There is a Catch-22 that exists for performers on the local music scene. You can’t draw a crowd to your shows unless you have built a reputation by playing in lots of clubs, and you can’t get hired to play in the clubs unless you can draw a crowd. I’m willing to face facts: club owners are in business to make money, and a slow night at the bar means profits will suffer. I believe the situation is worse for our band, Reprise 60s, because we don’t have the built-in following that younger performers have. Our friends and close acquaintances – the people who should be counted on to show up at every gig – are discriminating against us by going to bed early. Most 50-somethings have outgrown the compulsion to raise hell till the wee hours on a regular basis and any who do are probably not there to hear the band.
So I was not surprised at the meager turnout for our second appearance. Our wives were there, of course, but the other relatives and comrades had either returned to their homes in faraway lands, or they were still recovering from our premiere show only six days previously. At the time, I did not realize how long those recoveries would last, and that it was already time to start relying on the kindness of strangers.
Overall, we felt good about our sound that night. Our small audience seemed to be enjoying themselves, and we received positive feedback when it was over. One guy approached me at the bar as I ordered my traditional after-show beer. “You have to come back here again,” he said. Well, he slurred it, actually, but I think that's what he said. Kathy, the girl – now a woman with grandchildren – who I took to my senior prom happened to be there for our first set. When the band took a break, I passed by her table on the way to the bar. She said, “Nice job, Gary.” High praise indeed, coming from someone who had frequently witnessed the effects of my maniacal teenage mood swings and who couldn't be blamed if she were still carrying a few resentments.
* Note: I saw Paul McCartney on TV last night. Man, he’s old, but he can still draw a helluva crowd.
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