A subject was touched upon in the "Eddie Showmaker Live Pic" thread that I thought might be interesting enough to discuss. That of... what we might do to enhance or improve our onstage appearance.

Both travlin' easy and Starkeeper suggested that touching up the gray or white might be a good idea. Makes sense to me, also. What do y'all think? What else might be worthwhile considering on this subject?

The Overall "STAGE PRESENCE" package has many branches....

1- How You look to the audience

2- How Your equipment looks to the audience

3- How You perform to the audience

4- How You sound to the audience

5- What you play for the audience

6- How You Shmooze the audience [off stage]

These are a few of the issues within this topic to think about. I'll be back with some thougths [goto run to a gig] but it will be interesting to read what people think so far on these questions.

L8tr.........

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-05-2003).]

I disagree to a degree. Some older people look a little strange with no gray. An example would have been Roy Orbison (no disrespect meant at all) with the face of a great-grandfather and jet black hair in his final years. Me - I'm in my upper 40's and my hair hasn't turned gray yet (a little weird - my younger brother has a lot of gray) but my beard is gray like a dalmation when I allow it: mostly white with lots of brown patches. That looks bizarre so I use Just For Men for beards. I think anything that looks natural and professional is okay, and I'm looking forward to some nice balanced gray to give me that "distinguished" look.

Originally posted by Dnj:
"STAGE PRESENCE"

1- How You look to the audience

2- How Your equipment looks to the audience

3- How You perform to the audience

4- How You sound to the audience

5- What you play for the audience

I agree with all five.
#6 for me is, "How am I feeling", do I have a happy party spirit in me, or am I just performing.

Your attitude goes out to your audience, if you're happy, they will see it, they will feel it.

Feeling good, John C.

Your #6 ....How you feel is not a luxury for us......

A prof you must be on stage no matter what.
Fight with your wife, Diareaha, got up on the wrong side of the bed? Oh well.. its time to Perform as a Professional...
You must maintain your cover thruout your performance and put all else aside until after the show...like they say in the Biz....
"The Show Must Go On"



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-05-2003).]

No hair color, no false teeth, no cosmetic surgery, no toupees ..... nothing that didn't come with the package for me.
I refuse to "doll up" with fake anythings. Say it loud .... "I'm bald and I'm proud!"
Old guys can buy sports cars if they need a boost ... let the hair go natural!

My hair has been black, blue, bright red, purple a combination of all of the above, green (an accident....though I went with it after the initial shock ) and is currently blonde. I have forgotton long since what my natural colour is

I can say without fear of contradiction that no matter what the colour of my hair it has not influenced my playing or musical ability one iota. It has always been as bad as my fashion sense

Best wishes to all (however you look!)
Tony

------------------
www.tonywmusic.co.uk

A lot of folks that are trying to be nice say "OH! That gray hair just makes you look distinguished." My response to that is "That gray hair makes you look extinguished." I try to keep my weight down (TRY), most of the jobs I wear a tux, but when it's too hot I eliminate the jacket if possible. If You look professional, act professional, and work professionally, you'll get the jobs. And, like I said before, AGE DESCRIMINATION EXISTS. If you look old, you're not likely to get hired. As Donny said "This is show biz."

Cheers,

Gary

The best image enhancement for most of us would be to hire a good looking female vocalist.

Gary's statement is correct. Unfortunately, age discrimination prevails not only in hiring, but also in social interaction... at least in our society. Ever since I heard a 20-something clerk refer to a Sr Citizen couple as "f---ing old people", I've paid attention to the lack of respect, or even distain, some young folks seem to have for seniors.

The most likely way to get respect from those 2 generations your junior, is to have grandkids. However, they're usually not the ones doing the hiring.

Just look at how far most of us go to get the sound as good as can be... equipment, lessons, practice, etc. If the total package is what we're selling, then the visual is just as important. And when someone is watching you perform, what exactly are they looking at? You... your face! That is, unless you have the chick singer, but many of us have been there and that's another story!