:Being in music as a full-time profession is the topic here, and in continuation from earlier posts. Many people have attended a large-audience concert in life. They are aware that attending a Cher performance means buying a ticket to the event. They realize that the artist is going to perform songs of her choice. She could choose different ones from what an attendee wanted. However, the possibility of making a “request” and having her change the show for the attendee’s delight is next to impossible. The concert goer just might complain on the way home that “Half-breed” was left out. It is their right to complain, but, it is Cher’s right to do a show she wishes to do. Then, there are venues where one can go, and there is a musician or musicians performing. There is no ticket to purchase, and the performer could be background to billiard games, TV, eating meals, dart throwing, and people socializing. The difference in the latter situation and the Cher concert is staggering. Both are music engagements, as far as the performers are concerned. But, the aforementioned scenario has only people who came FOR A MUSICAL EVENT. The latter mentioned scenario has MOST of the people in attendance there for something OTHER than a music event. Just as most folks have attended a concert of a major recording act, such as Cher, there are countless people to attend a small room with music as an afterthought. My purpose in this post is to highlight that most people have never attended a small room performance by a non-major recording act, that is a CONCERT. In other words, a show with a ticket purchase, with an artist not on mainstream radio, and an audience of 15-150 people. A small, intimate setting, but having an attentive audience who are engaged in the music AND NOT BILLIARDS, EATING, DARTS, TV, and loud socializing. There are artists who make a living touring full-time and doing these types of performances. I did it for 20-plus years, only for the Covid-19 pandemic to wipe it out. To have a full yearly schedule of these kinds of concerts to play, again, would entail things that show no sign of re-emerging. Promoters/presenters of these grassroots level shows would need to believe that the audiences are ready to step back out and attend, as before. These concerts were held in clubs, coffeehouses, small theaters, houses (“house concerts”), art galleries, bookstores. The dates were put on the books (scheduled and contracted) months in advance. Oftentimes, booked a year or more in advance. Clusters of these shows had to be strung together for any artist, in order for a tour run to be in place. Each show would be a different city, hours drive apart. The clusters, or runs, would have to be in heavy volume on the calendar in order for the artist to be working full-time. Anything less than 185-200 days a year on the road would signify more of a part-time musical person, not a career entertainer. One has to eat, living expenses have to be met. My living required about 200-240 days on the road per year, or I would be looking to make supplemental income somehow. The year of 2022 shows no POSSIBILITY of getting all the needed dates on the books, audience numbers trusted to be strong, dollars to be counted on for income. The whole scene was decimated, ground to a halt in early 2020 (March). Artists like me saw most of 2020 ripped away, then all of 2021 ripped away. 2022 starts off with no encouragement of promoters/presenters stepping up to book shows. Early 2023 would need to be getting booked now, or fairly soon, to operate under the old way of doing things. I see no significant efforts going on to re-generate house concert series’, folk and Americana series, any kind of concert bookings for grassroots artists who draw 15-150 person audiences. The people who have seen Cher, or talked over a bar band, never knew of these shows to begin with. I am speaking a foreign language to those folks (most people). The others, those who know what I am talking about, try to be nice and give words of encouragement, such as “hang in there, you will be back on the road at some point”. Really, do they know that? How do they know that? Where does the info come? Shooting from the hip? I have yet to see the return as possible. I have to see what I see, based on the 41 years of being in music professionally. I wish all artists and musicians who are full-time career folks, I wish you well. I root you on, I do. Many of you are friends. I am in a warehouse now, 8 months running. It pays. I eat. I landed a weekly Saturday night gig. Music is now my supplemental monies for the first time.There is no cover to get in. There is pizza and beer. There is loud socializing. There are massive screens with football games on them. And, amongst all of that, there is me blasting out songs from a 1,500 song repertoire! On New Year’s Eve, in my hometown, I had a total of two people who know me to attend my performance. The married couple, Mike and Louisa, were there for hours. I did two of my songs (Boss is Watchin’ and Little Rock) just for them, as they know my records. The rest was cover songs of other artists. I am back there again this Saturday night. I love singing, love performing. However, I cannot see a night of doing a Mark Stuart concert again, performing all my material to an attentive audience, to an audience who bought a ticket. I cannot see that happening again. My warehouse job is now my livelihood, and I cannot book tour dates far from home. I have to be at work on Mondays. And, for now, I have to sing the classic rock songs on Saturdays. No, full-time touring is not on the horizon. I do not care what the part-timers tell me on FB. But, what do I know? I am a part-timer.