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Old 10-22-2009, 11:44 PM
 
67 posts, read 158,114 times
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Pittsburgh musicians are finding it more difficult to make a living

Buzz up!
By Kyle Lawson, FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 12, 2009

The live music scene in Pittsburgh is hardly music to Tony DePaolis' ears.
At 27, he says he counts himself among an endangered species -- musicians who support themselves solely by performing.
Moderator cut: shortened, copyright protection


Pittsburgh musicians are finding it more difficult to make a living - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Last edited by Yac; 10-23-2009 at 01:50 AM..
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Old 10-22-2009, 11:49 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 103,185,348 times
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Is this situation unique to Pittsburgh or is this a common theme in other cities?
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Old 10-23-2009, 12:23 AM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
9,982 posts, read 13,762,061 times
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Pittsburgh________________ are finding it more difficult to make a living

Sheesh, you could fill that blank with plenty of glamorous , hit or miss livelihoods...

poets
English majors
realtors
stand up philosophers
comedians
lap dancers
performance electricians
Investment bankers

No different out here.

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Old 10-23-2009, 05:26 AM
 
43,011 posts, read 108,049,575 times
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Quote:
Nick Pawlenko, manager of Peter's Pub in Oakland, says he prefers booking bands, but DJs are easier.

"I only have to count on one person instead of four or five," he says.

Pittsburgh musicians are finding it more difficult to make a living - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Sounds like bar owners find musicians to be unreliable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiddlehead View Post
lap dancers
Funny!
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Old 10-23-2009, 06:07 AM
 
129 posts, read 408,287 times
Reputation: 43
Don't most musicians have a hard time making a living? That's not unique to any particular area of the country!
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Old 10-23-2009, 07:14 AM
 
315 posts, read 665,295 times
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we need more buskers

and not that guy that knows 10 seconds of every famous tv show theme on sax

that should be part of the new city and/or state budget
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Old 10-23-2009, 07:55 AM
 
Location: Morgantown, WV
1,000 posts, read 2,352,080 times
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yeah this is kind of stupid...it's not necessarily easy to make a living for ANY musician. Even music-oriented/low cost of living areas like Austin and Nashville are going to be tough. You just can't really do that type of thing anymore, not everybody is going to pay you to walk into their establishment and start jamming. It's too tough anymore to live a life like that, I mean it's nice to dream and you can do so if you're in a semi-big act that tours around a good bit, but not so much as a local musician unless you have some amazing connections and a whole city backing you...which would lead to bigger things anyway. Job by day, music by night...yeah, but not so much the whole music only thing.
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Old 10-23-2009, 08:04 AM
 
Location: Boardman, OH
602 posts, read 2,034,241 times
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Not to mention, has Pittsburgh ever been a city known for a vibrant music scene? I mean outside of Donnie Iris and Christina Aguilera, (who I really don't care for), its tough for me to think of any act from the Burgh that really made it big and had a decent career. Heck, even Donnie Iris has a day job!
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Old 10-23-2009, 08:34 AM
 
Location: Morgantown, WV
1,000 posts, read 2,352,080 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by truemuck View Post
Not to mention, has Pittsburgh ever been a city known for a vibrant music scene? I mean outside of Donnie Iris and Christina Aguilera, (who I really don't care for), its tough for me to think of any act from the Burgh that really made it big and had a decent career. Heck, even Donnie Iris has a day job!
Bingo, other than that you have Perry Como, The Clarks and Rusted Root as common knowledge. We really don't have the music scene of near by cities like Baltimore/DC, Philly, I guess Cleveland(I'd debate that...so overrated), or possibly Columbus(emerging due to OSU influence). I mean, we HAVE a music scene that's doing alright and we do have some nice smaller venues...but what city of this size doesn't have that much? The article makes it sound like we once were some kind of musical hub or something, which to my knowledge, has never been the case to begin with.

Point in case,I'm going to see the Silversun Pickups play a show this Saturday.......nice band, tons of buzz around them nationally, critically acclaimed, arguably the biggest "Indy" rock act at the moment and an "it" band for sure, and able to play upscale joints in any city. I think they've recently played the Roseland Ballroom in NYC, Austin City Limits in Austin, Gibson Amphitheatre in LA...and when they pencil in Pittsburgh for their tour...we stick them in "The Chez-a-Rena" skate rink-thing out in Cheswick, haha. What the heck is that all about, the "Chez-a-Rena" for a band like that? Why?
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Old 10-23-2009, 08:42 AM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
9,982 posts, read 13,762,061 times
Reputation: 5691
This is actually a tough issue. It seems that you can judge a society to some degree by how it supports art.

However, I heard once on Prairie Home Companion that the desire to perform has very little correlation with the ability to do so, and too many people forget that.

Now after a half dozen pints I can sing a pretty spirited version of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," but noone has ever offered me money to do it.
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