now that's a good question, like to know that myself
Covid seems to have killed the last, long running band, which, considering the collective skills, was a merciful act. I think. We lost the rehearsal space and there was a rift forming. Both "sides" are trying to get their own thing together but neither can get any traction. This is still going on and there's nothing like people in their 60's and 70's acting like little children. Didn't really effect me that much as I can't play much guitar with them in the first place.
Not much "work" available anyway in recent years, save the odd bar or two and parties. Sometimes, we would just throw a party and a huge crowd of friends would show up, many of them with some excellent food (a large % of latino in this particular crowd).
I never played in a straight pop music cover band (I hate that crap) where you can eke out some steady cash, and wedding bands are a thing of the past. Seems to me that if you want to play a full night out, the best bet is acoustic singer-songwriter in the local twinkle ding dong craft beer places (as Mrs F. calls them). Wanna make money? Be a DJ. That's it.
There's also open mics which could be a lot of fun if they don't insist on acoustics and you don't mind just a truncated set. I was doing that more or less weekly for the last 5 years or so with an electric and a looper or a synth or a harp and a looper. Got lots of strange looks. I stopped last spring though. There was a family issue that prevented me from going then but I didn't go back after an eye opening incident the last night at my current favorite place.
This particular open mic had a lot of talent and some locally popular semi-pros. It was a hot night on stage, some great good stuff going on in all sorts of genres. There even was this great guitar player in a Mets t-shirt playing along to backing tracks he made in a looper. Got a standing O. (well, someone got up to go to the john, but he was clapping as he stood up, or maybe just wiping stuff off his hands). The regulars all applauded each other and (mostly) listened, but I realized that almost every one of them were older while the other half of the crowd were 20-30 somethings that didn't even look up from their tables. They probably came to the bar and asked each other what the old people were doing there with guitars.
Late in the evening, the bartender, who was supposed to be a "rapper", goes up for one "song". Apparently it was a hit one because as I watched from the back of the room, every single one of those 20-30's stopped talking, looked up, turned to the stage and nodded vigorously along to the weak-ish beat (such as it was) and reacted to all the words (such as they were), including the requisite shouting at the requisite time. It was not much more than yelling "stand up and party" or something like that, no melody or underlying chords, even the bass 'n beats from the 90's have been washed out. Didn't think that was rapping but what do I know. Anyway, it was like going to an art museum and the only crowds are around van rear window stick figures. These people were really hard into this and I realized, its not our world anymore. There's no place for lead guitars, synthesizers, instrumentals and improv. No place for originals. No place for any creativity, and that's OK because we had our turn and to be truthful, didn't do what we could with them anyway. Now it's their turn to do what they whatever they want with it. It's only fair, but it leaves no room for us dinosaurs.
I'll go back to the open mics sooner or later because I miss the friends I made there, but I would give a body part just to play a show of original stuff with a really pro level backline. Maybe when I win LOTTO if any of those guys are still alive I could hire them.
The one thing I miss is jamming. Real jamming where someone called a key, a rythm guys set a beat and you made it up and changed it as you went along while trading solos. Now it seems all you get is old guys playing covers of classic rock singles.
So what do most people do now? Build elaborate home studios and produce CD's barely listenable to because we aren't trained engineers, but it does mean you need more pedals. When I get around to doing one,
I'll send it along but I'm not covering Nursery Cryme because some folks only accept the bona fide original
