The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #139357 Message #3197283
Posted By: Big Ballad Singer
28-Jul-11 - 10:50 AM
Thread Name: When is it time to 'call it a day'?
Subject: RE: When is it time to 'call it a day'?
KathyW, I've been over the statues you referenced, but what people need to understand is that it's very hard for me to get gigs right now - there just aren't many places in my area booking folk/ballad type music, and, even if there were, I'd have no real way to get to those places to audition. Then there's the idea that just because I could get to a place once doesn't mean that next week or next month I'd be able to - no job means no money means no gas.
As I've mentioned before, the open mic nights around me are all at places that routinely book cover bands, usually either top-40 or "classic rock" outfits.
For me to justify getting out to the places (all an hour from home or more) that would potentially book me, there would have to be some better-than-average chance that I could get work there. Otherwise, right now at least, I'd be spending gas money that I don't really have just to go out and play three tunes and listen to some others. That constitutes a luxury.
BigDaddy, the guitar has been "leased"; that's as much as I'm going to say about it.
Send the kids to public school - not with a gun to my head.
My wife has brought in money from childcare from time to time, and will likely one day be able to do so again.
Please bear in mind that I am not arguing "for my limitations"; I am a person who has braved these odds for years and have always been mule-stubborn when it comes to doing things the way I see them done right. The fact is, however, that difficulties with time and age (I'm not old, but nowhere near as young as I used to be) and health and the economy are realities and daily "ingredients" of my day, if you will, not excuses or even obstacles. I don't see the lane-markings on the highway as obstacles, I just see them as things I sometimes have to follow, avoid, or be controlled by. In this period of my life, the issues I am facing are just some heavy traffic on a road I know well. It leads where I want it to; I am just trying to navigate a very congested stretch right now.