October, 2014

We're Stronger in Groups

by Webmaster

AcousticByLine.com started on January 1, 2004. My intent was to prove that acoustic musicians, venues who hire acoustic musicians, and businesses that cater to acoustic musicians are stronger when they join together rather than compete on an individual level.

That this web site has survived for over 10 years, and it's members have benefitted by it, is proof that cooperation and mutual help works.

Sept. 27-28, I had the honor of being part of an activity that was, in part, created to enable Cowboy poets and musicians to work together to strengthen themselves and the genre.

Thanks to Susie Knight and Floyd Beard, the Colorado Chapter of the Western Music Association (WMA) has held jams and showcases for it's members, in various parts of the state this year. As a result, we, the members, have had opportunities to get together with other musicians and poets, share our work, listen to others, get helpful feedback, inspiration, and opportunities to perform and get more experience.

In addition to the benefits for the members, it has increased awareness of the genre and attracted more fans.

We hope that it will also encourage Cowboy musicians and performers to join WMA and the Colorado Chapter. And, we hope that it will encourage fans and supporters of the genre to join as well. Membership dues provide necessary funding for future events.

Because of other commitments, health, and weather, I wasn't able to attend previous events. My loss. The people in the Colorado Chapter are amazing. They're talented, friendly, helpful, polite, and incredibly dedicated to Cowboy music and poetry. They came from all parts of Colorado, and two people came from Utah, at their own expense, to perform for 12 minutes each day.

There will be more showcases and jams scheduled next year, and I'll post them here. I strongly encourage you to come out and listen or be part of an event. It might not be something you ever thought of doing, but you might find that you really like it.

Life offers many opportunities. Don't let excuses stop you from trying new things.

Thanks for visiting AcousticByLines.com

We played there and rocked! We were great! Not as great as we would have been if we'd had our regular drummer. And bass player. But we still rocked!

And they didn't call us back for another gig. Why?

I guess I forgot to get them the promo material and info they wanted ahead of time. Hey, I was busy working and rehearsing and playing other gigs.

Well, yeah, not too many of our fans were there, but it was a long way for our fans to go. The club is supposed to have their regulars there. They'll become our fans.

OK. So the folks who were there didn't get into our music. They just haven't come on board yet. They will, if we play there enough.

Alright. They told us to turn down the volume. Three times. But that's the way we play. The management is just a bunch of old fogeys who don't like music.

Oh, right. There was a lot of hassle with the date. We had it booked then had to change it because we got a better gig. But it only happened twice.

So we were late. It was no big deal. We have day jobs and had to load up and race down there and traffic was really bad and we got lost once. You see, it really wasn't our fault we were late.

Do you believe they wouldn't feed us? Or give us more than 1 drink per set? Do they think we can live on air? It takes energy to perform like we do. And we came there straight from work, so how do they expect us to play on an empty stomach. It wouldn't have cost them anything to feed us.

And they expected us to keep our breaks to 15 minutes. How can we go out and buy food and eat it in only 15 minutes?

And back to the regulars. They expected us to take requests. We don't do requests. We have set lists. We like to do our originals, not those old songs that everyone's heard forever.

So we spent our breaks in the green room. No point in going out and talking to those losers. Plus we had to teach the bass player the chords for some of our songs.

We set out a tip jar and mentioned it between every song, but we didn't get tips. So we told the manager that we needed to get more money than we agreed to because there were no tips. And, I wasn't yelling. I just project my voice really well.

We kinda left a mess on the stage and in the green room when they wouldn't cough up more money. We're not going to play for peanuts then clean the place for them. It's okay. They've got people there who get paid to clean up.

I just don't understand why they didn't call us back for another gig. We rocked!

Any questions?

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