Joy B Band at the Ice House Cafe

Saturday, September 27th, the Joy B Band will take the stage at the Ice House Cafe in Herndon, VA, from 7:30pm till 11:30pm. The food is great, the drinks are cold, and the band will be rockin'. We  will play a quiet dinner set at the beginning of the night, and then we will open it up for the rest of the evening. The band:  Joy Bodycomb, songwriter, lead vocals, and guitar; Dave Long, lead guitar, and vocals; Steve Carey, songwriter, bass, and vocals; and Chip Clemmer, drums.

Gigs this weekend 4/19-4/21/2014

Friday, I'm with the Hall Brothers at the College Park, MD, American Legion from 8pm till 11pm. Saturday, I'm with the blues band, Bad Influence at the Dogfish Head Ale House in Gaithersburg, MD, 9pm till 1am. Sunday, I'm back with the Hall Brothers at JV's Restaurant in Falls Church, VA, from 9pm till 12:30am. It's going to be a fun, but busy weekend. Combining the gigs with my weekend teaching schedule, it's going to be very busy. However, it's nice to be working regularly.

The Joy B Band is taking the month of April off, except for rehearsals and writing. We will be back in the saddle again starting in May.

Two new gigs

Friday, March 21, 2014, I'm with the Hall Brothers at the College Park American Legion in College Park, MD, from 8pm till 11pm. It's going to be a great night of country music and old time rock n' roll. Saturday, March 22, 2014, I'm with the Joy B Band at the Winery at Olney, in Olney, MD, from 7pm till 10pm. Come on out and enjoy the shows.

Joy B Band at Potomac Grill, Friday March 14th

This Friday, March 14th, the Joy B Band will be performing at the Potomac Grill in Rockville, MD, from 8pm till 11pm. Come on out and enjoy the show.

Joy B Band February 14, 2014

The Joy B Band will be performing tonight at the Stein Room in Leisure World, which is north of Wheaton, MD, on Georgia Avenue. We start at 8pm and end at 10:30pm. It's going to be fun.

Professionalism

How often do you hear the idealistic diatribes from some musicians about how they are going to become rock stars? There has been a half truth perpetuated about the music business for years that leads the uninformed into idealistic delusions of grandeur. I call it a half truth, because every so often someone beats the odds and becomes successful in this highly competitive industry just by being at the right place at the right time. For those privileged few, talent and hard work aren't necessary. However, for the rest of us to have successful music careers, we actually have to work at it.

First of all, let's not discount the element of luck. Music is a very competitive business, and yes, there is some degree of luck regarding success in this industry. However, as Thomas Jefferson said, "The harder I work, the better luck I seem to have." In many ways, you can create your own luck to a point by effectively preparing yourself for, and managing yourself in this industry. However, in most instances you won't get a shot at making a living in music, unless you do your homework and take the necessary measures to prepare yourself for a very competitive and demanding career. If you want to become a professional musician, you are going to have to be professional, and in today's world, that means developing professional musical, as well as professional business skills. Also, don't forget your interpersonal communication skills. No one wants to work with a jerk.

I have been in this industry for a long time and have been in a variety of musical situations. My paid musical career actually started when I was in high school back in the 1970s. I was doing a few gigs here and there playing for parties given by a fellow high school classmates. I also made money playing in pit orchestras for summer stock theater productions and dance recitals. I played in, and acted as drummer, contractor and band leader, for a pep band supporting a very short lived professional soccer team in Hartford, Connecticut, called the Connecticut Wildcats. I played in club date bands outside of the college's musical curriculum. Through out the college training phase of my musical development I always playing in my various school performing ensembles whether they were jazz bands, concert bands, chamber,  or symphony orchestras. When I transferred from BGSU to WESCONN, I was also playing with a funk band that did clubs and private parties. The bulk of my professional career was spent in the United States Air Force as a drummer/percussionist. I spent 26 wonderful years as a musician in the United States Air Force. During my first assignment at McGuire Air Force Base, I played with the concert band and with the jazz ensemble. In 1979, I won an  audition for the Air Force's premier musical organization, The United States Air Force Band, in Washington, DC. My assignments were as the drummer with the Singing Sergeants Combo, and then as an auxiliary percussionist with the concert band and symphony orchestra.  When the position became available, I auditioned and won the job with the Air Force's premier country band, Silver Wings.  While I was the drummer for the United States Air Force Band's Silver Wings, I was also the component's Assistant Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge, Director Of Operations, and Public Affairs Representative for varying periods of time.

