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Current Gripes
The problems with gigs in Sydney
There is no Government protection against exploitive low payments to musicians at Sydney gaming clubs
We have been in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years and notice the live music Industry in Sydney is currently at it's worst There are very few musicians that can now earn a full time living from live music performances
For a number of years from 1995 until 2006 The writer played guitar in 18 piece orchestras. One was the John Ferguson band 1995 - 2002, it was mostly a rehearsal band. In 2000 and writer joined another rehearsal band, (now the Helen Fenton band), eventually the band morphed into the resident big band at Rockdale RSL. Unfortunately the fee for playing was only $60 per 3 x hour performance, in a couple of years their fee was increased to $70 per 3 x hour performance, (generally 40% below the award)
Covers and tribute bands
Covers and tribute bands are finding it difficult to remain viable. Gaming clubs (RSL and Leagues) are the major bookers of this style of entertainment and are providing increasingly younger music to try and attract younger audiences (who generally support current music only) and, in the process, alienating their increasingly ageing senior members, somehow forgetting that there is 7.2 million seniors in Australia and are the largest consumers of entertainment, (cruise companies and Andre Rieu, in particular, are aware of this)
It seems Australian audiences are so bereft of senior's entertainment that they become estatic when a world renowned "king of the waltz" violin player plays "Waltzing Matilda" on his multi million dollar violin?
The public in Sydney are being misled about ballroom dancing music of the 40's and 50's
Sydney festival organizers conducted an event to try and replicate the Trocadero and the music that was played there in the 40'5 and 50's. Unfortunately their attempt at this was abysmal. The Trocadero was primarily a dance venue featuring appropriate music for ballroom dancing. The music that the current festival featured was (hip) Jazz music, not ballroom dancing music. It is galling to witness thousands of people being duped into thinking that this was the music played at the Trocadero in its time, (the writer is a gold medalist ballroom dancer)
The Australian Governments (State and Federal) ramble on about how they support multiculturalism, however this does not seem to apply to multicultural music, there are very few local musicians that can get regular work performing multicultural music, the emphasis for music entertainment in Australia appears to be directed exclusively to an endless array of rock, pop covers, hip hop and rap music
Rock music at French themed events in Sydney
A French Cabaret Extravaganza was recently held at Notes Live at Newtown NSW. It was advertised as "a musical Journey through the traditional cabarets and theatres of Paris". the event was promoted as the birth of true French Entertainment and music culture in Sydney. As it turned out one of the main highlights was a very loud rock band with two female singers singing out of tune (in French), forcing some patrons outside of the restaurant. I hope the 300 or so patrons that attended the event were not convinced that the rock band was a true representation of French music and culture
Inappropriate entertainment and music at Wine festivals in Sydney
Recently Manly Council held an event called "A Taste of Manly" featuring Australian Wines and local eateries, unfortunately the event was hijacked by a 14 year old entertainer attracting a host of 14 year old fans (at a wine festival ?) and loud bands that would have been more suitable at a raucus pub. The wine exhibitors did not get a fair go. There was no romantic music or a "La Mer" in sight which would be more appropriate for a wine festival. Unfortunately the organizers are young and don't seem to have a clue about appropriate entertainment for an event
Excessive Public liability Insurance
we recently performed at a local community jazz event with a stage in the city park. we noted:
- The organizers paid a premium for Public Liability Insurance cover
- every individual musician or entertainer paid a premium for Public Liability Insurance cover
- every individual stage hand, Lighting and Sound person paid a premium for Public Libiality Insurance cover
- all in all there were perhaps more than one hundred premiums paid for Public Liability Insurance cover for one Jazz event
Japanese products - warranties
The writer bought a professional Sony HD Camera for the bands tour of Europe, It was purchased in the USA we found the extended battery was defective and was refused warranty service for Sony products purchased overseas
The Writer travelled Europe and London in June-July this year and purchased a Yamaha YFL874 W Flute in London (Australian dealers were asking about $17,000 for the same flute locally). The flute has defective pads and the high Eb is sharp, It's a disgrace to find this on a high end product, we found Yamaha Australia were not interested in looking at the defective product to repair under warranty
The dealer Sax and Woodwind charged us VAT and gave us no assistance in claiming a refund for a non resident of Europe and UK, we have not received a refund on the VAT
Be warned, if you are a world traveller, it our experience that there is no warranty when you buy Sony and Yamaha products outside your country of residence
Airlines excess baggage for musicians
The writer traveled to Europe in June to conduct a promotional tour of France, Spain, Italy and England. The tour involved air travel: Sydney to Paris with Qantas connecting with Air France. Return trip: Paris to Sydney was with Air France connecting to Qantas
We (two persons) took two pieces of musical equipment (Accordion and Guitar) and one bag of personal effects,, making our check in luggage three pieces, (1) large suitcase (with accordion inside) 20 KG, (2) small bag with clothing 12KG, (3) guitar 8kg, a combined total of 40 KG which was below the allowable luggage weight by our Qantas airline. On the return trip via Air France the allowable check in luggage was two pieces (1 piece per person). Event though three pieces combined was the allowable weight, we were stuck with an excess baggage bill of $170 for the third piece
There was also a problem with the laptop computer, it had to be contained within a regulated cabin bag (zipped up) we were not allowed to carry it separately or in an open cabin bag, you were only allowed 1 cabin bag per person
Be warned! It is our experience, Air France requires the allowable check in luggage weight to be contained in 1 piece of luggage per person and laptop computers cannot be carried separately to your cabin bag