Nightflying: The Entertainment Guide

     The only way most musicians can be musicians, is if they have a “day-job” to support their habits, like sleeping in a dry place and eating. Those who actually succeed in earning their living playing music are rare exceptions, at least in Arkansas and around Little Rock.That’s the way it’s been as long as I have been a working musician, and that covers the last 54 years.I have had the privilege of knowing a lot of guitar players, drummers, bassists and keyboard players during those years.We all have to juggle our hours at our regular paying day job with their playing in a band. Some of them I have known are carpenters, plumbers, truck drivers, store clerks and just about every other occupation you can name that is legal and moral.
     And that’s just fine. All legal and moral work is honorable, and builds our character. (I guess that’s why I’ve become such a “character.”) When I first graduated from Mayflower High School in 1954, I worked as an auto parts stock clerk, apprentice meatcutter in a supermarket, an ice-cream packer and as a laborer. I helped dig the sewer ditch for Forest Heights Junior High School, and I worked at 3M Company, cleaning the roofing-granule mixers. But for the past 53 years, I have been blessed to work on a music store sales floor, for myself and for others. I’m still helping out 2 days a week, at Bryon Knight’s “Little Rock Frets” in Breckenridge Village, where I still get to string guitars, make minor repairs, and see and visit with my old friends from Boyd Music and Sigler Music.
      The good side of it is that having a dependable pay check from a steady job, whatever the type of work, gives us an opportunity to “have a life,” a family and stability. Road musicians find there is something missing. Their only friends are their fellow musicians, and the only home they have is another motel or hotel room. Some can adapt to that life, just as road salesmen do. But most people (myself included) much prefer sleeping in their own bed at night, even if it means working an 8 hour day at a day job, then going to play their instrument wherever the gig is each night. I know some guys who teach school every day and play just about every night. I have great admiration for them, in their ability to pace themselves and survive and thrive, over many years of working 2 and sometimes 3 jobs.
     If we have steady work doing anything, day job or musicianing, we are very blessed. The “network” of working musicians help each other. Every drummer I know, for example, knows several other dependable drummers, and when they’re already booked for a night, they pass the job along to their drummer friends. That goes for bands, too. That’s what I call a “yes-yes” deal, when we all help each other unselfishly, without professional jealousy. I remember a time back in the 70s when I knew about 5 other good bands who played the types of music I did. When I would get a call and my band was already booked, I would take the caller’s number and call my band friends and tell them. For several years, that resulted in everybody working more. It still goes on today. If you’ve been around this area very long, you get to know all the musicians, especially in your own field. Give them a boost and you help yourself, as well. We’ve still got a pretty good music market here, and everyone who wants to play in a band can usually find a job.
     During hard times (like now?) that extra money we make playing in a band comes in handy and makes for a better life style. I enjoyed selling musical instruments because they can be income producing, so the buyer can actually pay for their instruments with what they earn from playing them.
     Despite our nation’s current money problems, we are still the most blessed nation in the world. I have always believed God had a hand in helping us establish a country where everyone can survive and thrive. During the Revolutionary War, our chances of defeating the British were slim and none. But here we are, 233 years later, living in the “great experiment.”
    May God continue to bless us and show us how to remain the world’s greatest nation.

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