- in how I was dressed for a gig ...
I filled in for a vacationing KB player at an upscale restaurant in MA. I've worked the lounge area at this venue many times but never the main dining room ... In the lounge I would most often wear a black dress shirt with a nice tie ... The owner has recently requested that the musicians - one in the dining room and one in the lounge every Friday and Saturday - wear tuxedos ... He wears one anytime he is not cooking in the kitchen ... It was actually a pleasant change to be 'all spiffed up', even down to the patent leather shoes ...

More important than how I looked was the fact that I got a lot of compliments from the manager, staff, and customers (along with some nice tips $$$ ) ...
There was one party of eight that I figured was mom and dad, their kids and a couple of 'significant others' that I noticed were paying quite a bit of attention to the music - swaying in their seats, tapping on the table, etc.
Later, two of the young ladies passed by and took my business card ... when they were leaving, the youngest in the group, who I thought was about 16 to 18 years of age and really seemed to be into the music all night came by said "You were really great, thank you", and put a nice tip in the jar" ...

BTW, we often talk about how managers and staff in some of these venues aren't 'all that nice' to musicians, but I have to say that while I was setting up and during the night, one of the hostesses, the manager and a couple of staff members asked if there was anything I needed, or wanted to drink, whatever ... it was a really good evening for me all around ...

I guess I should have made that photo a little smaller ...

Tony Nice Tux, Tablet, & Crown molding!! enjoy

I think he goes there early to put the moulding up. With the new keyboards these days, you can hook a nail gun up to them.
Korgs only though.

I'll be tuxed out this weekend for Danbury gig.

Lookin good Mon!

Gary

Tony, Way to go my friend. You’re looking very dapper CONGRATS on a great gig!

Nothing wrong with that photo it’s the right size for the forum.

P.S. Where in the world did you ever get the idea to use a tablet? LOL. Set up looks great, beats those binders, doesn’t it?

Steve, everything beats those old, 3-inch thick, 3-ring binders we all carried in plastic baskets. I think I had about 8 of them at one time - the basket must have weighed 50 pounds or more.

Tony, If you were a 44 long, I would have sent you a couple tuxes last month, but knowing you haven't been that size since high school, I sold them to my friend Helmut Licht. They fit him perfectly and he wears a tux when he is playing with his Big Band, which is a 17 piece orchestra.

Gotta admit, though, you still clean up pretty darned good.

Gary

Ditto!!!

chas

Gary and chas ... thank you - not too bad for an OLD guy ...
Gary, I was actually a 44 long until the early 80's ... from 1976 to 1982 I was very much into running - 60 to 70 miles a week - ran NYC Marathon in '78,'79, '81 ... then foot surgery came along, had to stop running, but no one told me I also had to stop eating like I was still running 60 miles a week ... and the suit sizes slowly but surely started going up along with the weight ... All that running gave me a very strong heart, two new knees and the self satisfaction of completing the marathon three times ...


Steve ... I have a very good friend in Rhode Island ( ) who told me all about the Pro12 app ... he even helped me set it up !!! ... it's good to have a good friend in RI ...

Gary and chas ... thank you - not too bad for an OLD guy ...

Tony I think that should read one classy old guy!
John C.

Looks like a very nice gig Tony. Thanks for sharing!

John thank you ... It's a classy place ...

Paul ... Thank you ...
I meant to take a pic of the room which had every table full all night, but I got too wrapped up in playing to think about it ...

Lookin' good and I know you were sounding good. Was there dancing or just dinner mujsic? Vocals?
Eddie

Thanks, Eddie ... Dinner music, no dancing - except for the people swaying in their seats ... 95% vocals - ballads, swing, latins ... instrumentals were mostly bossas ...
I knew the room called for low volume, and when I was setting up the manager came by and said "you can play soft, right?" ... I'm proud of the fact that he never had to ask me to turn the volume down, and yet based on birthdays that I announced ( there were at least 12 of them), I know people in the back of the room could hear and understand me ...

PS: I stripped most of the styles down to bass, guitar, and drums, and sometimes eliminated the drums and used percussion pads ... The Pa900 is so easy to adjust on the fly ...

Glad to see you sitting too.

Tony years back when I played that kind of job I was using the Kn7000. The kn7 had an option to set up different instruments for a style. Push the button again and it went back to the original instruments.

I set up the styles with bass, drums, and the rest were piano or guitar. Solo instruments were: Mostly piano. The lite flute, soft guitar – maybe vibes. No vocals.

Tony you brought back memories of a good job. I was there six years.
John C.

Sing much better standing -- Play much better sitting. ????????

John C.

Guess I must be fortunate in that I can sing sitting or standing, equally as bad. Working on a new Jimmy Buffett song this evening, which is very difficult, at least for me, but I love the song and hope to record it sometime later in the week.

All the best,

Gary

Kind of 3/4 stand/sit ... Gives me the option of standing when I want without having to adjust the height of the kb ... Especially on a 4 hour gig, I don't like to be in one position the whole time ...

Glad I brought back some good memories, John ...
This venue has a history of keeping musicians ... the guy who plays the lounge has been there 10 years ... the guy who previously played the main dining room was there 13 years before moving to California ... the current guy is there 2 years ...

Looking very dapper there Tony. What a great gig.

Thank you Nigel, it was fun in every way...