Currently, I'm doing some rock, country, and blues gigs on a regular basis with the Hall Brothers Band, and the Joy B Band. as well as being a regular sub with the renowned  blues band, Bad Influence. I am able to do this, because I have a pension from the US Military that allows me the luxury of not having to hold down a full time job. Staying in until I had earned that pension was part of my musical game plan.

None of the musical decisions I've made over the years have happened haphazardly. I had a goal, and used a flexible game plan to achieve that goal.

 As a side note, if something happened to me where I could not play music anymore, I could still participate in the industry by continuing to teach private students, as well as use the skills I acquired in the Air Force to go into artist management and/or marketing and promotion.

While I love the art of music, I have a very realistic view of the profession and consider music a business first. Don't get me wrong. I haven't lost sight of the artistic side of the music industry. However, I don't consider it "selling yourself out" if you lean toward the commercial side of the house. That's the musical product that most people seem to want. If a commercial musical product is offered competently and with an artistic presentation, it's not selling out. It's facing the realities of this industry. Every industry faces the same thing. You will not stay in business very long if you are offering something that the paying public doesn't want. Also, musical fashions change. If you are not willing to bend a little here and there, and keep up with the changes, you are going to be left by the wayside. Consequently, I won't turn down a job, just because I don't like the style of music. I know people that have that mindset, and they either have no money, have really good day jobs, or a spouse or significant other with a very good day job. You have to be prepared for, and willing, to play just about any kind of job that comes down the pike. Every new musical situation you do exposes you to a new crop of musicians. The larger your sphere of contacts, the more opportunities will be sent you way...providing of course, that you show up prepared, on time, sober, and with a cooperative attitude.

There is an attitude among many part-time musicians that music is a big party, where you all get together in the guitarist's basement, drink yourselves into a stupor, do bong hits all night long, and then "rehearse" the same songs over and over until they sound just as bad as when you first started playing them. Yet for some reason, they think that they are going to become rock stars, live in huge mansions in the Canary Islands and be sleeping with five women at once every night while on tour. They finally get enough material to play a four hour gig. They then start making the rounds to the clubs with a blatantly obvious home made press kit stuffed in a torn manila envelope with the closing clasps broken off. This state of the art press kit includes a horrible tape or CD with the list of songs scribbled on the label with a magic marker that was recorded in someones cellar with truck noises or a jack hammer in the background. There is also an out of focus or crooked picture with everyone squinting at the camera, and resumes and bios that read like they were written by a third grader with Alzheimer's. There is no attempt at showing any modicum of professionalism—and they wonder why they are not getting any gigs.

Purchasers of music; club owners, convention bureau managers and promoters, talent agents, cruise ship entertainment directors, festival talent coordinators, etc., are all very busy people. Some of them get hundreds of press kits per day from bands and entertainers looking for work. You can be the greatest band in the world, but if your marketing materials are second rate, you are not going to go anywhere. Yes, marketing costs money, but it is money well spent.

First of all, make sure that all your marketing materials have a consistent look. Coordinate the look of the business cards, folios, logos etc. so that there is a cohesive look. Keep the same look at the band's Internet site.

Use only good quality folios and mailing pieces. Use a white hard sided mailing envelop rather than manila or brown. Make sure that cover letters and resumes are laser printed on the best quality bond paper you can find. Letterhead with the bands logo is also very impressive. If you don't think you can write a professional level cover letter or resume, hire a professional to do it.

