Carol will likely come down with my Daughter and grandson in early February (The boat's gonna' get crowded) and head home a couple weeks later. She likes the fact that I'm tied to a dock that she can easily step from to the boat, and of course, warm, winter weather.
Now, I thought seriously about buying a 950 and having it aboard the boat, but after the encounter with incredible humidity a few nights ago, it would never leave the boat until I got home. Of course, I would love to be playing it, even while aboard the boat. Everyone here wants me to play their outdoor parties at the marina, which are several times a week and don't pay. Keep in mind that living in Paradise isn't cheap - slip rent alone is $750 a month, plus 5-cents a gallon for fresh water, plus electricity. Even if you're out on a mooring ball, the tab is $300 a month. The only thing that is relatively inexpensive is cab fare - just $5 anywhere on the island.
Dave, the island is Marathon Key, Florida, which is just 40 miles above Key West. This particular island caters more to the older folks, a category of which I fit nicely. The entire island is about 3 miles long, it has an airport, with car rentals, many nite spots for performing musicians, most of which don't pay more than $100 to $150 for a 4-hour performance. Yep, the payscale in Paradise sucks as well. I'm told it's the same in Key West, too.
The other thing I quickly discovered down here is the so-called live bands, in contrast to OMB arranger keyboard entertainers, are by and large just loud and lousy. The vast majority of them consist of at least two guitar players, one group had someone using an M1, and all have singers/vocalists that can't carry a tune in a 5-gallon bucket. There are a lot of singles with beat-up, six-string guitars, old Crate amps, a mish-mash of mics that are used as hammers during the day and dress as if they're going out on a brick-laying job. Most wear some type of beat-up cowboy hat, look like they may have shaved sometime in the past month or two, and their dead time between songs ranged from 1 to 3 minutes. It was difficult for this Yankee boy to believe they were hired in the first place, but I guess there's no accounting for taste.
The audiences here vary in age from the mid 30s to late 70s, mainly folks in the 50+ category. Now, you would think that the bands would be catering to the older crowd, mainly because they made up the bulk of the audience, and they were not glued to their I-Phones every waking minute of the day and night. NO! Instead, the played to the younger set, with an occasional 50s, 60s, 70s song that you could actually understand the words to, and God forbid, even dance to.
So far, I've only performed 2 paying jobs during the past 2 weeks, and both locations said they would book me again for the entire time I was in Marathon. You just never know, though. As the old saying goes, "Talk is Cheap."
Just another fun day in Paradise,
Gary
- but do you at least make some $$ in tips???
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