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#397502 - 12/28/14 10:20 AM Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?...
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703







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#397506 - 12/28/14 11:29 AM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Dnj]
Jerryghr Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/14/02
Posts: 1497
Loc: Buffalo, NY

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#397507 - 12/28/14 11:39 AM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Jerryghr]
Dnj Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/21/00
Posts: 43703
Originally Posted By: Jerryghr



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#397513 - 12/28/14 02:21 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Dnj]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15576
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
As a famous NJ entertainer frequently says, the more they play, the more jobs I get. These guys should contact Captain Russ immediately. Not only are the videos third rate, the accompanying audio is at the very bottom of the heap. If I put out promotions with this kind of quality, I would be doing something else for a living.

And, while the Sinatra imitator is fairly talented, he could be found libel for false advertising. I'm fairly confident that he never played in any of the locations he portrayed on that video. If he did, I would be amazed.

Cheers,

Gary cool
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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#397517 - 12/28/14 05:11 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Dnj]
Bill in Dayton Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 08/23/04
Posts: 2207
Loc: Dayton, OH USA
I watched several minutes of most of the videos.

The first lady - I liked her voice...

The second lady - not so much...

Frank Sambuco seemed too phony, voice seemed weak...

Dave Rothberg - I can see how people would enjoy him...
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Bill in Dayton

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#397533 - 12/29/14 02:31 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Bill in Dayton]
guitpic1 Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 04/16/14
Posts: 1950
Loc: Missouri
One of the trends we see in assisted living places is that folks want 50's and 60's rock and roll.

My second cousin makes a living doing 60's rock and roll at assisted living places.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rockin-60s/113079368747619
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It’s all about the learning

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#397538 - 12/29/14 04:42 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Dnj]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15576
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
I keep looking around the rooms at NH and Assisted Living centers, and the one thing that immediately stands out is there are younger people in the room than I am. Damned scarey! I have always been able to read an audience pretty well, and the one conclusion I came to is I should be playing the songs and music they danced to when they were 16 to 45 years of age - works for me!

Gary cool
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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#397540 - 12/29/14 04:56 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Dnj]
Jerry T Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 09/23/05
Posts: 1002
Loc: Phila. 'burbs, Pa. USA
I may average about a half dozen N.H. gigs a month. Almost all are agency bookings. Donny, Fran and Uncle Dave may have a different experience, but it seems that the Nursing Homes in the north-east have budgets for entertainment. That has triggered a vulture-like assault on AD’s by agencies that no longer have clubs, bars, shows etc to book. There is real competition among entertainment agencies. I should have, but as yet I have not attempted to book myself in N.H.s. However, Gary and Donny are inspiring me to give it a try …
Ciao,
Jerry

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#397541 - 12/29/14 05:34 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: Dnj]
travlin'easy Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 12/08/02
Posts: 15576
Loc: Forest Hill, MD USA
Jerry, go for it - it will be the best move you'll ever make in this business. Last week, while performing at Riverview Health and Rehabilitation in Essex, MD, I came across a KJ duo, husband and wife team that I've known for several years. He came up to me, shook my hand and said, "I really want to thank you for turning me onto this aspect of entertainment. If I would have known it would have been this much fun and this profitable, I would have done this 20 years ago." His wife gave me a thumbs up, and said "Thanks Gary."

You're not gonna get rich, but you have more than enough talent to keep those jobs flowing. With a bit of promotion, direct mail advertising, and some legwork, you can work 7 days a week if you want to. I could easily book 500 jobs a year here, but I'm beginning to get like Don Mason - LAZY! wink Plus, I'm now at an age where I know I can no longer tolerate the same schedule I did a decade ago. I'll leave it to you young whippersnappers to take up the slack.

Some of the larger facilities have huge activities budgets. Most of the spending is left to the discretion of the ADs, and most of the ADs I know will not deal with agencies, at least that's the way it is here. And the agencies all seem to be competing for the high priced private parties, such as corporate banquets and similar ilk. The time consuming labor involved with getting their money from a Nursing Home, Assisted Living Center or Retirement Community, is really not profitable for them. Many of these facilities are owned by large, out of state corporations that must be either billed directly, or via invoicing through the AD, all of which takes at least 30 to 90 days to get a check. Because of this, I usually have up to $4,500 in accounts receivable at any given time. Checks come in the mail daily, but invoices also go out daily, just like any business. Most part time musicians and agencies don't like dealing with this aspect of the business, and that's just fine with me. I'll still be putting a lot of checks in the bank every week, while they're trying to find a cash and carry job, which no longer exists. smile

Good luck,

Gary cool
_________________________
PSR-S950, TC Helicon Harmony-M, Digitech VR, Samson Q7, Sennheiser E855, Custom Console, and lots of other silly stuff!

