Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

I AM NOW RETIRED

MissouriPicker

By MissouriPicker
in Gibson Acoustic

Recommended Posts

MissouriPicker

MissouriPicker

Posted
Posted

As of 2 hrs. ago, I am retired. Looking-forward to more time with the grandkids and playing music. I think I am finally going to learn how to truly play some of the many different instruments I own. Got a new Yamaha keyboard too and I know very little about it, but this summer will be fun. Going to really nail-down the scales I half-way know and play on the guitar. Going to do a lot more with my squareneck dobros. The Uke is also waiting, along with the banjo. The mandolin is also there, and the concertina, and several oddball/rare/crazy kinds of folks instruments...Oh, and the Tin Whistle. I'll never master any of them, BUT, I will be a better "jack of all trades, master of none."

 

And I've got a hell-of-a-busy schedule this summer of gigs. I'm now offically a regular picker for a chain of pizza/sandwich parlors, and there are two outdoor markets, and coffeehouses. this is going to be a fun time for me. No pressure. No rush. Plenty of easy-going times. It begins tonight when we take the grandkids for ice cream...Life is good, THEN IT GETS BETTER. [thumbup][thumbup][thumbup]

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MissouriPicker

MissouriPicker

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah, pizza places have the same music as coffeehouses....lots of folk, country, easy rock. These Spin Pizza places are really great to play at. They advertise the music around the area of each location and they put-out flyers with our pictures on them and put us on their website.. and you end-up getting gigs from the pizza gig...lol....Really cool places, and they treat us well, feed us, pay us. Plus, the customers tip well.

 

Speaking of pizza parlors, etc.....We've got 3-4 locations around the Kansas City area called Fun House. I haven't played them, but I know a guy in his 80's who plays banjo and bass. He's in an old-time-music group and they play every thursday night at one of them. They rotate around. So, these kind of places are a possibility if you're looking for a place to play. Some of them are likely real busy places and even if all you did was use a tip jar, you might have a good night. Another possibility is these Winery/Vineyards that seem to be popping-up everywhere. Seems we have as many wine places as we do 7-11's and Quick-trips, etc. Anyway, I'll likely try them all sooner-or-later. And don't forget the retirement homes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Buc McMaster

Buc McMaster

Posted
Posted

You go, man! Retirement is one of those things we hear about all our lives and wonder if we'll ever get to that milestone.......and when we do, how accurate was our concept of what it would be like. You'll be sizing that one one up starting now! Congrats on stepping off the merry-go-round! [thumbup]

Link to comment
Share on other sites
j45nick

j45nick

Posted
Posted

Congratulations on reaching a milestone. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

 

One of my first gigs was playing in a pizza joint.

 

Maybe it all comes full circle: take your place on the great mandala, and roll down the highway on your cosmic wheels....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Aster1

Aster1

Posted
Posted

Congrats MP,

 

Here's to you, your health, happiness, and a LONG LONG time retired too. [thumbup] My Father use to say he just didn't know how he use to have time for work with all that he had to do after he retired. He was able to enjoy 35 yrs of retirement & activity. Wish you the same or better!!!

 

 

Aster

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zombywoof

zombywoof

Posted
Posted

Yeah, pizza places have the same music as coffeehouses....lots of folk, country, easy rock.

 

I came of musical age in the 1960s playing bars. These places were often not in the best part of town and were loud and smoke filled with bathrooms that smelled like stale beer and piss (the alleys smelled even worse). After a while we did a Hot Tuna thing and put together an acoustic blues band being me on guitar and fiddle, the singer and bass player (who wanted a place to play his doghouse bass) from the rock band, and another guitar player who just happened to not only be my girlfriend at the time but the best blues fingerpicker I had ever heard. We did the coffee house circuit - at least what was left of it. For a spell we even served as the house band for one not only doing our own sets but backing other artists. Nice places that served a hundred different kinds of coffee and tea and fresh baked goods. But what a difference. Everybody was, as best as I can put it, polite. In a way it drove me a bit nuts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MissouriPicker

MissouriPicker

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah, I'm already at a different pace. I could feel it on the drive home from work yesterday afternoon. I used to cram everything I could into the weekend, because I didn't feel like doing it during the week. I hated gigs during the week because I had to work the next day. Now, it's already more relaxed and laid-back. I've always stayed-up late when I didn't have to work the next day. Now, it's not a problem. I can watch TV until 4am, or sit on the back porch with a guitar and uke until the sun comes-up. I can do things to keep the house in good shape and still have 5-6-7 hrs to play-around with my music stuff. This is truly going to be enjoyable.

