TubeNet

So far, lunch. OK, maybe lunch, dinner, and maybe breakfast - Waffle House sounds like a mighty fine idea, too. Anyway, the quintet hasn't been active this season for some reason, so opportunities have been few.

I just got home from an excruciating rehearsal (3 hours!) for a gig a week from this Saturday where it's not entirely clear I'm going to be paid, there's a certain "doing a friend a favor" aspect to it. A mystery to me why and how, but a violinist of my acquaintance from many years ago showed-up at tonight's rehearsal. I know he does nothing for free, so if he's getting paid yet I'm not... well... you know.

Already bought what I wanted; waiting for it to get here. That said, yeah there are a couple more paid gigs coming up, but not spending much. Gotta save what little I can and have bills and stuff to pay for. I'd have more money if I didn't have to keep paying off the damn student loans ......I can't wait to pay that off

Mike C855B wrote:
I just got home from an excruciating rehearsal (3 hours!) for a gig a week from this Saturday where it's not entirely clear I'm going to be paid, there's a certain "doing a friend a favor" aspect to it.

I know that feeling. My main quintet has done more than enough "favor/freebie' gigs; some of them for our first trumpet. I don't mind doing them from time to time, but sometimes it is too much and people will expect it and take advantage of it.

A clue.
If I'm really flush, perhaps two clues.
Maybe the first clue would be what to do with the second...

bloke wrote:...This house, unfortunately, is plagued with top-end appliances - which fail and wear out, just as with all the others...except they are much more costly to maintain and replace. ...

Yes. Technology isn't necessarily a positive on (formerly) simple devices. A friend who owns the busiest auto mechanic shop in town stopped by my studio yesterday to borrow a micro-wrench. He needed it to adjust a sensor/camera on a car with auto-braking and blind spot warning. Very telling was, "I'm also buying new piece of electronic equipment for the shop - a defibrillator, for when customers get the bill. All this fancy tech is stupid expensive to fix!"

He went on to say that he will soon have to build a separate building just to do alignments because it's not just the tires any more, the driver-assist gimmicks have to be finely-adjusted along with the suspension. He described the alignment bay has to be essentially a photo studio with special screens and calibration targets. "Alignments will need to cost $600 or more pretty soon to pay for all this."

As Clowns, we only clown for free at a nonprofit charity, and if one performer gets paid, we all get paid. Once they pay somebody then they need to always pay. Kind of like a union thing. I don't get paid for playing any of my toys, But if I had the money I would buy a new to me Kanstul Tuba that is at a local store. 5/4 5 valve BBb in prime condition and I can reach the valves. But $9000 for a toy is a little hard to justify.

Charlie C. Chowder

Bloke, you are selling some of your dust-gathering instruments in your attic? I'm searching for an antique contra alto trumpet from around the period 1880-1910, preferably four valves, piston or rotor. Got anything? A lot of orchestral compositions from that era specified F trumpet, alto that is. I'd like to play an old, but good instrument that symphony pros used over a century ago.

Ace

Hey, I like that Getzen link. I think I'll explore it a bit further. Thanks Bloke.

Ace

My brass band is making a 4-day field trip to NOLA in February (part musical recognizance / part group vacation).

My holiday gig money is covering sousa flight surcharges and hotel stay!