Most of us here are all about expediency... Let's face it, doing the OMB thing is ALL about expediency. It takes sacrifice and hard work to make a band successful. SO much easier to just go out and carry our 25 lb. toy arranger and our little home theater speaker system in, play our little tunes for a few hours, and go home with all the money!

So, why should we criticize others for dressing all slacker-like? Isn't doing it all with technology instead of providing a REAL band simply the musical equivalent of dressing poorly for the gig? I know I'd MUCH rather see four badly dressed great musicians than one exquisitely dressed OMB..!

We may indeed have ALL dressed better in the sixties and seventies for our gigs. But we also provided REAL entertainment, real playing, real music. It seems trivial to bemoan dress standards, when actual musical standards have completely disappeared, too

Expediency.com The arranger player's 'home' page

Diki said: The thing is, you stayed long enough at that concert to make that impression... Me, I'd have walked out after the first few bars (unless there were some pretty ladies talking to me!). So I guess it can't have been THAT bad!

Lucky says: The band constructed barbed wire fencing around the perimeter of the area. After that was an electronic force field, and then a moat filled with crocodiles who hadn't tasted food in two years. If you got through all that, there were guard towers every 100 feet! Then....if you made it that far, if you said "please" they would finally let you out!


Diki said: I think chas is right. Compared to the seventies, my pay hasn't kept pace with inflation, and I think many are in the same position. You get what you pay for. If I make enough just to get by, where's the money for costumes, fancy lighting, and a high rehearsal factor coming from?

Lucky says: it's called "investment." You invest in clothes, equipment, practicing...and then see how fast you get booked and get your money back tenfold (minus inflation!).

Diki said: Modern musicians must dress like their slacker audience, look like the slacker audience, talk like their slacker audience, and heaven help them if they actually PLAY better than their slacker audience!

It's as if the entire youth of our nation are afraid to listen to anything real that might make them aware of just how untalented they are! Where would their precious self-esteem go, were they to acknowledge that, "look! there's someone that is WAY better than me! I guess I must be lousy, after all "

Once upon a time, we celebrated the talented, and made them rich... Now, we avoid them like the plague, and prefer to listen to someone that we think 'hey! I could do that!'. I guess it makes us feel more comfortable in our declining mediocrity...

Lucky says: Diki, that was real good! I never thought much about what you said in those last three paragraphs, but......I'm going to think about it now, and probably tomorrow too, and maybe for the rest of my playing days. Now I see why "reality shows" are currently in vogue and populating TV programming faster than homes are going into foreclosures.

Lucky also says: Diki, I'm glad you're on the side of the law!

Lucky

[This message has been edited by Lucky2Bhere (edited 08-17-2008).]

[This message has been edited by Lucky2Bhere (edited 08-17-2008).]