Glad you pointed it out, Donny. How did it happen? Here's how. Big Bands became to expensive so we knocked it down to Quintets, then Trios, and finally Arrangers. Now, in the continuing quest to get more with less (musical) effort, we have what you just experienced at the Disco. In no time at all, we'll be back where we started from........a JUKEBOX. Total audience participation, no request denied, no pesky musicians showing up late and taking breaks, heaven on earth for the club owner.
Hey, we brought it on ourselves (with a little help from the club owners). We 'educated' our audiences to accept less......SMF's and backing tapes and lip syncing, and fake keyboard playing and Guitar Hero and DJ's and Karaoke and ........ blah, blah. Where does it end? Pretty soon, the only gigs around WILL be NH's 'cause that's the only place left with audiences that can remember what it was like to hear someone playing live........well, semi-live, if you're using an arranger keyboard. I may be going in circles here so I'll stop now, but I'm glad Donny brought this topic up.
Luckily, there are still a few owners out there who care enough about the quality of their entertainment and are willing to spend a little extra for the 'real deal' AND a few musicians that care enough about the art to take a 'little less' to add another player or two to enhance their product. JMO.
chas
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"Faith means not wanting to know what is true." [Nietzsche]