So you're a musician?

[azureglo]

A friend sent me this well-known meme now that’s its common knowledge amongst them that I write and produce pop, dance and K-Pop tracks after years of playing mostly jazz and looking down at their pop sensibilities,

to whit:

It made me think of memorable moments in my social life that were centred around my being a professional musician…

Way back in the in 1981, one of my neighbours had a barbeque and I met his utterly charming sister, a single 20 something like me. She was excited when she found out that I was a “professional musician”, i.e. my full time job.

We arranged to go an date and I suggested she come watch me work (so I could duly impress her) and then we could go for a late night romantic meal. So roll on Saturday night and there was yours truly in his finest wedding tuxedo and bow tie, in the pit band doing a Morecambe and Wise special at the old Rediffusion studios now owned by Lee International in Wembley (where we both lived).It was my best paid gig as I got double scale and golden as it was the weekend and after 5pm, plus I was playing in a top rated TV show watched by millions, what could possibly go wrong?

After the show, she came down to the green room and after a few drinks and some banter with the totally charming Eric Morecambe , off we went to a little faux French bistro a few doors down.

I couldn’t help noticing she didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic and as we got to the coffees and black forest gateau ( folks this was 1981 and I was showing my exceptional gourmand taste) I asked her what was wrong.

She rather sadly told me that when she heard I was a professional musician , that it would be something like Pink Floyd or Blondie etc. She complained, you play the stuff my dad likes and in a suit.

We finished our meal and went our separate ways, me to another few decades of session, pit band and cruises then starting and selling a web agency, finally returning to sessions, writing and producing. She got married to a local jack the lad turned property developer and moved to sunny Spain.

The meme made me curious as to what had happened to her: Knowing she now lived in Dorset, very near me (through her brother), we met for a coffee a few days ago: It turns out out she had a pretty wild ride for the past four decades including five marriages. Her first one ended when jack the lad turned out to more of fraudster than a business man and ran off to hide in Greece and was subsequently jailed for 10 years. Her latest lasted two years until he ran off to Thailand with her teenage daughters best friend, also a teenager.

I also noted there was an awful lot of hand touching , complementing me on my still shoulder length hair and hugging going on and then she leant over and asked,

“So you are still a musician?”

“Yes” I replied

“and I’ve still got that tuxedo that your dad liked so much.”

I’d love to hear of your musically influenced encounters.

 

[johnny k]

I don't consider myself a musician. Beethoven, mozart, segoya, yes. Me ? no. Just because i can fry some eggs doesn't make me a cook. Luckily for me, i tend to overdo them.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Nope.

Guitar player, yes. Songwriter, yes.

Musician? Not on a bet!

 

[57joonya]

A friend sent me this well-known meme now that’s its common knowledge amongst them that I write and produce pop, dance and K-Pop tracks after years of playing mostly jazz and looking down at their pop sensibilities,

to whit:

It made me think of memorable moments in my social life that were centred around my being a professional musician…

Way back in the in 1981, one of my neighbours had a barbeque and I met his utterly charming sister, a single 20 something like me. She was excited when she found out that I was a “professional musician”, i.e. my full time job.

We arranged to go an date and I suggested she come watch me work (so I could duly impress her) and then we could go for a late night romantic meal. So roll on Saturday night and there was yours truly in his finest wedding tuxedo and bow tie, in the pit band doing a Morecambe and Wise special at the old Rediffusion studios now owned by Lee International in Wembley (where we both lived).It was my best paid gig as I got double scale and golden as it was the weekend and after 5pm, plus I was playing in a top rated TV show watched by millions, what could possibly go wrong?

After the show, she came down to the green room and after a few drinks and some banter with totally charming Eric Morecambe , off we went to a little faux French bistro a few doors down.

I couldn’t help noticing she didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic and as we got to the coffees and black forest gateau ( folks this was 1982, I was showing my exceptional gourmand taste) I asked her what was wrong.

She rather sadly told me that when she heard I was a professional musician , that it would be something like Pink Floyd or Blondie etc. She complained, you play the stuff my dad likes and in a suit.

We finished our meal and went our separate ways, me to another few decades of session, pit band and cruises then starting and selling a web agency, finally returning to sessions, writing and producing. She got married to a local jack the lad turned property developer and moved to sunny Spain.

