Private parties, weddings and "event" gigs were very cool and we made great money with excellent contracts that would usually include gratuities and traveling expenses.
Being able to play so many special requests was a major plus.
 
The craziest ( I thought) gig that we took...I showed up to practice one night and was informed I needed to approve signing a contract of which we were to be the Indian national rodeo band!
I thought it was a joke but after all the joking and laughing...it was real. So I signed and we were to start in a week or so doing an international Indian rodeo- the details were; we played one night of a
dance party for all contestants. We then played six nights during the rodeo (inside colosseum on the
level above the contestant entries...bull shoots, etc.) and then one dance party night to end.
The contract was for dates/time and payment only. Expenses/food were worked out and included as performance pay which came out very well in 4 digits per member (5).
 
So I go to the first practice for this gig wondering what in the world will be doing during the rodeo?
I get tuned, look around and they're all looking at me..?!...what? Well what do we do Mike?
Man! You guys talk me into this and now ask me what we're doing? !! ( everybody laughing)
Ok. I've been to a many rodeo so what we need are little 7 second do-dads. LOL.
I was very glad that I had spent many evenings playing my guitar while watching TV. I knew enough
little crazy tunes/themes such as Bonanza, Maverick, Flintstones ( which I posted at Box LOL) that
we had a blast getting prepared. The dance/parties we weren't concerned about.
The barrel racing caught me off guard! We ended the first run at 7 seconds and wasn't half way done! LOL. Easy fix.
 
It turned out to be one of the most fun gigs I ever played. There were 20 to 35,000 people a night
just having one hell of a great time and we later did many dances and rodeos in local arenas.
Weddings and such just seemed kinda tame after all that LOL.
 
 
 
 

The next time you say "this ain't my first Rodeo" I'll have a better idea what you mean. :-)

I have been very lucky being able to do music full time for so long but just playing gigs can be a great survival tool for sure. Although I started writing music for various things there were times where all I did was play gigs and nothing else. Making a big investment in drums early was a good thing to do for me. I started out playing in a restaurant residency which was hard to get even then. Playing two nights a week for a couple of years in the same place.
 
In Canberra (capitol of Australia) there was a lot of live playing. Parliament lives there and there a lot of gigs going on behind the scenes. Jazzy ensembles especially piano bass and drums.  I found the more styles of music you played as a drummer the more gigs you got.
 
There were bursts of styles taking hold locally like rock for a few years. I was in a very very loud band! It was great to play at that power level for a while too. (Very big PA's too. Sonor drums sound amazing at very high volume levels)  Then Country really happened and that is when I ended up playing with Frank (Gambale) for example. Doing like 5 gigs a week for two years which was a lot.  It was all pure Country, Australian and American style. We actually supported Charlie Pride on one occasion which was pretty cool. (His band was something else!) It is such a cool style of music. (Frank is so good as a country lead guitarist)
 
There was tons of old time dances, folk and acoustic music, pop and corporate, Latin and fusion bands too. And of course the straight up good old working wedding and club, cabaret or 50/50 bands. I led in many of those too. There are a lot of clubs in Canberra and people are always getting married.
 
You could take on a few students to supplement things too. All this while I was setting up the electronic music studio and getting underway in there. Had the days off to fiddle with all that or often came home after gigs and went all night in the studio and slept all next day and did it all over again the next night. I also spent a lot of time in front of a very nice Hi Fi listening to everything that has been recorded. A good thing to do to become a great engineer.
 
It was hard to manage money because although I was making it, I liked spending it too. I think we are all guilty of that. We just can't help ourselves when it comes to musical instruments! The studio took a lot of money from me! But then it got bigger and better as a result. It is much cheaper today to set up something very powerful. I mean one big synth in those days cost $5000 and it could only do one sound at a time. But I still collected them though. Just had to go out and do another 50 gigs to pay for it.

Oh, were gonna do strange or fun gigs now. Here's just a few.
 
1)Arizona State Prison for Women. Met some of the inmates in later years at gigs, Awkward doesn't cover it.
2) Maximum Security Mens Federal Prison outside Phx, Az. 2 shows, outside, back to back.
3) New York State Womens Championship banquet. We were a full blown rock band and somehow got booked for this. 300 women bowlers, away from their husbands, in a hall with an open bar and a rock band. Let your imaginations run wild......and you won't come close.
 
