I refuse to do it, playing in direct summer sunlight sucks big time in so many ways, gazebo, kiosk tent, deck overhang, umbrella, ok, but poolside naked with no cover is ridiculous for 4 hours, etc,.........

Sure makes me glad to be retired. I did lots and lots of outdoor jobs during the summer months, days when the temperature and humidity were both in the upper 90s - not healthy at all. Even under a gazebo with a fan blowing full blast, it was still brutal conditions. And, by late afternoon, if the gazebo didn't have drop curtains, the afternoon sun was hitting you right in the face and felt like a blast furnace.

Play it safe, Donnie - don't do those kind of jobs anymore - it's not worth it.

Gary

I admire Americans anyway for standing such heat - in my region, an average summer has just 7 days of 86F/30C or more. I know that would be the average afternoon temperature in summer in many US regions...

Gary..... I hear you loud and clear!!!

I love the heat! Played golf today and it was near 100! Almost broke a sweat.
The heat makes my old bones not hurt so much. I hate the cold. Snow anywhere except on a cone gives me the shivers! I do love snowcones though.

Iconsider any temperature lower than my age (75) winter! However, I too hate snow, and with my current lung condition, temperatures above 85 with matching humidity levels are brutal, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Gary

I agree with Don----heat over cold any time. It can’t get too hot for me. But, I don’t like playing outside. It’s not so much the heat and sweat, but more the flying critters---mosquitos, flies, wasps, or anything that can bite or sting! And, it’s difficult to read the screen outside.

Since Yamaha went to Supertwist technology on their displays with their PSR series, I no longer have a problem reading the screen outdoors. And, they went to high intensity LED lights for the buttons, which allows me to see them clearly as well. Now, in direct sunlight, the screen can be a bit difficult to see, but I can still see it. With the old PSR-3000, even in the shade the screen was obliterated by the indirect sunlight. Yamaha did a great job with this, and I think it will be even better with ensuing models.

That said, I still refuse to do any mid summer, outdoor jobs. In fact, I just turned down a very high paying pool party that was scheduled for mid August. Not gonna happen for this old man.

Gary

Putting your keyboard in full sun, makes it weared.. Its not good for those plasticky Yamaha's .. Its also bad for the electronics inside your keyboard, espescially when combined with high humidity..

My friend DickieT, some years ago left his Technics KN800 in the trunk of his car for a couple of days. The case melted nearly totally. It was unusable. I suppose more modern materials would hold up better, but since that time I've never left my kb in the vehicle in the heat OR cold.
Usually I play at least 3 outdoor parties each year, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. This year the first two were canceled because high water damaged the venue. Maybe it will be ready by Labor Day. They have a shaded cover for me, and a huge fan to blow away heat and "skeeters". There is usually a somewhat cool breeze blowing off the lake. It's one of my favorite jobs ever. Great barbeque with all the trimming and a plethora of homemade desserts. Frozen beverage either with or without alcohol are available from a dispenser. Too notch. And they even PAY me to come!

Not for me anymore..... Although I'll sit in my lawn chair with a beer watching a summer concert in the park.....

I rememeber one time, outside job...

The iPad refused to start and say temperature too high

And all the sheetmusics inside !!!!

Stay Cool out there everyone this summer playing!

For 14 summers, I worked a patio. NEVER AGAIN! Bugs, rain, wind, drunks...UGH! I had a new Parker Fly kicked into a brick wall the first night I used it...a guy fell into me an crushed an expensive nylon string. I got rained on many times. One night, I looked behind me, and the cord to the power strip was 4 feet under water in the pool behind me.

The one durable thing was my old Solton MS 60. It's still in use after 20 plus years, with never a hick-up.

I won't even sit on a patio at a restaurant now, and picnics are an absolute "NO-NO".


SO THERE!


Russ"Ice man" Lay

Russ I'm glad we have choices now.

My worst outdoor job was an outdoor wedding at a country club on June 1st of that year. The ceremony took place at 1 p.m. on the lawn next to the country club, the temperature in the shade was 101 degrees, 90 percent humidity, not a breeze blowing. I was in the shade of a tree, wearing a traditional, black, winter tux, and soaked with sweat. After playing for the crowd for nearly an hour, one of the ring bearers came to me and said "Miss Cynthia says she will be another 25 minutes before she can come out and wants you to continue playing until she gets here." I told the kid to tell Miss Cynthia that if she wasn't here in 5 minutes, there would be no music at all and I would be gone." The people seated in front of the alter were mostly elderly, some actually passed out from the heat, kids from the country club were walking through the crowd handing out glasses of ice water - it was a freakin disaster. Five minutes later the bride to be finally walked out, everyone applauded, I played the wedding march, and within five minutes the ceremony was over (I believe the minister did a hurried up version so people could get out of the heat.) The bride came to me, handed me an envelope and said "You'll never hear from me again." and stomped away. I said thank you, packed up my gear, drove home and climbed in a cold shower, which really felt great.

That was the last wedding I ever did and it was back in 1985.

Gary

I've been in Florida 39 years and learned the hard way about the toll it took on the contacts on all my electronic devices from gigging outdoors.

"Pay me now or pay me later!" Many of times after doing an outdoor gig in humid climate conditions the contacts on my mixer would accumulate oxidization and I would have to apply contact cleaner to the inputs and outputs just to get through a gig.

Usually, the next gig after playing the outdoor gig, my mixer would suffer intermittent outages from the electronics connections becoming oxidized.

It is not worth whatever I was getting paid for the outdoor gig to have to endure the toll it took on all my electronic equipment.