This morning on the counter of the local Burger King was a stack of tickets to go to a circus that was coming to town, free for children with adult admission. I find myself drawn to attend these traveling circus acts, not so much for the acts, but to observe and think about the performers. What life is like to be in a minor circus that travels town to town trying to eke out an existence?
Then it occurred to me that is the same life for today’s bluesmen. Traveling from town to town, rarely the big act, playing for small crowds, and barley getting by on what they make.
Maybe I’m not really attracted to the blues, I just want to run away and join the circus?
I have to say that I do a fair amount of side work and am now working with a couple of agents. Often I walk into places I've never been to play...and some times it's closer to a circus then we would care to admit. One time I walked in early to set up my gear and they were just finishing happy hour. I took pictures to send to my wife. Holy crap! was the text tag line...Nothin but fun and adventure though, eh? ---------- www.bigroadband.com
A man goes to a doctor for a rash on his arm. "What do you do for a living?" the doctor asks him. "I work at the circus, giving enemas to the elephants," the guy says. "Quit doing that and the rash will clear up," the doctor says. The guy replies, horrified, "What? And get out of show business?"
A little boy and his father are walking down the street. There is an old guy there, playing guitar, singing folk music with his cap on the ground. The father takes a couple dollars out of his wallet and gives it to the man.
As they walk away the son asks what he did that for. The father responds that the old man needed the money for alcohol.
The son nodded.
A block later they see a young man in a tie-dye shirt, playing drums, with a hat sitting on the ground in front of him. The father put $10 in the cup. As they were walking away the son asked why he'd given him $10.
The father explained that that man was a hippie, and his drug of choice was pot, which was more expensive than alcohol. The son nodded.
The kid then took his toy harmonica out of his pocket and started laying out some tasty blues licks. His father stopped and took out $50 and handed it to him. The son asked him what that was for. For pot and booze and loose women son. You're a blues man.
To paraphrase a second hand quote from Eddy Manson--When you're a musician, it's like you are a circus performer, and when you are a harmonica player, it's like you're a bigger freak than the rest.
Well, let me see. I play with a bunch of clowns whose car is always falling apart, we are always juggling music,work and family; walking a financial tightrope without a safety net and working for peanuts. The good-looking women our way out of our reach and we often have to compete with freak shows and one-trick ponies. Sounds like a circus to me!
Gnarly and andysheep8...Yup on all of that. In my case my wife and I both do this crazy thing, and now...my oldest son is in music school and my youngest son is training to be a live sound guy and recording engineer. Both my sons play and have done gigs with us. As a result our house looks like a music store upstairs and down. We've created monsters and handed them off to the next generation. On top of that, when you tell people, that in addition to our crazy day jobs...we spend our weekends in odd little bars all over the state people seriously think we are crazy, nuts...and they are probably right...but they want to come hear us play...and rave about it. I'm a minor celeb in at least 3 remote rural towns. Yeeehaaa... ---------- www.bigroadband.com
Last Edited by toneguy86 on Feb 18, 2016 9:11 AM
