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Biography
Pro musician and style writer for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith.
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Location
Fort Pierce, Florida USA (almost paradise)
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Interests
Music, travel, music, photography, music, reading non-fiction, music, science, --- did I mention mus
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Occupation
Professional, career musician with a sideline of writing aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box and M
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Notes_Norton's Achievements
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Agreed.
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How do I leave a long term originals band?
Notes_Norton replied to lems16's topic in Backstage With the Band
Sadly, being in a band is a little like being in a marriage in that there is no way to get out of it without hurting somebody's feelings big-time. But you gotta do what you gotta do. When you are absolutely sure you need to leave, get them all together, and lay it out straight. Tell them you can't do it anymore, wish them luck, and say good-bye. Notes ♫ -
OK, worst groupie story. I was on the road in the 1960s in the Midwest. Mama, in her late 30s, wanted the entire band, she would even shine our shoes and iron our clothes before the show, and shared erotic favors with us all. We had a week off between gigs, as one ended on Sunday, the next gig started on Monday in a town too far away, but the money was good. She invited us to stay at her farm for a week. Husband was there, didn't seem to care, and she asked me to sleep with her 14-year-old daughter. That's when I was outta there, along with the rest of the band. I admit the daughter was cute, probably wasn't a virgin, and I was only 19 or 20 at the time, but there are some lines I've always refused to cross (1) currently married women and (2) underage girls. OK, this thread can go to sleep again if you want. Notes ♫
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I was a side man (sax for hire) with a band in the late 1970s. No worries, until I showed up at the gig, and new people were there. The band that hired me got fired, and never told me. I had to chase them down to get my money. But for the months before that, it was a carefree gig. Show up, do my job, and get paid. The lead was trying to be a Spanish cross between Jimmy Buffett and Elvis Presley. He was talented, but I think lacked taste. He ventured into dangerous territory with girls who came with dates from stage, and that peed off the regulars. I never found what got him fired. I never heard from him again. Notes ♫
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I expect my bandmates to be honest, whether they are complementing or criticizing me. But with a criticism, please make it specific, so I can fix it or defend it. Don't say your vocals suck, say instead you are consistently flat on the bridge of _________ I could say I want to be flat to add tension to that note, or say, thank you, I didn't realize that, I'll work on it. We all should be working towards an end product, and all opinions matter. Also, an occasional mistake on stage is going to happen. Ignore it, laugh about it, but don't bitch about it. Notes ♫
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Record a night, show them where they are off, and see if they can fix their own problems.
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Any cruise ship performers here?
Notes_Norton replied to Gladius Official's topic in Inside the Music Business
You're welcome. Good luck. I hope you get on, it's a good place to perform. Notes ♫ -
Any cruise ship performers here?
Notes_Norton replied to Gladius Official's topic in Inside the Music Business
I did Cruise Ships back in the late 1980s. Things may have changed since then, but this is how it went for me. Flamenco Fusion ... I'd try the ships in Miami or Los Angeles first, as many of them go to Latin American ports. We were a duo doing a variety of genres. I got my promo together, back then it was two Glossy 8x10” pictures, cassette tape, any other promo I had, and letters of recommendation from past gigs. I suspect all that should be on the Internet now. If it were me, I'd have my own website for that, and not a Facebook page. Back then there were two options, either the main stage, or one of the side lounges. I approached them for one of the side lounges and got the gig (3 weeks with options lasted 3 years until I decided to get off). The music supervisor told me which agency he works with, and gave him a call telling him to expect a contact from me. I think that call separated me from the other people trying to get on with that agency. There could have been a better or worse approach, but that's what worked for me. If you get on the ship, work the ship, this is how I made it work for us. Here's what worked for us. The first thing we did was check out all the other lounges and tried to give something different. What was missing was 50s-70s rock. Then we asked if we could be in the Introduction Show on the main stage, which happens the first night of the cruise. The Cruise Director said, “A duo never asked that before, but I'd love to have you." The first week there, I noticed there was nothing scheduled at all on the ship after the introduction, so I told the guests we are having 50s-70s rock n roll party in our lounge after the show. That got the guests into our side lounge. The guests usually go to the big rooms first, so they don't find the small ones until the end of the cruise. The ones that liked what we did, came back often during the one week, and we ended up breaking all-time revenue records on the ship for that lounge. The suits in Miami judged how good the band was by how much money was made. They figured if they were spending their money in that lounge, they must have liked the act. We