4) A private upscale prom at the Judson School in Scottsdale, AZ. Someone spiked the punch with lsd, and there was 200 kids laughing hysterically for 3 hours. I had them go out one set of doors in a conga line and come back in. Some of the locals who were not students got wind of the scene, and joined the line on the way back in. Lotsa fun til the cops showed up.
 
Randy

Didn't I suggest you write a book about your adventures Randy?  Yeah...  I think I did.

One of my college bands got invited to play a Solstice party at a Pyramid on a private sink hole.
 
I told the other guys, who were fairly straight laced that they should be ready for anything... like naked dancing hippies and stuff.
 
About 3 songs in it happened just like I thought it would.
 
We end up as the house band for the next few quarters.
 
 
 
 
 

Well, I do not have road stories like you guys do.....Exhausting as it  may have been it still had to be cool and a lot of fun....
 
I did the other thing......(now I am going to gloss over a lot of things inbetween here)
 
I learned to play guitar and bounced around taking lessons for years....worked a straight job for several years while I went to community college and night school......I was teaching a little at the time at a local music store right across the street from a major metro station....they sold you gear down stairs and then signed you up for a couple of free lessons to hook them ...even if was only for several months.....it was a great package.....I was always able to hang on to my students for a good solid year or two but I always had a steady stream of new students as well........
 
one day I told my self this was enough and signed my self up at a major University in Chicago for a music performance degree....and so I got my Bachelor degree in 84 and my Masters in 86. At this point I had five or six teaching places, including a personal route that I came to you for lessons.
 
Next I got a gig at a local college teaching both individual instruction as well as classroom instruction which I did for several years. While there I opened my own music instruction shop (at one point I had 25 people working for me teaching different instruments), got married, bought a house (at an estated sale that needed soooo much work it was not even funny)....
 
Thru all of this teaching, I was doing solo classical guitar gigs at wedding dinners, resturants, Home parties for the well to do, and where ever else I could play.....
I also had a classical guitar trio that we played out a lot as well. We rehearsed over at our first guitar teachers house and he would do original music for us and well as sit in sometimes to bring us up to a quartet.
 
He and I did a lot of duet gigs together too....
 
Now to fill out or round me out (yeah right) I played in a rock band (had a few gigs) really went no where.....but we did play a lot of USO's and graduations and dive bars...This went on for several years
 
I did wedding pick up band work and what ever else I could find.....
 
I was very busy 7 days a week....no vacations (like you guys) or days off.
 
Also I did some very small limited publishing, worked on a guitar manual (which went no where cause it was way too off the charts.....think George Van Epps and Ted Green manuals and you have an idea of why)....I did guitar arrangement, duo's and trio arrangements etc......I did a lot of writing....
 
I did this for almost 15 years until the wife and I decided to go our seperate ways and get divorced....it was a very bitter and brutal one....
 
She ended up with the house, the dogs, all my music and all my instruments, my car .....well basically she ended up with everything......I had the clothes on my back....and of course the laywer bills....etc.....
 
anyway, I ended up driving a 18 wheeler over the road for about 12 years and did not touch an instrument or see any sheet music or any thing in the whole time.....the only music in my life at the time was FM!
 
Luckly now, I live by myself (which is good and bad.....I have issues ) have a couple of instruments, a home and at least a stable (as can be expected) job.
 
I am right now having my degree's framed and I am going to put them up on my music room wall so that I can see them....I am proud of all the hard work it took to get them.....I worked full time teaching and went to school full time....I was able to do it all on my own....so they are mine and I want to see them and all the good memories they hold ........
 
And that's my story (or at least the shorthand version)
Clifford
 
 

man.
 
what cool stories!
 
heheh
 
thanks guys (where are the gals?)

Truckermusic
 
She ended up with the house, the dogs, all my music and all my instruments, my car .....well basically she ended up with everything......I had the clothes on my back....and of course the laywer bills....etc.....
 
Clifford 
 

When Kirk met McCoy he told Kirk that he may has well be in space because his X took the whole damn planet and all he had left was his bones. LOL.
 
My dads first wife took all his clothes when she left...he had to call a friend.

One of the most interesting gigs I ever played was at a members-only sex club. It was a private mansion, right in the city. I'd driven past it many times but never knew it was there, being hidden behind high walls and foliage. Members drove in from all over the state to swim, dance, eat, watch porn and hook up. Sadly, the activities were reserved for members only and not extended to the hired help. I never told my wife about that gig, but she must have had some clue when I got home that night...