No You? No Mic. No Me.

I have to admit - I'm amazed, and for me that's a pretty big deal.

OK - by now you know that my cover band plays week in, week out. It's a gig, one we get paid for. For the club dates I negotiate the fee, we do the gig, set out our little tip jar and hope for the best. If it's a bigger gig - maybe a corporate function or private event - those who hired us will feed us or provide other perks (drinks, a bonus) in addition to whatever money I've negotiated with them.

Bottom line? We don't play for free, just like your carpenter doesn't build for free, your dentist doesn't drill for free, your painter doesn't paint for free, your waiter (or waitress) doesn't wait for free, or - and you knew this was coming - your plumber doesn't plumb for free.

Incredibly, my band has a group of friends who either make time every single week to come and see us, introduces us to others who constantly throw work our way (I guess you'd call that "networking," though I HATE that term), or are kind to us JUST for the sake of being kind. I can say this without hesitation - our friends really DO take care of us, and they do it on so many different levels it's mind boggling.

First, there's a die-hard group of people who - rain or shine - come to just about every public gig we do. Whether a club date, park function, the Long Beach Grand Prix or an auto show, these folks show up and energize us. In thinking about the "Fab Five" as I call them (Jay and Wifey, Steve and Jennifer and Julia)I get this dumb smile on my face. I truly do consider them my friends, and would feel blessed and honored if I'd met them WITHOUT being a musician. I'm constantly amazed at their energy, selflessness, sense of humor and kindness. If the world had more people like our Fab Five - well, I won't get all political on you but I'm pretty certain there'd be a lot more love in the world.

Next, I can think of a handful of people who've directly impacted how many gigs we play - whose unselfish Party Jones pimping has led to COUNTLESS gigs in an amazing, branching-off manner. I call this "putting money in our pocket." For example, Victoria - a good friend of ours - is responsible for almost single-handedly pointing eight to ten great gigs a year our way (which led to other organizations associated with Victoria's organizations offering us gigs!). Steve - who has a killer party every year - introduced us to the City of Long Beach which led to countless gigs there (and our relationship with Steve came from an annual July 4 gig we play for our friends Bob and Sue!). There's Annette, who not only got us gigs but - due to her softball connections - got us the annual City of Fountain Valley Little League celebration. Seriously - this list could go on all day (I'm not even touching on word-of-mouth recommendations - it's absolutely amazing how much our friends talk us up to THEIR friends, relations and co-workers).

Finally, we have those friends who, simply, do things for the band because they're kind, giving people. Tanya comes to mind - a wonderful person who took on crappy, thankless job of selling our t-shirts and SOLD THEM OUT on her own. By herself! This was AFTER I'd spent over a year trying to sell them! There's Sheryl who always manages to sneak a HUGE tip amount into the jar without anyone finding out. Nelson, whose kind words and up attitude make us feel like kings. Again - this list goes on FOREVER.

You see where I'm going with this? Someday I'll mock up an org chart or something, but in truth - without all of the people who come to see us, I'd never stand in front of a mic and sing. I'm lucky, and blessed, and I thank every single person who's ever come out to see a band I'm in.