The meme made me curious as to what had happened to her: Knowing she now lived in Dorset, very near me (through her brother), we met for a coffee a few days ago: It turns out out she had a pretty wild ride for the past four decades including five marriages. Her first one ended when jack the lad turned out to more of fraudster than a business man and ran off to hide in Greece and was subsequently jailed for 10 years. Her latest lasted two years until he ran off to Thailand with her teenage daughters best friend, also a teenager.

I also noted there was an awful lot of hand touching , complementing me on my still shoulder length hair and hugging going on and then she leant over and asked,

“So you are still a musician?”

“Yes” I replied

“and I’ve still got that tuxedo that your dad liked so much.”

I’d love to hear of your musically influenced encounters.

So are u giving her another shot, or staying away?

 

[brookdalebill]

I’ve been a “working player”, my preferred term, for 50 years.
I still love it.
I think I couldn’t have been anything else, now.
I’m not successful, or known, but the phone never stops ringing with work, so far.
I have a lot of stories, some incredible, some, uh, stupid, but none sad or lurid.
Personally, my profession began, and ended many of my romantic entanglements.

 

[JohnnyThul]

I met my girlfriend at a concert of my then band. She was actually a colleague of our guitarist and had lost her husband to cancer just a few months before we met at the gig. I didn't know her, but recognized another colleague of our guitarist standing beside her and therefore assumed, that she would be his wife.
So I just went up to them and said Hi, and while introducing myself to my now-girlfriend asked, if she and the colleague of our guitarist are married to each other.
The guy went pretty pale and was waving with his arms and quite emotionally made me aware, that they are not married. I didn't get it then, not knowing that her husband had just recently died and just went over to smalltalk with her. She wasn't upset or the like either.
We then met a few times and then she told me, that her husband just recently died. Oh my....

But here we are, 9 years later and still going strong

 

[57joonya]

I definitely had a few “groupies “ that would come to every show my very amateur bar band did back in the early -mid 90’s . I ended up playing in a band with a older fellow a few yrs later when I was 22, who’s girlfriend had a gorgeous daughter my age . He kept telling me “you should meet her” she showed up at a county fair gig we were doing and there was a mutual attraction going on .we ended up marrying and having three kids together , still together . And I wouldn’t change a thing . Im still crazy about her

 

[azureglo]

So are u giving her another shot, or staying away?

A few coffees can't hurt, nice thing about getting older, you're more laid back about romance, new friends are good too. On the other hand if she has a slinky, sexy Siamese cat...

 

[azureglo]

I’ve been a “working player”, my preferred term, for 50 years.
I still love it.
I think I couldn’t have been anything else, now.
I’m not successful, or known, but the phone never stops ringing with work, so far.
I have a lot of stories, some incredible, some, uh, stupid, but none sad or lurid.
Personally, my profession began, and ended many of my romantic entanglements.

A lot of folk don't realise that vast majority of professional musicians simply do it as job albeit an interesting one: I've played with some exceptionally talented musicians, who turn up, blow us all way on the session, then pack up and get the bus home, no ego, no attitude.

On the other hand, I've done favours for various local hobby players by joining them at local pub gigs and and been almost crushed by their 747 sized egos...never again.

 

[StoneH]

Me, standing behind a wall of keyboards, singing, and playing my Strat . . . average working musician.

Balding, chubby guy playing cowbell . . . finest musician I have every known.

At the time, he was a high school music teacher and had a Masters. He quit to get his PhD at Berklee. He played the best sax and flute (and cowbell) I have ever heard.

 

[StoneH]

Fred, playing the Roland, was a Pianist . . . I was just a keyboard player. He was balding too. I'm 67 and still have a lot of hair . . . I wonder if that's what held me back?

 

[telestratosonic]

Interesting post, azurego.

Guitar player, songwriter and a mediocre saxophone player here. Can read music but not a 'sight reader'. Hesitate to call myself a musician though.

Played in my first band at 15 back in 1965. Then nothing until 2003 when I was the bass player (with a full-time welding job) in a once-a-week blues/oldies rock 'n' roll bar band. Did that for a year or so.

Been retired since 2015. Hoping to do some playing at farmers' markets, open mics, small local fairs this year if I get the chance; just me and my acoustic singing/playing Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Gene Maclellan et cetera and maybe a few of my own slipped in here and there.

