Musician Wages.com Forums » General Musician Topics

1. 

   bartend7
   

   Hi,
   I'm a new user and was wondering if anybody working on ships has run into a trap of not being able to get out. I know this may sound silly to some but I started 3 years ago as a showband musician just to do one contract and have been doing it ever since. I even got rid of my apartment in NYC and now feel totally trapped since i don't have a place to live. I'm also feeling that i'm not as marketable anymore except for cruise work. If there is anyone out there who has run into this problem and more importantly overcome it I would love to hear about it.

   Posted 7 months ago #
2. 

   David J. Hahn
   

   The best advice I was given when I was leaving ships was to chain myself to something sturdy on land for about 6 months after I got off. The transition back to land life is, in some ways, even harder than you think it's going to be. But you gotta do it. You don't want to be on ships for 30 years.

   It's going to take awhile to get contacts again on land. And right now things are pretty touch and go with the recession. But there's no easy way to do it, you just gotta do it. Chain yourself to something sturdy so you don't go back out.

   One piece of advice - don't rely too heavily on contacts you made on ships for work on land. For whatever reason, for me at least, that does not work at all. Guys stop playing when the get off ships, probably because they can't make the transition. If you want to keep playing, you're going to have to find new contacts.

   Posted 7 months ago #
3. 

   bartend7
   

   thanks for the reply.... And i know i just have to do it. I could easily go back to nyc and start bartending again (hence the screen name) but I'm just afraid the same thing will happen to me where I get so caught up in that crazy night life that I stop playing. Atleast thats what happened in my early twenties when I moved there and it's basically the thing you talk about in one of your moving to a big city blogs.
   Thanks again. Sometimes it's nice to hear something from an outside source even if you already know the answer. Hopefully I'll see you in New York sometime before 2025...lol

   Posted 7 months ago #

Reply

You must log in to post.