Music Before the Money

- from www.inspirationpeak.com

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence.

On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied.” I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing’s for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again.”

He paused. “Funny thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick ‘em up, there ain’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”

In my 30+ years in the live music business I have played around comedians, strippers, celebrities and even live animal acts. This is from the time that live music was first introduced in the taverns and lounges up to the present. And included are the trends: Disco, Urban Cowboy-ism, New Wave, etc. Even karoake never bothered me because it got people out of the house and enjoying music.Then came the distractions: sports on TV, midless sports on TV, TV mini-series, etc.

However, if I could mention the biggest killer of good drinking holes that once served up live music it would be the introduction of the video lottery terminal.

I recently went back to an old haunt in Edmonton, a great pub which had as it’s sole distraction a TV screen that was shut off when we played. The girl who was singing was great but the atmosphere was disjointed. I got up to play a song and saw her view from the stage: a dozen backs of VLT players backing some tables. As well, there were three TV’s going with stupid stuff like mud racing.

From what I saw there live music was finished in small venues. The pub owners have a cash cow in the VLT’s and atmosphere and the Cheers mentality has long since vanished.

The social cost of gambling has been argued over the ages but every civilization has either banned it at one time or another or put a short leash on it. But besides the social cost to a lot of the players (lost homes, bankrupcy) it is a large reason why live entertainment has disappeared from these small venues.