Gary,
yes, I addressed those card to the ADs and yes, I did followup calls. The point I was trying to make here is there are many of these places that have changed ownership and the new owners don't give a damn about the residents - only the bottom line. Along with this there are folks who are willing to play for $40.00 or $50.00 an hour! I was shocked when I was offered gigs on my call backs at prices well under my normal fee. Sorry, not me!

Gary, I have never made a living playing these gigs but I do have a limit on what I will play for..

Bruno,
This is not about me but about what has happened to the market in my area the last 18 months
If I never play another gig I would certainly miss it but it would not be the end of the world. What disturbs me is the fact these places are charging enormous amounts to live there and the upper level management could care less about the residents.

In the past 10 years I have had nearly 150 of these venues as clients and have had great relationships with all of them. Slowly a lot of them would call me and let me know they could not meet my price anymore-even though they were at 90+ percent full. The story was always the same - it had NOTHING to do with me or how I play or what I play - simply a matter of deeply reduced budgets for the ADs.

Deane