Good one, Donny!!!!

God Bless,
Don

Good one.

I've actually used a variation of that in some conversations with clients. they laugh but it doesn't sink in. too many times we're not taken seriously or considered as necessary as that plumber.

case in point is this past weekend Cape May NJ had its annual singer songwriter weekend. 150 acts performing for free all over town. great for the tourism business but what does it do for the guys trying to get paid for gigs?
Too many places now are having " Open mic nights"

Bill If I were you forget the bar scene in CM I'd be after the private affairs share of the market, exclusively...no matter where you live people have to get married, birthday parties, anniversaries, communions, retirement communities, etc, etc, they all need MUSIC!
Someone is playing all those parties and getting paid!

Donny
I agree 100% as to where I should look but disagree on they all need music. People here just don't do parties with entertainment as I ( and you ) are used to. Locals don't have the money and visitors have to keep it small. Its an expensive summer resort area so the majority of gigs are the bar/deckertainment type things. If there is that birthday/anniversay party its more of the family and a few friends meet at a restaurant and do a dinner. If the place already has some music all the better ( and most places tend to stick with the same entertainers ), but no private party Catering Hall rentals with dancing, etc. like I used to do constantly "Up North". I know in the past you mentioned you've worked at The Grand but what they mostly book is the big weekend wedding groups.
I don't want or would feel comfortable at this point doing the big Weddings which are the most common type of private party here. I've tried to promote myself for the cocktail hours/ceremonies. Not much else left and believe me I've looked. 1.5 hours on the PKWY away from you and I'm in a different world. If I'm missing something let me know LOL !!!

Yes I've performed at the Grand Hotel & many more in your area many times thru the years ...but also they were jobs created & imported vacation groups, from a bit North on the shore here,,.. All I could say Bill is good luck to you in your music endeavors,.....or you may try another approach as in working with photographers, etc, producing background music for wedding CD photo albums, slide-shows, school plays,concerts, big entertainment events, or recording recitals, as an Audio tech etc, dig deep there are many ways to make a dollar.

Happy Easter!

Good ideas Donny. Wanna be my agent ?? I have connected with a photogrpher and party supply business here. So far not much response even though both have seen me work and approached me for info before I approcahed them.

As I think George Burns once said "I still got it, I just don't know what to do with it " !!!!

Bill, I think you face the same situation that most entertainers face at vacation destinations. If I were trying to make a living as an NH entertainer in the Florida Keys I would starve to death! To my knowledge, there are only three assisted living centers in the entire Florida Keys, which spans 151 miles from Miami to Key West. However, there are likely more than 1,000 restaurants that have bars and nightly entertainment during the height of tourist season, which runs from November 1st till May 1st. From May 1st till November 1st, the keys are a ghost town and you could fire a cannon down US Route 1 and not have to worry about hitting anyone. Consequently, the vast majority of the entertainers there migrate north every spring with the snowbirds. They scatter throughout the nation, all looking for jobs in place like Cape May, Atlantic City, Ocean City, MD, etc..., locations offering the same opportunities as the keys offer during the dead of winter here.

These are the folks you are competing with in Cape May, and as you have stated in the past, there are not many assisted living centers in your area. And, like those in the keys, they tend to have a very, very low pay scale, thus making it nearly impossible to make a living. From my experience, the nite-club/restaurant jobs pay the same nationwide, about $150 to $200 for a 3 to 4-hour job. One thing I have noticed, lately, though, is the hours seem to have shifted to earlier in the evening, usually kicking off right about the time happy hour ends. The vast majority of these jobs in the Keys ran from 6 till 9 p.m., and I suspect this shift was an attempt to hold the happy hour folks longer, despite the huge increase in drink and snack food prices. Most of the time, it seemed to work in the advantage of the clubs, but not always. Down in the keys, most of the jobs were outdoor, therefore, if the weather got cold (under 60 degrees f) the crowds quickly vacated the clubs when the sun went down. If the temperature remained above 70, the crowds were huge.

Unfortunately, I really don't have a lot of hope to offer. Cape May will always be Cape May and the two hour drive difference between you and I, or you and Donny, makes a huge difference. Where both Donny and I are located, we have assisted living and retirement communities springing up like weeds in a flower garden. I now have two dozen locations within 20 minutes drive time of home, and plans for a massive retirement community have been submitted to the county council for approval. The initial facility will house about 1,200 ppl, but they are already talking of an expansion that would double the size to 2,400 ppl. This one is still 3 years away from being completed, and by then I will likely be retired.

I wish there were something more that I could do to assist you in this, but short of relocating, I really don't know what to tell you.

Of course, you could always have your charming spouse take on another job and support you in the manner you would like to become accustomed to. That never worked for me - she kept the money.

All the best,

Gary