Surviving this economy?
Times are getting darn tough around here. Venues are drying up left and right. People are staying home and not going out to the bars. It's getting tough for our working bands around here. Just wondering if anyone else is getting hit hard like us, and if so, have you found a way to keep things going? Last year we had 43 gigs and were booked out 3 months in advance. This year is looking pretty slow and we are only looking at about 2 gigs/month, if that. And we are booking more than most bands around here. Any words of inspiration and/or hope out there?
Comments
Around here there is a lot of automotive, steel, and auto support industry. Without getting too political, lets just say too many policy makers have been holding seats for too long. Local, State, and Fed. Every \"plan\" they have presented to our local comm has failed. Some ideas are genuine, but the timing couldn't be worse.
We used to have a beaming area called the flats and for live bands it was awesome and always jammed. Politicians chopped that area up and the result was bad seeds taking over. Unsafe area, clubs closed and city officials instead went for expensive apartment districting that is DEAD right where it sits. Every great venue and restaurant on the river closed.
Some suburban areas opened venues but do not support live music in any sense of that same capacity. Smoking bans, parking bans, enforcement of those policies shut down most remaining facilities and limited patronage.
Be happy with 2/mo. Normally, we are booked solid through the summer on lake events. We have 2 scheduled events. Rib Burn off, and Labor day. Under better circumstances, we'd be booked thru DEC already.
To be blunt, I don't feel sorry for anybody who had their retirement investments in stocks. It burns me that these people are asking for a bailout on their retirement. If you have less than 10 years until your retirement, and you have your money at risk, you're a dunce. If you don't keep track of your own investments, expecting some clown to manage it for you, without checking it yourself on a regular basis, you are a dunce.
If you have more than 10 years, ride it out and hope it will bounce back. Odds are it will. Everybody who has their stuff in stocks is going for the big money. Big money comes with risk. Why shouldn't the gov't give me a bailout every time I buy a losing lottery ticket or a losing bet on the horses? It's the same thing.
I took a major hit on my retirement lately, but I'm not standing there crying that the gov't has to bail me out. I gambled, and took a hit. I'm riding it out in hopes that everything will bounce back. Maybe I'm a dunce. I can accept that.
Enough with the belief that your investments are guaranteed.
I work as a trucker, but last 3 companies I worked for all went out of business. Companies that existed since the 40's. I have always worked for my local Fire & Rescue oncall, and part time stage hand at a local Indian Casino. They haven't called me to help set up a stage now for about a year. There are several other Casino's in the N. Michigan area that are getting all the concerts now. Even the Casino's are competing for business, and the one nearest me is too far in the sticks to attract much.
I'm only 57, so I hope to work 10 more years. But, I think our Country is going to experiance an Economic Downfall. I'm guessing I may be heating with wood, and dragging home dinner like I did back in the early 60's. We even had an outhouse back then. They can raise taxes all they want. I'll just set my shotgun down for a brief moment, and tell Washington D.C. to \"tax this!\" (grabbing manhood) :evil:
We've had life tougher up here in the North, but I think now the city folks will be the odd man out.
That said, expecting the gov't to bail you out of your stupid decisions is like sticking your arm up the wild horses' bu++. Get over it and take responsibility for yourself. (and I say this to banks and corporations, not people who can't afford socks for their kids...)
Although...I haveta admit I'm having a hard time garnering sympathy for people who could barely afford a townhouse signing ridiculous mortgages to get themselves into a McMansion. :evil:
Like I/ed said...no one's bailing me out, and I'm an honest, hard-working, tax-paying American. Why it's OK for the gov't to bail out cheats and scumbags and idiots, and leave me to twist in the wind, is very hard for me to wrap my brain around. :evil: :evil:
Consider this quote from Alexander Fraser Tytler...
\"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.\"
We're at the apathy to dependence stage.
The very thought of it makes my fingernails sweat.
Some time ago I suggested to my bandmates about hiring a booking agent. There was mixed opinion on this forum about that idea. But, I guess the bottom line is it would be better to pay someone some commission to get us gigs then for us to be sitting at home on the weekend watching TV with the wife. Times are tough, but I am worried that without steady gigs to look forward to, it will be hard to keep any band together. We plan to have scheduled practices and learn a bunch of new songs, but you still need that upcoming gig to make all that work worthwhile. Otherwise, it's just easier to sling the guitar on my back and hit the open mic nights where nobody gets paid for anything.....
Subway tunnels have good air guitar acoustics.
MMMmmm From the looks of him, they would point and laugh anyways... IMHO