Members Shaster Posted January 1, 2018 Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 Squeezing in one last 2017 post... So, a manager of a new room I'm playing, pulls me aside a few days ago and says he really likes my sound. He just has concerns because the GM walked by and wanted a more upscale look. He said I had that New York sound, but I needed to look more like a musician, so he wondered if I could get a hat! I thought the fact that I was reasonably dressed, playing a guitar, and standing next to a grand piano was enough, but apparently you're aren't a real musician until you have a pork pie hat. On the plus side - he didn't ask me to wear a man bun! Frankly, I'm glad he talked to me and not the agent. Don't want to be branded as someone that isn't "fashion forward". Sizzle not steak. I've got to keep remembering that. As my daughter said, I would be better off shopping for clothes than learning new material. Judging from all the hat wearing artists that are still playing Stand By Me, Dock of the Bay and Take it Easy, I'd say she's right. BTW if you can rock a hat, more power to you. And they do work fine for an impromptu tip jar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted January 1, 2018 Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 Ha!! I would *never* wear a hat and cover up my wonderful snow-white hair! [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"firehall_piano.jpg","data-attachmentid":32131186}[/ATTACH] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted January 1, 2018 Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 i admire your professionalism... i would show up wearing a hat for a codpiece... a nice stetson flagship in gray... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skmarshall Posted January 1, 2018 Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 I did a service call to fix a studio computer belonging to my area's top guitarist, and he has a hat rack like one you would find in a clothing store... at least ten fedoras, all shades of grey. To his credit he doesn't turn the front brim up, so I guess he's not a total hipster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 1, 2018 Moderators Share Posted January 1, 2018 I have a fair collection of 'performance' hats, but it is not a 'fashion thing', it is because I am 'follically challenged'...and I have 'Hair-borne Alzheimers Disease'...my body kind of remembers it should grow hair, it has just forgotten where it is supposed to grow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted January 1, 2018 Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 I tried to swop hats with this guy when he stopped me for speeding a few years ago in Clarkesville KY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted January 1, 2018 Members Share Posted January 1, 2018 Buy a hat. But the GM may already be thinking about ditching you for someone else. Squeezing in one last 2017 post... So, a manager of a new room I'm playing, pulls me aside a few days ago and says he really likes my sound. He just has concerns because the GM walked by and wanted a more upscale look. He said I had that New York sound, but I needed to look more like a musician, so he wondered if I could get a hat! I thought the fact that I was reasonably dressed, playing a guitar, and standing next to a grand piano was enough, but apparently you're aren't a real musician until you have a pork pie hat. On the plus side - he didn't ask me to wear a man bun! Frankly, I'm glad he talked to me and not the agent. Don't want to be branded as someone that isn't "fashion forward". Sizzle not steak. I've got to keep remembering that. As my daughter said, I would be better off shopping for clothes than learning new material. Judging from all the hat wearing artists that are still playing Stand By Me, Dock of the Bay and Take it Easy, I'd say she's right. BTW if you can rock a hat, more power to you. And they do work fine for an impromptu tip jar... transplants $5k in Bangkok. Very professional but they take a year or more before It starts looking right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted January 3, 2018 Members Share Posted January 3, 2018 People remember you better if you wear the same outfit.David Byrne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 3, 2018 Moderators Share Posted January 3, 2018 hats seem a far more economical option...unless maybe if you live in Bangkok [a city the name of which I have always found somewhat disturbing] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 3, 2018 Moderators Share Posted January 3, 2018 People remember you better if you wear the same outfit. David Byrne and yet... https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/david-byrne-stop-making-sense.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted January 3, 2018 Members Share Posted January 3, 2018 same as it ever was... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted January 4, 2018 Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 im sure my poasts were more pertinent back when i was playing guitar in a duo in tallahassee... but i read our poasts now and realize what a different world what im doing now compared to then... and i cant imagine much of what i say means much in the polyverse that is the collective “you”... i joked about the codpiece because i cant for the life of me imagine anyone telling me to put on a hat... or anything other than some id to allow me in and out of performance areas... some might think im being contrary but im just trying to say it doesnt have to be this way... ive played by the rules since i was too young to be playing in bars... 40 years of coming that close... or having it and walking away. thats the definition of insanity. a little over a year ago i remembered that i started playing music because i love playing music. it made me feel something, it was real... i reconnected, doing what im doing now and if no one ever listens to me again i dont care, i can see myself doing this happily by myself for however long i feel like doing it... and that is the key... in whatever you do... sing, dance, tuba and banjo duet... it doesnt matter as long as you are doing it from the heart. that connection is what people feel... not your technique, thats left brain, analytical... i disagree with sizzle not steak... could very well be thats why people are hungry for something real...im just saying that in 14 months ive gone from playing local yoga retreats to being invited to play at one of the largest events of the year in the miami art community at the end of this month by not playing by the book. what does it mean? nothing, maybe everything? but im going to see if i can at least hold on to this one until shes done kicking... i probably should just keep my thoughts to myself, but there it is and there you have it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted January 4, 2018 Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 A considered post Voltan, it made me think of why I do it and it's not the love of music and not the money, although both are important, I just love to show off always have. My circumstances are different than most here as I can pick and choose gigs due to the vast number of venues and very few performers. But as to the reason well it is showing off more than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted January 4, 2018 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 The somewhat insincere message that many lounges promote is not lost on me. Unfortunately I either work in a job I don't like, or play music in venues that are iffy. Or... I reconstruct my life so I can live and perform in a manner that is true to myself. My present chosen path is to play places that might be less than ideal, but pay the rent. I draw the line at playing kiddie songs and for the time being, wearing hats, when I don't want to. I would feel the same way if someone told me to stop wearing a hat! Kudos and congratulations to you Voltan, for setting your ship in a different and rewarding direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted January 4, 2018 Members Share Posted January 4, 2018 For me, any hat is a rock and roll toupee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 4, 2018 Moderators Share Posted January 4, 2018 Funny, but I was cleaning up in the man cave this week [it is going to be my 'tax deductible' office for 2018] and came across the oldest 'performance' photo of me that I still have, circa 1982, doing my old solo act at a local outdoor venue, and I was wearing a fedora...and I still had a full head of hair back then....so it was obviously a 'thing' for me even back then when I was not follically challenged [okay, I had a high hairline, ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Dey Posted January 7, 2018 Members Share Posted January 7, 2018 I could never figure out what kind of hat to wear because I cover many different genres of music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted January 8, 2018 Members Share Posted January 8, 2018 [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"$_35.JPG?set_id=880000500F.jpg","data-attachmentid":32135666}[/ATTACH] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted January 8, 2018 Members Share Posted January 8, 2018 [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none"' date='"data-size":"full","title":"$_35.JPG?set_id=880000500F.jpg","data-attachmentid":32135666}[/ATTACH'] i like the way you think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted January 8, 2018 Members Share Posted January 8, 2018 But is it "New York"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted January 8, 2018 Members Share Posted January 8, 2018 In New York this winter I think this would be more appropriate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted January 15, 2018 Members Share Posted January 15, 2018 I have the New York sound folks digBut the club says bare heads for pigsSo I got me a hat, and now I look phatAnd I'm getting plenty of gigs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted January 15, 2018 Members Share Posted January 15, 2018 hopefully not... i hate being stuck in a box by somebody else’ perspective... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted January 16, 2018 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2018 Nice one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted January 16, 2018 Author Members Share Posted January 16, 2018 So I played the place as a trio last Saturday. Solved the problem by hiring a bass player who wears hats. The manager was very happy. It's not who you know, it's who you know that wears hats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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