If you don't know someone who can take a professional photograph, Use a professional photographer. Yes, it will cost money. Under US copyright laws, the photographer owns all rights to the photograph. You are going to have to negotiate editorial and self promotion rights from that photographer, and that could cost some money too . Insist on a figure up front, and make sure the necessary rights are in a signed, written contract. Verbal agreements won't hold up in a court of law.

Make a professional quality demo CD, and have quality reproductions, including jackets made. Make sure the CDs are labeled. Personally, I like the ones where the information is burned right onto the disc itself, rather that having a label on the CD, but either one is fine as long as it looks professional. You can either spend the money to make a full length CD that you can sell at gigs, or do a press kit demo. The demo is what I recommend you do first. All you need are 30 seconds with a board fade at the end of 5 or 6 songs. You should be able to knock that off in a recording studio in less than two hours.

If you are interested in doing corporate functions, contact the convention bureau of the city where you plan on marketing yourself. Get a list of the various conventions coming into town. Contact those organizations and find out who the talent purchasers are. Contact them and send them your press kits. Follow that up with telephone calls. Conventions tend to book a year in advance, and they tend to stay with entertainment that they have used in the past. However, if they are dissatisfied with that entertainment, they will be willing to look at new bands for their functions. If you do a good job for them, you will be their first call for future conventions.

I used to work for a contractor that also provided entertainment for weddings. He used to buy booth space at various bridal shows. He could provide entertainment from solo pianists to small groups, string quartets, solo harpists, and up to an 18 piece big band. He had a loyal stable of musicians that he could plug into various products, and as he expanded his business, he was always looking for new qualified talent. In the 1990s he closed down his business and moved to Europe, where he opened up shop in Austria until he retired a year ago.

If you are interested in working in clubs, make an appointment with the owner to drop off your press materials. Follow up with occasional phone calls. In a lot of instances, perseverance will eventually get you a gig in a club. With clubs there is a downside. You might have to work for the door in the beginning before a club owner is willing to commit finances in your direction. If you don't bring in people, you are not going to make any money. If you treat a club owner well, they will spread the word to other club owners. They all know each other, and tend to network behind the scenes.

No matter what kind of venue you are playing, professionalism is the order of the day. Show up on time. Don't look like slobs. Some gigs are casual, but make sure you know what casual means. Are jeans and a T-shirt OK, or does casual mean "corporate casual," which means a nice open collar shirt or polo shirt and a nice pair of pants. Hawaiian shirts and khaki pants will work in most situations if you are not sure, and they are extremely comfortable to play in. Many wedding and convention gigs call for either a dark suit or a tuxedo. Make sure you have both and they fit you well and look good. Dry cleaning and pressing work wonders. If it's a black tie affair and you are playing background music for cocktails or music for dancing after the formal part of the function, you are going to be expected to be in black tie. Dark suit or Tuxedo also doesn't mean that you wear black tennis shoes. If you believe the misconception that you can't play in anything other than sneakers, either get out of this business or grow up. It's no harder to play in dress shoes than it is in tennis shoes. Also, make sure that your shoes are in good shape and if they need shoe polish, shine the damn things.

Personally, I never drink a drop of alcohol at a gig. That is my own rule for myself. However, there is nothing wrong with having a couple of beers or drinks over the course of the evening. Don't consume alcohol to the point where it even begins to affect your ability to do your job, and yes, it is a job. You are getting paid. I also don't feel that you should be doing drugs before or during a gig. If you want to get stoned, do it after you get home. One band I played with a few years ago had a no alcohol policy until after the gig. I had no problem with that. I think it's a good idea. I was working with a bass player a year or so back who would start drinking beer as soon as he arrived at the club, and would have several beers over the course of the evening. By the second set, it was starting to affect his time. By the third set, he was all over the place. Having to fight his time and keep things steady made gigs difficult to say the least.

