Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries
Saturday Evening Movie Thread 09/07/2024 [TheJamesMadison]
Hobby Thread - Sept 7, 2024 [TRex] Ace of Spades Pet Thread, September 7 Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Sept. 7 The "rules-based international order" vs. free speech? The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival Daily Tech News 7 September 2024 The Bric, The Brac, The Craic & All, Lets Call It An ONT TGIF Cafe The Week In Woke Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Intelligence Analysis: Kim Approved Sinking of South Korean Ship |
Main
| A Perspective On Why Some of Us Consider Obama Insufficiently "American" »
May 23, 2010
Artists, Quit Your Day Job! (tmi3rd)So, after Nancy Pelosi's remark that artists can quit their day jobs to concentrate on being artists, I figured I'd weigh in... as an artist who's walking away from the profession towards something more normal and relatively more lucrative. Don't worry, the link is to MKH's column in the Examiner. More below the fold... As many of you know, for the last ten years, I've been a professional opera singer, doing the equivalent of playing in the AA and AAA minor leagues of the profession. I'm now trying to get into medical school (great timing, I know). So why punch out of the business? A few reasons: for starters, even though I love what I do as a singer, it sure as hell doesn't pay for itself in the minors. Now add on a wife, a delightful dog, and a brand new baby, and life just got more expensive. One of the things that doesn't get mentioned doing most of the jobs in the arts is the copious amount of time one spends on the road. To give you some idea, 2008 was my most successful year (8 gigs in TN, TX, AR, WI, LA, NY), and I spent well over six months on the road. And, of course, to hell with the expense- being on the road that long with so little time home makes me feel like an absentee husband, to say nothing of being an absentee father. There are more, but this post isn't supposed to be another episode of This Is Your Life. Bottom line- I made more money than I've ever made in the business, and still had to maintain my day job in TV news in order to keep the bills paid. That's not unique to me- I have more than a few friends who sing at the Metropolitan Opera of New York who still have to keep their temp jobs in order to pay the bills. Many singers I know who are world-class have given up on living in NYC (even though that's where all the auditions are) because it's just too damned expensive. So how does this apply to health care? It varies from gig to gig. For instance, on Broadway, you have to belong to Actors' Equity- one of the few unions that actually accomplishes anything- and they provide health and unemployment benefits. These are the requirements to get into Equity- you'll notice that it's rather subjective, as you typically can't audition for Equity work unless you're already Equity! If you belong to AFTRA (that's the TV/radio union) or AGMA (the completely useless opera singers' union), you can buy your way into Equity. So if you're already playing high AAA ball or in the majors, you can solve a lot of your problems that way. Roughly 5% of performing artists do this or have the option of doing this (and that includes the orchestral and stage hand unions). Unfortunately, if you're playing in a band, if you're a visual artist, and so forth, that isn't really an option until you crack into the majors. Take away the need for benefits and what are you left with? Well, there's still the problem of paying rent... transportation... food... clothing... and all of life's usual expenses. So what can you realistically expect to make on solid minor league gigs? The typical contract in opera, for a three-week rehearsal, two-performance engagement for a major role in a AA-level house is about $2K-$3K (we call those Level III and IV houses). That's for a title role (Figaro in Barber of Seville, for example). So let's say you're on the road for three weeks and home for one... in order to keep your bills paid, you'd pretty much either have to go from one big gig to another (and believe you me, you have to be be the flavor of the month to do that), or have a day job at home. That's before even thinking about getting sick, having a retirement fund, or anything else. And, as any of you who've lived in NYC know, that just ain't enough money to live on. So what? Well, it's just another cheerful fisking of the BS that spills out of Nancy's mouth. Yea, verily, she knows not of what she speaks, even being from Berkeley. Not that any of you needed help to figure that out- it just helps to keep firing facts at the problem. Post approved by the AoSHQ High Command. Open Blog has NOT been declared. | Recent Comments
exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT:
"210 I guess I collect books as well, actually took ..."
Learn More: "Really when someone doesn't know then its up to ot ..." Florida Peasant : "Not a collection but I wish it was. When I was a k ..." Skip : "WE HAVE A MOVIE MARQUETTE ..." Sharon(willow's apprentice): "So cool SiD. Take a picture so I can see in Texas. ..." Skip : "Popcorn time ..." Notsothoreau: "I see a lot of card collections at the local aucti ..." hart: "actually took 1 back to used book store yesterday ..." Reforger: "1950's construction techniques are a world away fr ..." screaming in digital : "And I gotta watch that Matchbox car vid. As a kid ..." Notsothoreau: "I am supposed to get a portion of my aunt & uncle' ..." Smell the Glove: "Thx T.Rex. I collected sports cards as a kid and I ..." Recent Entries
Saturday Evening Movie Thread 09/07/2024 [TheJamesMadison]
Hobby Thread - Sept 7, 2024 [TRex] Ace of Spades Pet Thread, September 7 Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Sept. 7 The "rules-based international order" vs. free speech? The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival Daily Tech News 7 September 2024 The Bric, The Brac, The Craic & All, Lets Call It An ONT TGIF Cafe The Week In Woke Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |