Originally Posted by
juicefree20
I think that to be fair, there are a whole lot of our Soul icons who would love to be getting gigs ANYWHERE these days.
WHether it's a trailer park or a free outdoor concert, many of those "lowly" gigs pay some pretty good money. At a time when even Soul megastars are struggling to fill half of a 3,000 seat venue or having shows cancelled outright, a lot of our stars wouldn't turn up their nose at ANY decently paying gig.
As I recall it, a few of our Disco Divas were hired to sing at parties in people's apartments & were paid rather nicely to do so & were treated a damn sight better than many big-time promoters tend to treat older stars who don't have the clout of the truly powerful.
To put this further into perspective, it's a lot easier to put food on your table when you get a lot of smaller gigs as compared to others who keep waiting for those huge gigs to come through. I know artists who believe these small gigs to be beneath them & they're still waiting for the phone to ring. Meanwhile, the folks who take these "non-prestigious" gigs are working steadily & laughing all the way to the bank.
The days of Hollywood Palace, The Ed Sullivan Show are gone & for even for many of the biggest superstars of the 60s & 70s, those humongous gigs are rapidly drying up, as are the promoters promoting these shows.
Nowadays, they're going where the money is, ala Sir Beiber, Lady GaGa & the like & perhaps a fortunate few like a Charlie Wilson.
In today's economic & entertainment climate, past glories mean little. Putting food on the table takes precedent & if Mary can get paid for singing in the shower, there's no shame in that. Pride isn't paying the bills but the receipts from those trialer park shows will.
Just another way of looking at things from a guy who has several superstar friends whom have been struggling to get shows for the last 3 years or so.
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