K+E=W (Knowledge Plus Experience = Wisdom.)

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#397563 - 12/30/14 09:10 AM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: travlin'easy]
captain Russ Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/02/04
Posts: 7305
Loc: Lexington, Ky, USA
This must be a different area. In the 15 years I have been either a primary caregiver or working for a nursing home reform agency, I never heard even one entertainer who would dare try to get a job at any for profit club or restaurant I know of.

To a person these folks should NEVER open their mouths in public.


I've had lots of job offers, until people realize I'm the "enemy". Budgets sound like they're the same as in other areas...$100.00 or more per hour.

Knock yourself out, but this is absolutely not for me.


Russ

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#397575 - 12/30/14 06:33 PM Re: Nursing Home Competition is Fierce or is it?... [Re: captain Russ]
tony mads usa Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 01/16/02
Posts: 14376
Loc: East Greenwich RI USA
Jerry... you have nothing to lose but time in trying to break into the Assisted Living/Retirement Villages/Nursing Home/Whatever business and I wish you the very best ... BUT, let me tell you that if the competition in your area is anything like here in lil ol Rhode Island, it is NOT going to be easy ...

I had addressed this issue on another thread, and of course got several comments ...
http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/396570/The_times_they_are_a_changin#Post396570

Here is an excerpt from a post submitted by Stephenm52:

Originally Posted By: Stephenm52
OK, as a rule I don't jump into these discussions but will because the OMB my paesano from RI Tony talked about was me.

First some comments about the entertainer showcase. I was invited by one of the ADs that use me to play their facility for special events. It was a last minute invitation extended to me when I called her to confirm a gig date. Going back 7 years ago I also participated in a showcase sponsored by the same AD Association , a few of us were repeat performers.

The major difference this time only 3 of us used keyboards ( 2 were arranger type) all of us over 62 years of age, 3 were guitarists ( one with a midi set up) the reamaining entertainers all used backing tracks, so out of 20 performers 14 used backing tracks.

As far as talent the backing tracking singers were better vocalists than any of us who played keyboards or guitars. 2 of the vocalists were knock out looking ladies one who seemed to specialize in disco era music the other country music complete with an outfit that looked like something Dale Evans used to wear. The remaining backing track entertainers were men in their 40s. I found that the male backing track vocalists really got involved in audience participation and walked among the tables using wireless mics with the predominantly female AD audience. It was real obvious too which of the male singers impressed the ladies. One guy an old friend of mine Bob is a great entertainer he'll head over to a table of ladies while singing a love song, get down on his knees and hold out his hand to theirs. That melts the ladies, he was the biggest hit there, the line to book him in 2015 was the longest out of any of them.
After everyone entertained ADs got the OK to start booking entertainers and the longest lines were formed by the backing track male vocalists.
............
I'll close with saying a good friend of mine a graduate with a Bachelor of Music degree with a major in vocal studies is now the AD of a very large and upscale facility. He choose not to perform as a career because he's seen the intense competition here. He tells me he gets 20 calls and/or mailings each week of performers who would like to be booked at his facility.


So, what Steve found was that the competition today is much younger than many of us here, and they do not stand/sit behind a KB and play and sing - primarily they use backing tracks and wireless mics and 'roam' through the audience, much like the 'schmoozer' in one of Donny's videos (and from what I've seen and heard of the talent pool here in RI, not ONE of the people in those videos would be getting much -if ANY- work up here) ...
As I also stated in my thread, mentioned above, Donny, Gary, and others have been at this a LONG time, and through their talent have established a good solid base of clients, and now no doubt can 'pick and choose' how many gigs they want to play and where ... BUT, I also say, that if THEY were just starting out today, at their current ages, they too would find the market a LOT different from when THEY first started ...

The work is out there, but as Garth sings "The Competition's Getting Younger", AND they ARE talented ... Fortunately, I do not NEED to perform to put food on the table (40 years of good work in another industry has me in a good financial position), and the only thing I am feeding by playing is my EGO grin ... but I will continue to 'market' myself, and whatever gigs I get will be fine ...

Good luck to you, and I hope you get enough work to keep you happy ...
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t. cool

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