scntfc wrote:i've done a few SAM events in the past, and have been treated well and paid appropriately. so i have to wonder where they get off asking a bunch of musicians to donate their time for a $175/ticket event. i call bullshit. seeing as how this is a fundraiser for the art museum, it seems like a no-brainer that the easiest way to filter that money to "art" would be to hand some of it over to the artists performing the event. if the AFM local got wind of this i'm sure they wouldn't be happy.

Tickets to the Montclair show were $25.

Tickets to the Roundhouse were 25 pounds.

There's an incredible amount of work that goes into this, and the musicians are one small part. If everyone got paid, it would be like $5 after al the tech staff/event staff get paid.

I've done it a bunch of times and while it would have been nice to get some money, I didn't do it for the money.

I did it for the chicks.

The chicks, man.

burun wrote:Tickets to the Montclair show were $25.

Tickets to the Roundhouse were 25 pounds.

There's an incredible amount of work that goes into this, and the musicians are one small part. If everyone got paid, it would be like $5 after al the tech staff/event staff get paid.

I've done it a bunch of times and while it would have been nice to get some money, I didn't do it for the money.

I did it for the chicks.

The chicks, man.

now i know you're kidding about the chicks thing, and i don't blame anyone for doing something like this for free/the fun of it (though i still think you're a sucker). but that's why the music biz sucks balls: there are so many people willing to do shit for free that the concept of a musician's time being worth anything of value becomes laughable. i mean, imagine that: getting compensated for giving someone else your valuable time. weird!!

This will be the first and likely last time I'll have a chance to take part in this. I've been a Branca fan since high school.. and I ain't young no mo.

I'm kinda going "la la la la la" about the whole ticket price thing, admittedly. It's the part of the reason I decided to be *in* this.

Also, I'm not sure the volunteer thing is necessarily appealing to the full-time musician demographic. Sure, such people are certainly qualified and encouraged to play in this if on call.. but as someone who's qualified but not in a band right now just due to other life priorities, and can spare 3 days off work paid, this works out perfectly for me. I know I'm not alone.

scntfc wrote:now i know you're kidding about the chicks thing

"Chicks", in the literal sense of the word, no. Figurative "chicks" yes. Playing in this makes you incredibly sexxxy, if you have a penis.

I did end up dating one of my Montclair "bandmates" for a while. But mabe that belongs in the "dick move" thread...

burun wrote:

scntfc wrote:now i know you're kidding about the chicks thing

"Chicks", in the literal sense of the word, no. Figurative "chicks" yes. Playing in this makes you incredibly sexxxy, if you have a penis.

Oh, come on, now. The sexxxiness was equally distributed, at least at Montclair and the Astoria sessions.

In my case, scntfc, I did it for reasons similar to Mackro's--I did it because it was worth doing, and because I knew I'd regret it later if I didn't, even if aspects of it were hardship duty. (Gee, like choosing to go on tour, or even just be in a rock band.) I've been compensated largely in intangibles: the experience itself, stories, a new collaborator and friend (in this case, friends for the whole family, what with the baby sitting exchanges and play dates for the kids...), connections to people in general, putting faces to names...that sort of thing.

So yeah, chix.

yeah don't get me wrong, i think as a performance concept this is a cool thing. and donating time to such a performance is great if the situation requires it (as it is with the other performances mentioned). the difference here is the ticket price and event. $175 is the CHEAP ticket and with even a modest turnout the event can hope to raise $200k. and the event is not a glenn branca concert...it is an art museum fund raiser. my experience in regards to performances at this kind of event equates to 40% polite attention, 59% polite inattention, and 1% bored rich (and sorry sexxxy doods, unattractive) housewives coming up to you afterward with stupid questions..."oh, so...who are you? and you do this all the time, hmmm??? interesting....i love the color of the guitars! wow!! art is so fun! did you write the music?...oh, glenn who?". rich people in general suck, and being their performing bear is a miserable job worthy of hazard pay. also take into account the fact that a neil diamond cover band will be there to sap away some of that valuable "artistic integrity" left wafting in the air post-branca performance.

the question is: why is it okay to ask musicians to do something for free, and not bartenders, valets, food servers, security guards, etc? just because you do something for the joy of it, or the experience, or for the fact that performing in a band gives you the confidence with chicks that you should have anyway, doesn't mean it doesn't have value. shit, just take this 1 degree in a different direction and it becomes ludicrous. e.g: what if it was a performance of a classical work that required a 100 piece orchestra...they wouldn't be asking people to come do it for free! they'd be calling the seattle symphony or the musician's union and asking how much it would cost.

my advice (and speaking from experience as someone who has performed at these sorts of events, albeit for money) for those doing this: make sure you get to stay the whole time, get a guest in for free, get plenty of drink tickets, and proceed to use them to get loaded. and in the long term, have more respect for yourself as a musician.

scntfc wrote:and in the long term, have more respect for yourself as a musician.

I really hope that you're not seriously suggesting that people who do this are not respecting themselves as musicians or anything else creative.

Seriously.

Because if you are, you've managed to insult about two dozen people on this board alone who play in amazing bands (who make some kind of living from their music) who have put out records you probably own and like.

burun wrote:I really hope that you're not seriously suggesting that people who do this are not respecting themselves as musicians or anything else creative.

Seriously.

Because if you are, you've managed to insult about two dozen people on this board alone who play in amazing bands (who make some kind of living from their music) who have put out records you probably own and like.

those people i'm sure have enough self respect that some stupid shit i write on teh internetz won't offend them in the least. if what i say offends, then the offendee deserves it as its sort of a "the lady doth protest too much, methinks" sorta situation. if you go and do this performance and have fun and participate in a cool event, what i say doesn't mean shit. if you do take offense, then maybe you have something to worry about.

in fact, why am i even defending my own stupid opinion? this is electrical after all: fuck you, you cock biting asshole! fucking fuck rich people at $200 art events. fuck stupid guitar orchestras. fuck art parks. fuck neil diamond cover bands. fuck.

oh, i'm one of those people who makes a living off of music, and if you're a touch and go completist then you own a couple records i'm on too. so there. (self deprecating emoticon goes here)

Should I mention that this event will be "in the park" i.e. outside so people will at least be able to hear it for free? Or is "in the park" just a phrase used for the event?