If a club provides a meal as part of the compensation package, don't go whole hog and order the best steak on the menu, unless the owner or manager says it's OK. A bowl of soup with a burger and a salad makes a nice meal, and doesn't put the club owner in the difficult position of having to tell you that you can't have the 30 oz New York Strip for free. Many private functions I've played provide what are called vendor meals. Rather than feeding the entertainment the meal that the guests are having, they provide something along the line of a club sandwich with chips or fries, and maybe a salad. You won't go hungry. Don't complain. Someone else is paying for it. I've had my share of club sandwiches with soggy potato chips, and it didn't kill me. One place I've played, the owner of the club gives you a 25% discount on any menu item. It's OK to order what you want in that situation, because he's made it clear that you can have anything you want at a discount. He's still making some money, and you are getting a break on the price of the food.

Finally, I want to dwell on preparing yourself musically for a career in professional music. The hard reality of the situation is the days of the seventeen year old self taught musician walking out of a record company office with a million dollars in a briefcase are over. If you are going to have any chance at all of either working full-time or regularly part-time in this industry, it's best to have some formal musical training. A university degree is not necessary in this business. However, it's not a detriment either. If you earn a Music Education degree, you can always fall back on teaching in the public schools if things don't work out for you as a performer. If your ambitions are to teach at the university level in the first place, you are going to have to stay in school long enough to earn a doctorate degree. Very few schools will look at you without that type of sheepskin. Even though most military musicians have college degrees, there were a few of us that didn't. The handful of us that didn't have degrees still had years and years of formal musical study through private lessons and some college level courses in music. For me, not having a degree has been a mixed blessing. If I hadn't left college after my third year, I never would have ended up studying with Sonny Igoe in New York City, who taught me what I needed to pursue a career as a professional drummer. Without his expert teaching, I never would have developed the chart reading and technical ability that was needed for the career that I chose. Sonny was the one that encouraged me to get experience in a military band. He had done the same thing during World War II. My initial plan was to join a service band for four years, make some contacts and gain experience, and then move to a big town like New York or Los Angeles and try my luck at breaking into their respective music scenes. Once I realized that I was not quite the material for the New York or Los Angeles "major leagues," I decided to stay in the Air Force and have a very rewarding career playing "AAA ball." On the other side of the coin, if I had earned my Bachelor of Music Education degree, I would have had the security of having a college education, and been entitled to the career opportunities that are available in the music education world. However, I wouldn't have had the playing opportunities that have come my way. I wouldn't have had the training in commercial music skills that are necessary for professional level commercial music work. I would have had decent classical percussion skills at best, which wouldn't have been good enough to land me an orchestra gig. In an ideal world, I could have had them all, but we don't live in an ideal world. I'm not complaining. I had a very respectable career in the Air Force Band, and I still have a very respectable career as a freelance musician. I can keep a roof over my head, food on my table, and clothes on my back and still have some money left over from being a musician. Not many musicians can claim that.

Keep yourself focused on what you want to accomplish as a musician, and then pursue whatever you need to do to reach those goals. Take lessons, go to school, network with other musicians, market yourself, and be professional in your dealings with other musicians and the public. To paraphrase the Thomas Jefferson quote that I eluded to earlier, "work hard so that you can get lucky."

Joy B Band at the Winery in Olney, MD

Greetings all:

On February 1, 2014, the Joy B Band: Joy Bodycomb, Dave Long, Steve Carey, and Chip Clemmer, will be at the Winery in Olney, Olney, MD, from 7pm till 10pm. They don't serve food except for a cheese platter, but they allow you to bring in your own food. I recommend the Mexican place next door. It's going to be a great night of music. Stop on by if you have a chance.

Joy B Band at the Ice House Cafe, January 25, 2014

I will be with the Joy B Band at the Ice House Cafe on Saturday, January 25, 2014, from 7:30 pm till 11:30 pm. This is a great band. We released our first CD in October, and it's doing quite well. The Joy B Band: Joy Bodycomb, vocals and rhythm guitar; Dave Long, lead guitar and vocals; Steve Carey, bass and vocals; and Chip Clemmer, drums. Come on out and enjoy the show.

