Puff piece

[Gnarly He Man]

This article was in a magazine that came in the local Sunday paper.
I should use it to try to get gigs.

But lately I am soooo lazy .  .  .

[Age]

Look at you!
You handsome rascal, you!
Busta foot bro!
@ge

[Gnarly He Man]

First step--make a list of all the nursing homes!

[brorat]

Really cool article Gary!  We’re all proud of you. And…I’ve never played professionally but I sure do agree with your love of music👏👏👏

[Ed McCullough]

What kind of weekday music jobs did you find and make for yourself? The nursing homes sound like a great start. What do those nursing homes lead you to?

[Ed McCullough]

Did any nursing homes actually pay money, or was playing in nursing homes a way to get yourself known?

[Gnarly He Man]

I was enlisted by an acoustic bass player to join his group of musicians, the steady gigs started in 1992 with 5 nights a week at the San Diego Zoo--he wanted me to play harp in the rack, and that started my trip down the rabbit hole.
The concept was costumed themed entertainment, and we had several outfits--notably Pirate and Safari, but also the "Thurston Howell III" look.
He was an agent! And so folks would call him for entertainment.
At one point, we played at LegoLand, never got the Disney call.
Corporate gigs, played a prison one [Christmas] eve. Lots of gigs on the Star of India.
We eventually parted ways, he still does his thing.
https://youtu.be/BKX9mw9jyrk?si=g-TUDm2occQBibKS

[Age]

Did any nursing homes actually pay money, or was playing in nursing homes a way to get yourself known?

"Known" maybe to the staff, and hopefully they'll tell other nursing homes, and like that, but the folks IN the nursing homes have even worse memories than we do. Heck, they forget you as soon as you leave the room.

[Ed McCullough]

I was wondering if the patients' families, staff and administration people of the nursing nursing homes mentioned Gary elsewhere.

[Gnarly He Man]

Never got a referral from playing old folk's homes.
But it was a good experience.
Always got paid.

[Ed McCullough]

Gary, Now you are writing about retirement homes, not nursing homes
I once played at a nursing home where my mother was. I mainly used a fake book that my sister gave me in 1979. That was in a section of the nursing home devoted to people with dementia. The clientele loved it.
 Did you play in both nursing homes and retirement homes? How long did your performance is generally run?

[Gnarly He Man]

My wife is a nurse, she worked for many companies that dealt with the geriatric population. Last company was Brookdale--she was management.
My favorite concept is the CCRC, Continuing Care Retirement Community.
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/basics/info-2017/continuing-care-retirement-communities.html
These have different areas to allow folks who experience changes of condition to stay in the community.
I have played a variety of these facilities.
Skilled nursing audiences are different than memory care folks, and independent living audiences are their own thing.
My steady gig at this point is playing for free every Saturday for an hour at the new Wellness Center that was completed after many years of effort. It is three blocks from my house, and I jumped on it like a dog on a bone.
Most of the folks for whom I first played didn't come there to see me! But it does exist as a social club of sorts, along with a fabulous heated indoor pool and a great exercise area.
https://www.healthylivingnorman.com/
They make mention of my appearances as "Live music in the lounge", but it's been me for over 6 months.
I think the time is right for me to try a little harder to promote myself, the latest piece of puff is gold. I have renewed my membership with Gigmaster (now called The Bash) https://www.thebash.com/one-man-band/gary-lehmann and plan to use that to book some gigs. Maybe nursing homes, possibly restaurants and bars, I might hit up some hotels.
The Bash is for people seeking talent for their event, not sure if I will get much directly from them, but it's convenient to host my materials there--they actually have my original stuff from 12 years ago in place, never took it down, but the service of referring potential clients had been deactivated. No inquiries in the couple of weeks that it has been back in place, but I am not surprised.
I have added a few things, including this article, but much work remains to be done. One thing that would be useful is a new video.
It's just great to be back in the saddle. Only so many days left--"Memento mori" . . .

[Ed McCullough]

Gary,. Thanks for your long informative writing. I wish you success. When you get your next gig, let us know and we'll send a plane around the country, pick up some slide Meister folks and will drop in and listen.

[Age]

I use to play at a local nursing home, along with my pastor and a couple other folks, every Wednesday, (did it for a couple years actually) but I quit when then they instituted a certain medical "preventative" thingie that I won't get. I do miss it though. 

[smojoe]

Our groups, The Ft, Myers harmonica orch., and the City of Palms harmonica band, played nursing and retirement villages. We quit around 2015 when it became obvious that ALL the people in the homes were YOUNGER than all of US. Bada Bing.
joe kid

[Age]

Our groups, The Ft, Myers harmonica orch., and the City of Palms harmonica band, played nursing and retirement villages. We quit around 2015 when it became obvious that ALL the people in the homes were YOUNGER than all of US. Bada Bing.
joe kid

Bwaaaahahahah!
If I go to a nursing home, they prolly ask me if I'm there to play or stay.

[Gnarly He Man]

Was just checking out It Had To Be You—100 years old!
Marone!

[Age]

Mah-rrone!
Almost forgot that. Ain't heard it since I wuzza kid.

[Gnarly He Man]

I keep learning new songs—but half of them are older than I am!

[brorat]

I keep learning new songs—but half of them are older than I am!

Me, too, Gary!  But ... it's constantly getting harder to find "new old songs" older than I am

[Gnarly He Man]

I have doing this one for a while—I like to play it and then quiz the audience to ask if they have heard any of the songs.
My background track has the harmony sequenced so when I sing, you hear two voices (the MIDI notes trigger the harmonizer).
https://youtu.be/frWTBRzNT5M?si=N57Olv-b46kZNRQw

[Ed McCullough]

Gnarley:         I am ignorant. Why do you show a link to this 45 RPM record? Is the 45 RPM record a commercially made backing track? If so, what music do you play when you play the music on that record in the background?

[Gnarly He Man]

That link is to YouTube—a performance of a medley from Homer and Jethro. I play it with a MIDI “track” I created in Band in a Box.
It’s Americana, perfect for the Fourth of July!

[Ed McCullough]

Gnarley: Please pretend that I understand nothing. Please explain your last writing, phrase by phrase. When you wrote that you play it with a midi track, do you mean you play it, and also a midi track OR do you mean you use MIDI to play the music that you took from the 45 RPM record? And then do you play harmonica at the same time?

[Gnarly He Man]

That link is to YouTube—
OK, the 45 record is on a site called YouTube.


a performance of a medley from Homer and Jethro.
The record is a medley by Homer and Jethro.


I play it with a MIDI “track” I created in Band in a Box.

My background track is a MIDI sequence that I constructed with the use of Band in a Box, a computer program that enables you to create a background track.



It’s Americana, perfect for the Fourth of July!

Americana is music reflecting the American lifestyle.

[Ed McCullough]

Gnarley:  Is the end result that you use the music that we hear on the 45 RPM record as a background while you play the harmonica?

I'm I'm not interested in the mechanics and interaction of band in the Box, MIDI, other programs or amplifiers. My question is: do you use the music that I hear from the 45 RPM record while you play the harmonica?

[Gnarly He Man]

No.
It's just the recording that I heard, liked, and learned.

[smojoe]

Magnagia America.

solomente mio