[Trombone-l] Fw: The Holiday Blues

[Daryl Burch]

OK, chiming in from the bay area... What I've seen in the cover band  
arena is a strict tightening of budgets in the corporate party  
market. Too many companies have already been or are afraid be caught  
up in harassment suits for over-indulgences at ye olde company brewhaha.

That. And the iPod movement is making it way too easy for Mary in  
accounting or Derek in tech support to slap together a play list and  
call themselves a DJ.

Last year I did 8 corporate gigs with the cover band between Labor  
Day & ending up on NYE at a casino. This year? One corporate party in  
December that was booked in February. And nothing slated for NYE.

Not grumblin'. Just observing.

Cheers!
-D-
www.radionoise.com <- Rock star by night
www.burchinteractive.com <- Tech-nerd by day #;-)


On Nov 30, 2007, at 8:30 AM, Bill Dinwiddie wrote:

Hi Tim,

Sorry to hear that things are pretty thin for you this season. I have  
heard
similar stories from many musicians here in Chicago. One excellent sax
player told me that he has one gig in December, and it's not New  
Year's Eve.
A very good trombonist told me that he has one Saturday in December,  
and he
doesn't have NYE either. I am very thankful to have some work. I did  
6 gigs
in November and should have 8 or 9 in December.

I don't know how to account for the acute lack of work, but it seems  
to be
the case in a lot of towns.

A Chicago musician (a very good one) sent out this e-mail recently:


What is going on here?

In 2004 I had 11 gigs in Dec.

In 2005 I had 8 gigs in Dec.

In 2006 I had 6 gigs in Dec.

In 2007 I have only 2 gigs in Dec.

I see a trend...

___
        \___
               \___
                      \

Hopefully, this trend will end before the whole business implodes.

Good Luck,
Bill Dinwiddie
billdin at comcast.net





----- Original Message -----
From: <t.stone at att.net>
To: <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 5:16 PM
Subject: [Trombone-l] The Holiday Blues


> Hi List,
>
> Things certainly have been slow so far this Holiday Season! Last  
> year I
> didn't have a single gig, yet another bone-playing friend of mine  
> had a
> long run on the Nutscratcher plus four church gigs! This year he's  
> got zip
> (so far), and I've got only two -- a holiday/90th birthday dance  
> and a New
> Years Eve gig. We were talking about this subject yesterday, and  
> here's a
> really interesting thing that he told me: He got invited to the annual
> Trombone Christmas Party of a well-known LA professional bass trombone
> player. This person's party is usually held on a Sunday night,  
> allowing
> all  the professional and non-professional invitee's preceding  
> Saturday
> night to remain open for gigs. Well, this year's party is scheduled  
> for a
> Saturday night because, it is rumored, hardly any of the invited
> trombonists have gigs scheduled! And I've heard this same thing  
> about a
> decided lack of forth-coming Holiday gigs from players -- both brass,
> woodwind and string -- in other groups I play in. Since
>  the L
> ist has been so lethargic this month, I ask this question in the  
> interest
> of creating some stimulating "End of s Lethargic November"  
> conversation:
> Do you find this trend happening in your part of the universe as well?
> And, if so, what do think is causing it, and what can be done about  
> it? I
> know you all are not just lurking out there practicing your  
> flexibility
> studies and etudes! So come on now, let's get the blood flowing  
> into those
> ten digits and get some responses happening!
>
> Tim (Sitting On My Butt Hardly Giging At All This Holiday Season)  
> Stone
> Granada Hills, CA
> t.stone at att.net
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at maillists.samford.edu
> http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l
>


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