An Uphill Battle
I start with one new string on the guitar and no money in my pocket.
It is chilly and should be all weekend. Last night I threw the heavy blanket over my sleeping bag for hopefully the last time this year; I intend to throw it away soon, or place it back under the dock, where I found it.
I have an uphill battle in front of me, involving playing the guitar with the 1 bright new string and the 5 dull ones, and then replacing the other ones as the money (comes in?). This will involve me spending almost twice as much for the set by buying them individually, but it is Friday, which is supposed to be a good money day; and used to be in the past, as I recall. Those memories are becoming distant.
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| Give The People What They Want... |
It's like being in the minor leagues (playing an un-amplified acoustic guitar) waiting to be called up to the Majors at some point in the future, after the procurement of all the necessary gear to play on Royal Street with some volume with some kind of gimmick going on; like a one-man-band set up; painting yourself green and appearing as "The Green Man;" or a speciality, like asking people to give you 3 words and then making up a song which incorporates them.
These are not so much considerations in other cities.
There, you only have to have some "New Orleans" decals on your guitar case; or hang some Mardi Gras beads around your neck and you become a "New Orleans Musician," (The Real Deal and a fire-tested "professional").
But this is all just a re-hash of things already posted about; and I'm not making a penny sitting here and blogging, so...Today, I might go as far as printing "New String Fund" on a piece of cardboard to put in my case.
Correction:
The metal statue depicting the musician referred to yesterday as "some other guy, whose name escapes me" is actually Pete Fountain; that's Pete Fountain, the clarinettist, not the plumber from Gary, Indiana.
You actually *are* in one of the great places to "never leave" as a musician. Since you don't seem to have the ability to get it together to move to California or even much further than Baton Rouge, why not work on putting down some roots? The good musicians there are making decent money, so all you need to do is improve, or make your act more visual, maybe play a Dobro or something, and the money should ramp up to where you can get a room or something. In fact, once you let a few people know you're planning to stay and are looking for a roof, I think one would show up in short order.
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