 

Speaking of bars and coffeehouses-------I don't play as many bars as I once did. I think the smoke started getting to me. And yep, the bars typically smell bad, like old beer, and the alleys behind the bars still smell like piss..lol...I get asked every 7-8 weeks by a friend who does a regular gig at a place called Swagger's, but beyond that I'm rarely playing them. To me, the bars are pretty-much the same as they were years ago. The music changes back-and-forth, but still lots of country and rock. The coffeehouses though are different for me. First real coffeehouse I ever played was in 69. The Vanguard, on about 39th & Main in Kansas City. Back then the coffeehouse scene tended to revolve around folk music, blues, jazz. You went to a coffeehouse to hear the music. The coffee was kind of a secondary item. I remember that The Vanguard served coffee, hot apple cider, or tea. There was nothing to eat. You paid a couple bucks at the door and you listened to some local yocals play music. I guess listening to the music was all part of being cool, a hippie, part of the love generation. Anyway, now the music is the secondary thing, and coffeehouses make their money on food. The guy who owned the coffeehouse was named Stan Plesser (he later became the manager for Brewer & Shipley. remember "One Toke Over the Line"? ). He paid me and a friend $10 to play from 7 to maybe 10, if the place stayed busy, and we'd make a few bucks extra in tips. You'd get lots of quarters and fifty-cent pieces back then. Not really bad for the times when $4-5 an hour was good money. Plus, we thought we were pretty cool, and lots of college girls hung-around. He'd intentionally have groups of girls sit right at the stage...lol...We had a blast the times we played there. I'm older now, of course, and the coffeehouse scene really is different now-a-days. But, I still really enjoy playing coffeehouses..In fact, I'm playing one this afternoon, at 3pm. Cool place. Has lots of room. Might have 5 people there. Might have 75. The "more the merrier," but either will work for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zombywoof

zombywoof

Posted
Posted

The guy who owned the coffeehouse was named Stan Plesser (he later became the manager for Brewer & Shipley. remember "One Toke Over the Line"? ).

 

Oh man, I saw Brewer and Shipley in late 1969 or early 1970 at some college campus coffee house in Oklahoma (where if I recall one of them was from). This was pre-"One Toke Over the Line" so nobody had heard of them yet. There were like 5 people in the audience. I ended up hanging around with them all night. Lots of picking and laughing fueled by lots of weed. Shake off the Demon is still a great LP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
j45nick

j45nick

Posted
Posted

Oh man, I saw Brewer and Shipley in late 1969 or early 1970 at some college campus coffee house in Oklahoma (where if I recall one of them was from). This was pre-"One Toke Over the Line" so nobody had heard of them yet. There were like 5 people in the audience. I ended up hanging around with them all night. Lots of picking and laughing fueled by lots of weed. Shake off the Demon is still a great LP.

 

 

ZW, you are showin' your age. That's a common tale from those years, when I spent an awful lot of my college years listening to and playing music. It's a wonder I ever finished school......

 

It's funny how a lot of people get defined by a single song, when the rest of their stuff was frequently better than that one hit. It's just the way thing worked out. My time in the industry taught me that luck was frequently as important as talent. I think that's even more true today, although you might replace "luck" with "looks". (Thinking about some of the cookie-cutter pseudo country/pop stars here)

 

It was also about whether your label decided to put any money into promoting you. In our case, they simply released a couple of singles in the regional market (midwest) that we toured the most, but never did any real promotion. End of story. In retrospect, they were probably right.

 

I'd love to hear Bob Birdwell talk more about his Peter Wheat years in that regard. I know we have others here that recorded in the past, including some that released a number of albums, and I wish they'd speak up about their experience in working with various labels. It was and is a cut-throat business,

 

I think Jannus Guy was/is a concert promoter as well, and might have some thoughts on this topic.

 

Sorry for the thread hijack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MissouriPicker

MissouriPicker

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It's not an issue, J45...lol.. ..Did it myself when I meandered off in 4-5 different directions...lol...BTW, I last saw Brewer and Shipely just over a year ago at a benefit for Danny Cox (local blues man. his house had caught fire). They still sound real good. They stood in the lobby of the church afterwards and talked with us for a good hour. Still up in the St. Joseph, Mo. area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fortyearspickn

fortyearspickn

Posted
Posted

Congrats MoPkr, I beat you by three days. Yep. Much more time for music. Our family (there are 16 of us) rented a beach house in Port Aransas for a 4 day party. When we head home tomorrow the real fun begins. I've not touched my banjo in 5 or 6 years. Here's hoping you get to enjoy a few decades of "Every Day is Saturday,". G'Luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ol fred

ol fred

Posted
Posted

Congratulations on reaching a milestone. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

 

One of my first gigs was playing in a pizza joint.

 

Maybe it all comes full circle: take your place on the great mandala, and roll down the highway on your cosmic wheels....

 

It says J45nick but sounds Em7 ??? A brother from another mother?

 

Anyway, congratulations Larry. I've been "retired" since Aug 8, 2008, pretty sure you all remember that date. I'm actually busier now than I ever was. Hopefully someday before the bucket drops I'll develop enough talent to be able to play a pizza joint.

Cheers and goodwill my friend.

 

Fred

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...