fonda Theatre The Baked Potato The Greek Theatre Hollywood Bowl https://socalpulse.com/los-angeles/top-20-venues-for-live-music-in-los-angeles/ Food is a tougher one. So many places have closed and it really depends on what part of town. There are of course two Thai towns but some of the best Thai food is in strip malls. A couple places in Hollywood are classic: Musso and Franks Gwen - Michelin Star rest. owned by Curtis Stone Osteria Mozza Providence Mother Wolf Eater has a quarterly list: 38 essential restaurants in Los Angeles https://la.eater.com/maps/best-los-angeles-restaurants-eater-38-essential