Hall Brothers at the New Deal Cafe

This Friday, November 29, 2013, the Hall Brothers will be performing at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, MD, from 8pm till 11pm. The Hall Brothers are: Chick Hall, guitar and vocals; Chris Hall, bass and vocals; Chip Clemmer, drums. It's going to be a great night of music. Come on out and enjoy the show.

November gigs

Sorry, it's been a while since I last posted. Here's what is happening in my drumming world.

11/15/13, I'm with the Hall Brothers at the College Park American Legion, from 8pm till 11pm.

11/17/13, I'm with the Relative Miners at JV's Restaurant in Falls Church, VA, for the country showcase. We start at 5pm and run until about midnight. There is quite a line up this year. Come check it out if you have a chance.

11/22/13, I'm with the Joy B Band at the Potomac Grill in Rockville, MD, from 8pm till 11pm. We will be performing the material from our recently released CD, "Just Livin.'" The band is sounding great. People that come here the band, can't believe the level of polish and sophistication that has become, deservedly, the hallmark of the band.  Make your dinner reservations now. The Potomac Grill has some of the best food in the DC area. By the way, rumor has it that the CD, "Just Livin,'" is going to be nominated for a Washington Area Music Association award (a Wammie) next year. If you would like a copy or a digital download, go the the band's new website, www.joybband.com and there is a link to CD Baby, where you can  make your purchase.

11/23/13, I'm with Pat Stephens and the Hall Brothers, along with Tommy Aldridge on pedal steel, at Sapphire Restaurant in Laurel, MD, from 8pm till midnight. It's a great show of classic country and western swing. Sapphire is known for its excellent Indian food. Come on by and enjoy dinner and a show.

11/29/13, The Hall Brothers will be at the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, MD, from 8pm till 11pm. The New Deal is one of the premier music venues in the DC area. It's more of a listening club than a dance club. The bill of fare is Middle Eastern food, and they have micro brew beer and fine wines. Greenbelt, MD, is a museum piece in and of itself. It was built in 1937 as a planned community for government workers as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The people of Greenbelt are very community oriented, which leads to the success of the New Deal Cafe. You won't find a more appreciative audience anywhere.

Come on by and enjoy these shows. You won't be disappointed.

Gigs This Weekend September 13, 14, 2013

Friday, I'm with Bad Influence at the Rio Concert Series, which is in the Rio planned community in Gaithersburg, MD. We play from 6-9pm.

Saturday, I'm also with Bad Influence on the 7th Street Stage for the Frederick, MD, "In The Street" festival, from 2-3pm.

Saturday night, I'm with the Joy B Band at Branded 72 Bar B Que in Rockville, MD, from 9pm till midnight.

The Audition and Military Bands

This post applies equally to both drum set and percussion. Also, it may involve both, depending on the job opening that you are pursuing. What I'm going to talk about today, is being prepared to the best of your ability when you decide that you are going to attempt to gain musical employment.

An audition is an extremely stressful job "interview" for musicians. Most professional auditions are highly structured events. There will be a standard repertoire list, and more than likely, you will have to sight read, and/or play some music on the fly if it's a drum set audition. Make sure you know the required music ice cold! Most candidates that are eliminated after the first round, are eliminated, because they were either not qualified for the position, or had failed to prepare the required music adequately.

A symphony orchestra audition is going to include playing a variety of excerpts from the standard repertoire, as well as very difficult solos on snare drum, timpani, and marimba. These solos will be designated in the audition music list, and they are required. There are no substitutions allowed.  Most major and mid-range symphony auditions also require a movement from one of the Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas, performed with four mallets on marimba. A premier military band is going to have the same basic requirements as a symphony orchestra. A regional band audition is going to be more rounded in regards to including drum set as well for a percussion position, and requiring percussion skills for a drum set position. The standards for passing a regional military band audition are slightly less stringent than they are for a premier band. However, they are still very demanding. You can't take a military band audition and slouch your way through it. You won't get the job. I'm going to concentrate most of this post on military auditions and requirements, because that is my background. I spent 2 years in a regional band, and 24 years with a premier band,  the United States Air Force Band in Washington, DC.

