Depending on yor agravation tolerance level &
I mean dong this for a living mucho gigs a month year after year....after a while it WILL sink in and get to ya

I love the laptop..it covers everything i need, and easy to access...Soft synth,MP3's, sequences..lyrics..It is hard to beat....the problem as mentioned are the "newsbags"...how be it, I notice it diminishing..

You guys are right, even without the laptop,,we have inquires like"do you have so and so in there".....worse yet , I get it from my band members when someone ask for a tune...they look at me and ask "Do you have Hey Girl in there"...They don't even have a clue how anoying they are...

I can live working with a laptop...it makes everything super easy..and at this point I can ignore the curious.
That being said, I am also considering the Midjay/controller set up...and use the laptop as a back up[packed untill or when I need it]..

The ideal set up for me is my G1000[or a G70], with MP3 capabilities..
I know it's available with the Genesys and PA1x,,,but I need the Roland quality for sounds and sequence playback..

As far as the audiance goes, try to distance yourself from them if at all possiable...like elevate the platform you use or try to fence yourself in, if they can't get to you, they can't bother you...when folks try to come up to me, I put my hand up like STOP and at that signal, they stop and turn away then I simply say that the insurance regs will not permit me to have anyone on stage....that generally works..even though everyone knows that there are no ins. regs here in Mexico....then I have to deal with the Karaoke singers that want to be stars but that is normally after my dinner show....
this is just a thought amigos...it works here...try it.....
Tony Rome

[This message has been edited by Tony Rome (edited 10-17-2005).]

Tony that senario to me would be Musical Suicide in my act.......a Lovey Dovey repoir is a staple in my shows & is CRUCIAL for giving my audiences that "SHMOOZE" factor nite after night ......but if I can lessen the curiosity in some way, if even a little bit it cant hurt and would make my life a bit easier hopefully.

Donny . . . hmmm. Wow! Interesting to hear you finally 'coming around' to my way of thinking on this. Here's what I had replied to you, Uncle Dave, and Gary Diamond, over on this very topic, over TWO years ago:



Donny, it's obvious from what you're saying now, NINE years later, that audience attitudes about the laptop onstage has'n't changed.

In the meantime, I'm having continued gigging success utilizing the MusicPad Pro+ because my audiences rarely (if ever) notice it. If they do, they just accept it like the tilt LCD screen on my Tyros. The MusicPad Pro+ remains the best music investment I've made in years. I've yet to discover if the Tyros2 I recently purchased (still waiting for delivery) can top that.

Scott

Donny...remember, in a gig such as yours, all or most of the people that come are friends and folks that have been to see you many times before....this gives them the sence of familiarity to you hence, they feel that they can come up and join you and kibitz with you while you are working and
while you concentrate on your performance. If you try to lay some ground rules (with that famous SMILE) of yours, I think it would help you very much...my audiance is very different here...some nights we are full with no more seats and other nights I am singing for 2-3 tables.....you gotta do what you gotta do....try it..SMILEY....
Tony Rome

[This message has been edited by Tony Rome (edited 10-17-2005).]

In the old days you could watch the organist use two hands and his feet sitting behind a monster organ. Now they see us sit behind a keyboard that is the same size as the ones they buy the kids at walmart.
They think the keyboard does all the work while we use the one finger chords and sound like an orchestra.
The more we use technology the less respect we get as musicians.
IMHO it's the vocalist and the all around entertainer that sells the act.
In my area the DJ and Karaoke jockey's work more and make far more money than any musician.

What???? Im not coming around, I exploring new means to perform the same results

Another example of what some people call the dumbing down of America. That's a sad situation when someone whose spent lots of years perfecting their art of playing/singing makes less money than a DJ.

Ahhhhhhh whats the use? we're all viewed as glorified DJ's im most peoples eyes anyway....its sad ..but TRUE...
who are we kidding? Living in denial won't help

When I arrived at a wedding gig yesterday forst thing out of the banquet managers mouth was ...."HEY THE DJ's HERE," "I gotta nice table set up for ya in the corner" Argggg!.... scary part he's seen me play affairs for over 10 yrs there...Go Figure?



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 10-17-2005).]