got rewarded with a passenger sized cabin with a porthole. We didn't take breaks when the room was jamming, and in turn, on slow nights we made up for it. For example, on “passenger talent show” night, most of the passengers were in the main hall, so we drank coffee until the show was over. Also, be nice to the crew and all the other employees – and of course to the passengers. If you have the rest of the ship's employees on your side, life is much easier on the ship. We were new, and not as good and polished as we are now. The other acts on the ship were as good or better than us, so working the ship, trying to maximize the attendance in our lounge, worked to our benefit. We worked 3 years on Carnival, and in the early 2,000s, when a hurricane closed the places we were gigging at, we did a couple of months on Celebrity. I loved Carnival, they treated us nice, and won't go back to Celebrity. They treated all their staff poorly. Good luck, and let us know how it works out. Insights and incites by Notes ♫ -
Good for you, too, Shaster. Our season is over, we did as many as 20 per month. Good news for us: The beachside resort we've been working at for a while decided to keep us 3 days per week all summer. The owner said we made him so much money in the season, it's only fair to keep us on during the slow times, and that will make sure that we will stay there next tourist season. Another huge RV resort is keeping us on 2 days per month. So it looks like a fat summer for us. Notes ♫
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We Are The Sophisticats, and have been since 1985 Here is our first promo picture.... (I'm older than that now, but Mrs. Notes looks as good) We wanted to play jazz and blues, but then again we wanted to eat and pay the mortgage, so we collected all requests, learned the ones requested most often, and became a pop cover band. Some we do like the record, and some we put our own spin on. The bonus is from 1986 to the present, except for the COVID drought, we have never been out of work. We're back doing 15-20 gigs per month since January 2022.
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There is more than one right way to play music. I've played in orchestras, in a band that opened for headliners in concerts, in bar bands, and just about anywhere a musician can play. I even played for Motown for a while (when they were still in Detroit) and as a hired sax for quite a few recordings. I went duo in 1985. I was in a 5 piece band. The bass player quit and we were out of work 2 months. A couple of months later the drummer quit and we were out of work another month. 3 months in one year was too much, since I do this for a living. Since I play saxophone, wind synth, bass, drums, guitar, flute, keyboard synth, and vocals, I decided to form a duo with the other lead singer who also plays guitar and synth (I'm a decent conger, she is excellent and sings much better than I do). I make my own backing tracks from scratch, and until COVID, we were never out of work. In fact, we had to block out weeks for vacation, or they would get filled with gigs. Now that COVID is waning, we are doing 15-18 gigs a month, right through the slow season, and we charge more than the trios around. We play in a place where they have at least 2 bands per day, ranging from singles to 7-piece bands. We are the only group that gets 3 days per week. The vast majority get only 1. Why? Business is good when we are playing. Many of the musicians in the other bands stay to listen to us and say nice things about it. Personally, if you or anyone else doesn't care to listen to us, it's OK with me. We all have our tastes, our likes, and our dislikes. I have mine as well. The fact that we pack the house when few others can is what matters to me. Why? Because that means I have repeat gigs. By playing what the people want to hear, by making my own backing tracks that sound better than the karaoke tracks most duos use, by playing sax, guitar, and windsynth on stage, by enjoying playing with the audience (instead of to them), and by striving to do a better job at it than our competition, we work more and earn more than the others in the area. And with a duo, each person brings home more money. Nobody around here pays twice as much for a quartet than for a duo. There is more than one right way to make music, and of all the ways I tried, for the time being, this is my right way. If a better situation comes around, I'll seriously consider adapting to it. Insights and incites by Notes ♫
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We play about a half dozen Christmas songs. Traditional. When St. Patrick's Day comes around, we do 8 St. Paddy songs. Because of this, we might book 5 St Pat Parties. I give the retirement condominiums a deal if they book it on a date earlier than the 17th. We call it our 'St Paddy Melt". We do 5 Hawaiian songs, and that gets us booked at luaus. For Halloween, we do "Monster Mash" but it's losing its sparkle, so I'm thinking about "Ghostbusters". Whatever they want to hear, if we can cover it, we learn it. Our songlist https://www.nortonmusic.com/cats/songlist.html I play to an adult audience, I've been playing this audience since I was 40, and not only do we get booked more than our competition, we charge more money than they do. It's a business, and a pleasure. I like all kinds of music. The only genres we don't play are Rap and Heavy Metal. Insights and incites by Notes ♫
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I used to be like that. But I found that if I play what they want to hear, I get booked more often. We average 15 to 20 gigs per month. I play songs they know by heart. I do some like the record, some similar to the record and some an entirely different arrangement/rhythm/style. I see what works or doesn't work for my audience, and learn from that experience. Since 1985, we have never been out of work, and actually have to block out weeks in advance to take a vacation. Insights and incites by Notes ♫