This ever happen to you "older" guys ?

[Luckenbacher]

Wow must have been amazing playing "two headed dog" with Roky Erickson. I heard he burned out but started playing out again? 13 floor elevators I would love to hear some stories from that drummer.

I've heard a lot of good stories, but it mostly sounded like a bit of a pain in the ass. They played last year at the austin psyche fest (which was named levitiation) just before Flaming Lips, and I think that went over pretty good... he told me that I should catch the 50 year reunion becasue he didn't know if there would be a next 50 year reunion.

 

The thing that left the most impression on me was that he still is having to gig or scramble or otherwise hustle... my hope is that I can save up enough so when I get to be that age I take gigs cause they are fun or they are gravy. It makes me feel a lot less bad for being a "weekend warrior" who only plays out once or twice a week. I have no problem with work-- I like what I do and can't see stopping, but (especially with music) stuff changes when you have fewer options.

 

I'm playing tonight with that blues band, and I think it will be fun and it pays, but it sure isn't the kind of thing that is gonna get my kid through college.

 

[sventvkg]

I've been providing sound services now for closing on 9-10 years. I'm 55 now and I swear someone keeps adding weight to my gear because I can't be getting weaker..................right ?

NOW after all this time, work offers seem non-stop. Just when I'm looking at shutting down in a few more years (60th birthday gift?) I could probably justify buying a lot more gear and training some more help. Seeing this all work out is great but the timing is bitter-sweet.

 

Why cant you train and hire help and just run the company rather than hef the gear and do the work?

[onelife]

I'm 61 now and just have a small system with powered speakers that I can fit in my Jeep. There are other guys around who are still buying gear and I let them handle most of the work but I usually drop in on them to see if I can help and sometimes I get hired to help put a system together for certain events.

 

As a guitarist, I was affected by a serious bout of tendonitis and thought I was done. Some doctors wanted to cut me because of carpal tunnel syndrome but I refused. The solution turned out to be Yoga which I have been doing for about eight years. Last summer I was setting up for an outdoor gig and I picked up a powered speaker, hoisted it over my head and placed on the tripod. The bass player looked at me and asked "how old are you?"

 

A big part of the Yoga practice is the Yogic Diet and I feel better now than I did when I was 30 but then I was recovering from being in my 20s. I have, however, ditched the Twin Reverb with EVM12s in favour of a lighter modern amp that is every bit as good as the Twin but requires zero maintenance.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

Why cant you train and hire help and just run the company rather than hef the gear and do the work?

 

If he sees what I see, it's incredibly difficult to find people motivated and who show up. This is for any job.

[Bobby1Note]

Oh man, you "old" young (55-65) whipper-snappers still got it good. Wait a few more years,,, when not only does your belt shrink, and your legs get longer (can barely put my socks on in the morning), but you just might start "forgetting" to put pants on altogether.

 

I guess at 68 (in 6 weeks), that makes me the senior citizen of this forum. Whoopteedoo!!!!

[Mogwix]

Ah I missed you guys. Had some good times here those few years ago.

 

I just turned 28 on Monday and I've just graduated college. Looking for steady work right now but I'm floating along with a few production gigs here and there.

 

It's funny' date=' I have gotten several calls the past couple of months from pro audio guys I know who asked me how I was able to get out of the rat race.[/quote']

A few years ago I was starting to get worn out from touring constantly, that was a big factor in my decision to go back to college. I hadn't done much production work while I was in school and now that I've graduated, I'm kind of at a crossroads. I could try and continue my current path but I'd have to start from the bottom of the ladder and work my way up again. I guess that's not so bad. I work with some very knowledgeable and experienced guys that I could learn a lot from. I'm just not looking forward to pushing road cases around for days on end -_-

[Axisplayer]

I'm just not looking forward to pushing road cases around for days on end -_-

 

Pushing them isn't my problem. It's the filling, lifting and emptying them that sucks the life out of me. LOL. ;-)

 

First, you were missed by us. Always like reading your posts. Welcome back to the dwindling party.

 

You absolutely did the right thing going back to college. Not even a question. In my day, college separated the work force after HS. BA/BS generally made much more money than HS graduates. Today, HS is not even enough to get in the running, and college is the requirement to flip burgers. OK, not that bad but you get my drift. No matter what path you choose, you will have something to fall back on if need be. So many people are still looking for work.

 

The road dogs that didn't plan ahead and thought they would get rich one day running FOH in the big easy chair are the ones that are suffering now that they are in their forties or older, and suffering from touring demands. Ask Dave Stevens how that is. (founder of Pro Sound Web many years ago.) He ran monitors for Heart for many years of touring (12 maybe?), George Benson, Al Jarreau, and lots of other big acts over the years. Retired from that life due to age, he went to work for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. That lasted a while, and wasn't the fun it sounded like either. If I got any of this wrong Dave, forgive me. I am running on memory from your posts over the years. Now he races go karts. I am sure the experiences he had were wonderful, but it is hard to make enough to live on in retirement if you don't have a followup plan.

 

-Stuart

 

 

 

 

[Mogwix]

The road dogs that didn't plan ahead and thought they would get rich one day running FOH in the big easy chair are the ones that are suffering now that they are in their forties or older' date=' and suffering from touring demands.[/quote']

Recently I've been doing audio production for TV, film, and broadcast events like awards shows and stuff. That world is so much different than I'm used to ... TV people move pretty slowly, and I spent a lot of time sitting around waiting for things to happen. It seemed kind of nice at first, but it's a very different type of stress. I don't think I could handle it for very long. Last week I did 100 hours in 7 days straight. Hell, even on tour we have days off!

 

[dboomer]

So I just received my Medicare card! I retired from being a live sound provider about 15 years ago and only do a few briefcase gigs and only if they look interesting. I moved on to manufacturing and I walked away from that about a year ago.

 

Me... I'm putting the band back together and my rock fantasy retreats.

 

http://www.take2rocknroll.com

[agedhorse]

Some of us road dogs did think about the future, I know a number that are doing well. Of course percentage-wise it's still pretty low.

 

In a field of work that is so physical, you really have to learn to pace yourself and take care of yourself so that you can have a good, long, successful run at it. I did 35 years, and like Don, I just retired from all but 2 major gigs a year (with as many as 7 systems, mostly flown, kind of like a short tour and a 30 day tour) and took on a senior engineering position with Mesa Boogie as my new day job. I always did some design engineering, most recently with one of the Fender companies, just to be sure I stayed current with the industry.

 

Staying current... I think this is probably the most important aspect of being successful. Even if you have the chops, if you have fallen hopelessly behind, there will be others better qualified for the alternate work.