Remember the heyday of the South Florida music scene?

Any night of the week you could go see a band someplace; there were a few big venues around dedicated to providing live music, and their business seemed to thrive: big stages, lights, house PA: and customers! Built-in crowds- no matter the genre: you could catch The Groove Thangs one night, Black Flag the next, and on the weekend you could catch Van Halen at the Sportatorium... a bill would be full of local original-music acts, and the Musician's Exchange might have Buddy Guy and Junior Wells upstairs. Anyone remember catching Stevie Ray Vaughn, or Living Colour, at the Button South?? The scene today is, obviously, drastically different. Rock venues are few and far between; with the DUI-risk, many are reluctant to travel to see bands, even favorites. The result is that every local, neighborhood watering-hole has live music, or karaoke on the weekends. and the bands... It seemed to me that, back in the day, if you were in a working band you were a PLAYER; in real command of your instrument, with a real sense of showmanship, and the audiences would appreciate that.

What changed?

Bands, and bar owners seem indifferent to that- the bottom line today IS the bottom line. If a band doesn't bring business with it, the band won't work much, plain and simple. And there's no such thing as 'fans' anymore- it's getting harder and harder to draw people away from their favorite watering holes, to follow a band across town, when that same watering hole offers another band that plays the same songs- regardless if they're as accomplished at it. 'Classic' rock bands are a dime a dozen these days- and a good blues ensemble, even with well-known local cats in it, has an even harder time...

It was possible back then to be a 'full-time' musician- working 4 or 5 nights a week, and today there are bands that are able to do that still. For most bands though it's a labor of love; factor in the cost of gear, advertising and promotion, agency fees, LOL bar tabs,and especially GAS, and the pay is laughable. It seems to have become a way of living in the past, or catching up on the things that were missed out on- there was that time when a lot of now-working musicians wouldn't have made it into those old rock venues.

I don't remember there being so much back-and-forth bickering, backbiting, gossip, and drama between local musicians, back in those days- but then, I don't remember much of those days. Today is my 4,084th day clean and sober- and after a show I'm wiped out; how did I manage, all gassed-up, back in those days??

Rock on - Just take a nap, first !

If you would like to contact Drew for comments he can be reached at badboy618@bellsouth.net