Sausalito? For Tips? C’mon!
I had a rehearsal for my second Saturday gig last night. Amazing Evelie Säles brought over a great keyboard player, “Brett”. with James Bianchi, percussionist and myself. Evelie wants to do Brazilian tunes in Portuguese. She’s got a gig at an Italian restaurant in Sausalito. Great.
I’ve played restaurants in Sausalito before. These have all been paying gigs.
Sausalito lives on the tourist trade. It’s a Bay Area destination. Visitors love to check out the boats, the house boats, the quaint little shops on the Bay. It’s also known as an art destination. Perhaps not as famous to the arty as Tiburon or Carmel (not on the Bay!), but a destination for art, yes. And, of course, for a day and evening Sausalito adventure, there are plenty of good to very fine restaurants. What else would one expect of the food destination San Francisco Bay Area? This little burb rakes in the cash during Summer tourist season. Even the parking meters charge something like $3/hour! Sheesh.
So, imagine my surprise when Evelie said, “We’re playing for tips”. Huh? At her last gig at this place, she told me that it was noisy packed. It’s the height of tourist season, after all. Her draw, the folks who actually made the trip just to hear her sing, couldn’t hear her, it was so packed and loud. (complaints, complaints). And, this restaurant can’t afford a few hundred bucks to pay the musicians? What?
What are these restaurants thinking? Destination tourist, packed, raking it in. And you don’t have money for entertainment? What’s wrong with your budget, folks? Or, are you just in the business of taking advantage of whomever you can? Golly, I’m shocked.
I can understand a break-even cafe at the edge of North Oakland/Berkeley paying tips and food. Sure – labor of love for art’s sake. I’m down; happy to donate my time to the cause (or any worthy cause, for that matter) But playing for Christopher Waters at The Nomad, a vision of art and right livelihood coming together with hip audiences who actually listen, love, support; that’s an entirely different matter than some packed tourist restaurant in Sausalito, with patrons over-talking the band.
C’mon. At the latter gig, the musicians are part of a scene to draw folks in and keep ‘em drinking (expensive) wine and drinks, right? I know the drill. I’ve played a lot of restaurants in my career.
Sure, there are lots of players who’ll play for nothin’, even in the Bay Area. But diva level singers who’ve played Lincoln Center? Nope. And, as my publicist and last biographer both like to say, “critically acclaimed magic brook”. This isn’t the space to toot my own horn, I don’t think. Still, I’m not exactly an unknown local player any more.
And, I’ll be coming from my gig in Palo Alto, The Palo Alto Festival of the Arts (3PM, Ramona Stage). Guess what? I get paid for that! Surprise surprise. (Oh, I love the gig. Wonderful audiences, I sell CDs, I get to play my tunes, my way. Lovely way to spend an afternoon, absolutely. It’s my 3rd year)
What is this business coming to? Pay your players to the level of money being taken in. Musicians, we have to stand up together. Sure, play for tips at the local cafe because you love the owner and the concept. But there IS a difference between that and tourist restaurants. These should be paying gigs. That’s only right and proper.
Hope to see you Saturday at one or both of these gigs: magic brook in concert in Palo Alto. Check the calendar for details in Sausalito.
cheers.
/brook