Well, about a month ago I lost my Wednesday night gig. It really was no surprise, but a little sad as that was the first gig I ever got.
The pay was bad as I was still only making the original $100 a night, with no prospects of getting a raise... The nights were generally slow, and I played music more often than people sang.
It was a good gig for me though, for many reasons. It taugt me how to adjust my show and my attitude to fit the venue rather that trying to do the opposite. This approach is one of the things that has made me popular in the local area, I believe.
It also kept me abreast of popular new music, as that's what would get requested by the younger crowd as the night wore on, and by default... what karaoke songs I should start lookinf for.
Unfortunately, I wasn't seeing new faces coming in, and when I would get some of my folks to come there the bars regulars would "scare" them away. (It was a pretty rough bar).
Anyway, I've been looking to replace it, and I had two prospects. One was a top italian resturant and bar called Main Street Tower in Bel Air, Md. Nice, but a bit of a hike for me... 45 minutes. But of course they pay top dollar.
The other was a hole in the wall piss smelling bar that was changing ownership called "Blue Jeans" which I wasn't thrilled about, and couldn't pay what I wanted... but if the job came I would have taken it till something better came along. Fortunately, they couldn't hire me till the transfer was complete.
Well, last Thursday I'm working, and a guy walks in and asks me if I have Sunday nights open. I say, "Sure!" and he gets my phone number. The next day I get a call from the grandaughter of "Mom", who owns "Pop's Tavern" in dundalk. "Pop's" is one of the oldest and largest bars in the local area. We stopped in there after our high school prom (in 1982), and everybody there bought us drinks!!
Yeah. Wasn't the 80's great?
Anyway, they have a big dance floor, and they host live bands all the time. I personally, have gone to that Sunday show many times myself. The KJ didn't particularlly like me as he knew I was a KJ, and I think he thought I was after his job. How he kept his job amazed me as all the young girls would complain that they got "felt up", etc. and he would screw with the rotation, putting his favorites up first... obviously so.
So, they are paying me the money I wanted, it's an established karaoke show and bar, there's a stage and a dance floor, its local so I don't have far to drive, my folks will follow me there because they frequent the bar anyway, and I know people there!
Oh yeah, the barmaid I've worked with at another venue over a year ago, and she loves me too.
The point to all of this, I guess is: "Good things come to those who wait."
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