My first paying gig... Woo!
 

Yesterday, I got to play with a band and actually got some cash in return. It was with Aubrey Dunham (a local blues talent) <a href="http://www.bluesdog.com/">Bluesdog</a> and had a blast.

Here are a couple of photos from the set, I wish they were of better quality:

<img src="http://www.houstar.org/web%20files/toyrun04/krusty/images/DSCN0424_JPG.jpg">

<img src="http://www.houstar.org/web%20files/toyrun04/krusty/images/DSCN0425_JPG.jpg">

Aubrey is the guy in the white shirt in the middle of the second pic.

It was a toy run benefit for a local youth home, so the band played for free, but at the end Aubrey gave me $15 from the tip jar (totally unexpected). Wow! I gave $5 of it to the charity, and spent the rest at auction for a pair of cheap sunglasses.

A very good day was had by all. There is nothing like the sight of over 100 styling bikes in one place. Now I want a Harley real bad. Tony, when I get back to Philly I'm bringing the bongos, we need to jam.

congrats! you, of course, gave the union their 15%, paid into health and welfare and into the pension fund, right?

And you had enough left over for sunglasses?

(^8

NBN congrats! As a professional musician you now have two important things to do:

- At your next gig, you must stand at the back of the room slagging off the band playing before you.

- Your bongos are now not good enough, and you must buy new equipment. Unfortunately the new ones will not be good enough either, so you must repeat this until you have the most expensive, rare, vintage bongos available. At that time you must sell them and take up another intrument.

In other places on the net this is known as GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome

Welcome to the dark side, NBN. Getting paid is a wonderful thing. Having someone give you money just because you played a few songs makes you feel like you've just gotten away with something, doesn't it?

I have always taken pride in the fact that, one year, I actually made as much money as I spent buying equipment. It was the high point of my professional "career".

you make enough money in one night to justify buying new equipment?!?!?!?! I've been playing for some 14 odd years (and other than not having to pay for beer :) ) i don't think i've ever re-couped my expenses.. heh.. then again saving all that beer money.. hmm.. I'll do the math

by the by do either of you have links to your music anywhere?

On my first major tour I took a 15k advance to sign the exclusive contract with the artist, and promptly bought a B3, a rhodes, a whurly, a new triton, a new controller, and cases.

poof. gone.

It doesn't matter what level you get to, the G.A.S. still keeps you in the poor house. Even when I kept up on my endorsements, the hassle of fulfilling the obligations to the equipment companies nearly did me in (clinics, trade shows, etc.)

Didja get a lesley? I think they're cool ... in a hypnotic way.

sponsorships :yum:

we're going to try for them as soon as the 2nd CD comes out. [sing] All I want for Christmas is a Mesa/Boogie Road King [/sing]

When your on the stage you have to leave the camera to the unwashed.....pity.
Congrats on your pro debut. :beer:

Congrats NBN,
When I saw the title of the thread I figured you had been hired as a safari guide. :biggrin:

NBN, your name, coincidentally, would be excellent for a bar band.

You know, with you in Lawrence and me in KC, we are going to have to get together sometime. Perhaps you are free on New Year's Day? We'll be having our annual Pagan NYD soiree, replete with chili and black eyed peas, probably some games played, guitars and drums broken out, and who knows what else?

At any rate, I have uploaded some stuff that I have been part of. Two songs are mine, the rest are things that I have recorded, mixed, engineered, played on, arranged and sung, but were written by my partner of 30+ years. I hope that UT will have been working madly on some material and is soon to be able to share it with us as well.

http://www.lunalushede.org/songs

while waiting for els songs to get in mah belly at 56k, here's a link to one of our new tunes It's one of the 4 on the album where I get the lion's share of lead guitar time. Dat makes me happy. Don't get me wrong, I likes the chrunch job too.

Actually, on a related note, anyone checked out weedshare.com? Explanation found at this link

Els, Track 8 was quite nice, very true to the old ways of structure, time, etc. Made me want to pull my cloak up over my head and inch a bit further back in me stool lest I'm shanghaiied. Keep a dagger handy, they need backs in this port. I love that kind of music