There was a time when there was a huge difference between the standards for a regional band and a premier band, but that gap has closed over the past 20 years, give or take a few. The reason is that there are far fewer military bands world-wide. Consequently, the military music programs have become much more selective in their hiring.

When I first joined the Air Force's music program and was assigned to a regional band, there were only a few musicians in the band that had college degrees. This was the norm in all of the regional bands, which back then were called field bands. Most of us were high school graduates or college drop outs, like yours truly. On the other side of the coin, the vast majority of the musicians, with few exceptions in the premier bands like the academy bands and the Washington, DC bands, were staffed by musicians that had degrees from the country's top music schools like Julliard, Eastman, and New England Conservatory. Many of them had advanced degrees including Doctorates. While the "lifers" in the regional bands were overwhelmingly proud of regional band members who were able to win an audition with a premier band, there was an inherent cultural reverse snobbery within the culture of the regional bands. Having a college degree was looked down upon. If you had a degree, you kept the fact low keyed and to yourself. If you didn't, the old timer Senior Non-Commissioned Officers that ran the shop, would single you out for extra details doing things like picking up trash and cigarette butts outside in the pouring rain, scrubbing floors on your hands and knees, and cleaning toilets after duty hours on a Friday afternoon, just to put you in your place. Today, many of the musicians staffing the regional bands also have advanced degrees. Most of them, however, are graduates of state university music programs, rather than the top conservatories. Today, however, there are an increasing number of  members of the regional bands that are graduates of Eastman, Julliard, New England Conservatory, and Curtis Institute, and this is becoming more common all the time. This is your competition. There was a time when you could land yourself a regional band job right out of high school, if you were a good enough player and could meet the minimum skill level requirements. Very few musicians with only a high school education will win, or even be invited to, a regional military band audition today.

As a side note, most of those Senior NCOs that ran the regional bands were in fact highly skilled musicians themselves, and they had maintained the necessary standards to keep their jobs and had earned their respective promotions by being good musicians and effective managers. They had won their jobs during the Viet Nam war. Thousands of highly skilled musicians were auditioning for the military bands at that time, in order to avoid the draft. During the Viet Nam war, there was very little difference in the skill level of the musicians in the regional bands and the premier bands. Only the best were hired. With the downsizing of the military band programs over the past 30 years, things have come full circle. Admission standards for the military bands today, are about the same as they were during Viet Nam.

The audition music list for the various service bands are posted on their respective web sites. For the premier bands, the audition committee will provide you with the required music for both a taped and/or video screening audition, and the live audition for those that are invited to compete in person. Most applicants are rejected during the tape or video audition phase. It's the same with the preliminary video audition for a symphony orchestra position.

For some jazz band auditions, there might be a list of songs that are required, but I know from experience that if you are auditioning for a big band, the entire audition is going to be sight reading charts. You need to have great reading chops.

A professional commercial band audition will usually have a required music list. The bigger the gig, the more structured the audition is going to be. At the top of the heap, most auditions are by invitation only. The big gigs don't advertise.

How you conduct yourself and how you look are also part of the audition process. For most orchestra and military band auditions, the first few rounds take place with the committee behind a screen. They will drop the screen for the last round of the finals. My suggestion is to wear a suit and tie, or the female equivalent if you are a woman. Look sharp! That's part of the audition process too. You just might make it to the final round. Remember, it's a job interview. For a jazz band or rock band audition, casual dress is usually acceptable. Don't go overboard with trendy clothing. I've seen folks show up for a blues band audition wearing a bowling shirt, sandals, and dark glasses. That stinks of cliche, and it won't earn you any points from the committee. They will think that you are a jerk. In addition, I would also wear a coat and tie or suit to a college entrance audition. It shows that you take the process seriously.

