Well I hope you enjoy yourself at the open mic tonight and I don't want to put you off by comments I made about paying for the priviledge to play at an open mic. I was not trying to be negative toward you personally and hope you feel free to continue to participate on Just Plain Folks.

I have been playing over 40 years now, I am strongly opposed to musicians having to pay to play. I hope you will realize soon that there are plenty of open mics where you are not required to pay for the priviledge.

There is a trend now in some cities, especially LA, where some clubs will charge a band for the use of their club, but the band then puts on their own show and sell tickets and can still at least try to make some money. This is not a desirable situation for any band, but if you get a strong following you can survive in that environment. Fortunately, Chicago has not gotten to that point, yet, but the value of music and performance continues to be devalued and this is simply one more example.

If you ever get serious about making music, you might realize that a willingness to participate in this kind of thing is like a stab in the back to other musicians.

Last edited by Jack Swain; 01/31/08 03:52 PM.
Jack
http://www.myspace.com/jackswainsongs