When I left the band I was playing with back in March, I knew things would be awesome with the new project some of us had planned. I had no clue.

Back when I started with this band, I guess I was just happy to be "gigging" again. The $$ wasn't very good - three digits was considered "good money". I was learning a bunch of tunes that I hadn't played before, so things were always "new".

Months later, the money hadn't gotten any better, and despite the best efforts of some of the musicians, the same tunes were still on every show. Not even much in the way of quality from a production standpoint. This was really getting old - and fast.

Thinking back, it took over three years for a tech job with a tribute band to get that old. As a musician, I just knew I had to be worth more than this. In the band, there was one with considerably more experience and plenty of "celebrity" who agreed.

He and I set about the business of putting together our own project (can't even really call it a "band"), and when the situation finally came around, we made our break. The tribute band took me back while we worked to get things started, but tonight, I'm declaring the new project a success. The first gig is coming up this Saturday (for money our old band only DREAMS of), and the interest we've had from potential clients has been absolutely STAGGERING. Plain old three digits is now considered "minimum wage", and there's talk of getting a LOT more.

Big-time celebrity performers (some with a GRAMMY or more) have expressed interest, and I'm wondering how I'm managing it all. I mean if you told me five years ago that I'd be performing on the remix of one of the most popular tunes of ALL TIME, I'd have told you you were nuts, yet that's exactly what I'm being told now. If you told me a year ago when I got back into performing that in a year I'd be talking about making TEN TIMES what I was making with that band, I'd have told you you were NUTS ... yet, again, that's what some potential clients are talking about BEFORE even having to negotiate (yeah like Im going to negotiate with THAT offer ...).

It's an awful lot to digest at this point in my life (late 30's ... kids ... tenured teacher ...), but I've never been so excited about a GIG.

RWR