Be careful what you say when you are in the waiting area with the other auditionees. When I was with the Air Force Band we used to plant some of our personnel in civilian attire in the waiting room to observe the various candidates. People thought the "plants" were auditioning too. That was the idea. When it came time for the finals, those observations would be considered when choosing the finalists. Some of you might think that this is "dirty pool," but keep in mind that you are considering someone for the possibility of a 20 to 30 year career. They have to be able to get along with their co-workers while working long and irregular hours, and spending multiple weeks on the road in very close quarters, when on tour.

Here's another thing to keep in mind too. Yes, you are being hired for the possibility of a 20 or 30 year music career and the military, for the most part, has job security. However,  if you fail to maintain standards you will be let go. You can't become lazy after you are hired.  I knew several folks in a regional band who failed to reach their 5 skill level or 7 skill level, which are necessary benchmarks for promotion, and were forced to either separate from the service at the end of their current enlistment, or cross train to a different career field. They would have minimal chances for promotion too, because the fact that they had failed to reach their 5 or 7 level would be well documented and noted in their annual evaluations. That paperwork would be included in their promotion packages that were sent to the promotion boards.

I knew a few members of the DC band who were determined to be no longer qualified for their positions. They were forced to either separate from the military, or take a demotion and an assignment with a regional band, with of course, the requisite career ending bad paper. Most chose to separate. In addition, there are a lot of politics in any of the bands. If you get on the wrong side of the wrong person, they will find a way to get rid of you. There are ways to fight the accusations, but even if you win, you will have lost. They will make you miserable for the remainder of your career, and their will be enough bad paper in your file at that point, that will preclude you from any chance of another promotion for many years.

Having covered all the negatives of the military band culture, I want to reiterate that winning a job with a military band is a very rewarding experience. Spending a 20 or 30 year career in the service bands is a great way to be a professional musician. It's a great place to make your contacts for when you get out. For some, it's a wonderful stepping stone career. Many members of the military bands go on to bigger and better things after they leave. I know a bass player that I was stationed with at McGuire Air Force Base, that is one of the top, first-call, jazz bassists in New York City. I teach with a drummer/percussionist, who is one of the first call jazz drummers in both Washington, DC, and New York City. He was stationed with an Army band in Brooklyn, New York at one time. I was stationed in the DC band with current members of the San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Philharmonic, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and some of the top touring commercial acts in this country. There are many former and retired military band members that staff the house bands in the casino show rooms in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Others have gone on to top teaching positions at the university level, while others have become high school band directors or other positions in the music education industry. Others like me, stayed in until retirement, so that we would have the self-earned safety net of a pension and benefits, allowing us to pursue our dreams as free-lance musicians, 20 or 30 years after dreaming of becoming  free-lance musicians. It's called delayed gratification, and I'm sorry, but there is nothing wrong with that. You can't always have everything yesterday. It's called paying your dues. Sometimes you have to work your way up, and earn your position in this industry. Over the years, I've known quite a few military musicians that couldn't wait to get out, and then once out, tried to get back in, but were not rehired. Sometimes the grass is not always greener on the other side of the street.

New Gig: Opening for the Nighthawks

This Thursday, August 1, 2013, the Joy B Band: Joy Bodycomb on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Dave Long on lead guitar and vocals, Steve Carey on bass, and yours truly, Chip Clemmer on drums, will be opening for the renowned blues band, the Nighthawks, at the Main Street Music Festival Kentlands, in Kentlands, Gaitherburg, MD. We play from 6:30pm till 6:50pm, and the Nighthawks take the stage at 7:30pm. We will be showcasing some of the original material from our soon to be released CD. We are honored to be opening for such a great band. Come on out and enjoy the show.

This Friday, the Joy B. Band will be playing at the Winery In Olney, which is in Olney, MD. I have two bands that I play with on a regular basis. The Joy B. Band is one of them. The other is the Hall Brothers Band. Both are real quality bands. Joy's first CD is almost complete, and she and the rest of us are real excited about this project.