 

[drewg]

A lot of folk don't realise that vast majority of professional musicians simply do it as job albeit an interesting one: I've played with some exceptionally talented musicians, who turn up, blow us all way on the session, then pack up and get the bus home, no ego, no attitude.

On the other hand, I've done favours for various local hobby players by joining them at local pub gigs and and been almost crushed by their 747 sized egos...never again.

And Harry doesn’t mind if he don’t make the scene
He’s got a daytime job, he’s doing alright
He can play the honkytonk like anything
Saving it up for Friday night

 

[azureglo]

Fred, playing the Roland, was a Pianist . . . I played keyboards. He was balding too. I'm 67 and still have a lot of hair . . . I wonder if that's what held me back?

Hair can be a problem as we age, luckily its still proves attractive to some...well ginger cats at aviation museums at least

Are you still in touch with the sax, flute and cowbell virtuoso?

Interesting post, azurego.

Guitar player, songwriter and a mediocre saxophone player here. Can read music but not a 'sight reader'. Hesitate to call myself a musician though.

Played in my first band at 15 back in 1965. Then nothing until 2003 when I was the bass player (with a full-time welding job) in a once-a-week blues/oldies rock 'n' roll bar band. Did that for a year or so.

Been retired since 2015. Hoping to do some playing at farmers' markets, open mics, small local fairs this year if I get the chance; Just me and my acoustic singing/playing Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Gene Maclellan et cetera and maybe a few of my own slipped in here and there.

Sax is good. Welding even better...

 

[Bob Womack]

I've told this before. In college in the '70s I spent hours in a stairwell practicing because it had the most fantastic reverb and also a view out over hundreds of miles because the college sat on the peak of a mountain. Well, anyway, one day a tiny, beautiful gal came down the stairs with a guitar that belonged to a friend and asked me to tune it. I pulled out my harmonica (that's how we did it in those days) and tuned it up. She muttered a bored, "Thanks," spun on her heels, and trotted back up the stairs.

A little while later that girl was assigned to my engine company in the city's fire department. She showed no interest in me again. She was a socialite type and I was a long-haired musician studying Philosophy and Theology.

One evening after I was dumped by another girl, I decided I was taking dating all too seriously and needed to take out a girl with whom I had no future whatsoever, just for the fun of it. I was standing in the lobby of the largest dorm building and let my eyes cross the room to see the students sitting on couches and chairs and studying. My eyes settled on her, sitting alone and studying. Perfect. I went over and offered to take her down into the town for coffee and studying at this little cozy restaurant. She looked up at me doubtfully, made her decision, and said, "Let me get my coat." We went to the little place and talked and talked, drank coffee, and had their fantastic chocolate fudge cake.

Turned out that being a classically-trained soprano, she categorically disliked rock musicians, especially guitarists.

That was forty-five years ago, forty-three of which we've been married. She still doesn't like very many rock guitarists.

Bob

 

[telestratosonic]

And Harry doesn’t mind if he don’t make the scene
He’s got a daytime job, he’s doing alright
He can play the honkytonk like anything
Saving it up for Friday night

Lol!
My wife is always tossing those lyrics my way.

 

[Tonetele]

In my twenties I used to play four nights a week, do some rcording and played with our State Symphony orchestra as I read music 100 time faster than TAB. Should've stuck to it.

 

[Jakedog]

Playing is pretty much the only job I’ve ever had. I tried a couple other things, but nothing ever stuck.

I find it funny sometimes that people in my scene will say that playing guitar to get girls is a myth, because it never once worked for them. I can honestly say that being a musician was the catalyst for every relationship I have ever been in. Whether it lasted for hours or years. I have been married to the same woman for over 25 years now, and it all started because I was playing the first time she saw me.

Some female musician friends and I have analyzed it at length, and they seem to think it’s because I’m not *just* a guitar player. That also being a writer and frontman had more to do with it than guitar. But who knows?

All I know is that if I’d never started playing the guitar, I’d probably still be waiting on my first date. It’s the only thing even remotely cool about me.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

I play music...

 

[drewg]

Lol!
My wife is always tossing those lyrics my way.

I might have mixed them up. Maybe the next line was:

But then an old guitar is all he can afford