[HAM] Is there a going rate?

[Gary Allsebrook]

I sold out a long time ago when a friend mentioned to me how much his
company was willing to pay for a DJ.  At first I was dragging around all of
my home stereo stuff with a Yamaha 12 channel self powered mixer and a pair
of big old Yamaha 4115's.  I wasn't very good at it nor did I have a good
library.  That took years and many equipment upgrades later - Denon, Crown,
JBL, Rane, etc. I finally have got a pretty decent business.  I have a
booking agent and also handle my own bookings.  I change $100.00/hr minimum
and more if they want lights or special effects.  Holidays are 20% more and
NYE is typically 1K minimum.  I work it myself so have no help to pay.  I
prefer to work for audiences 35 or older so they won't be too disappointed
with my library which is slow in adding the new stuff (since most of it I
can't stand).

I love being a musician though and will always keep my hand in it.  The DJ
stuff gave me the money to buy my Hammonds (B3/122, C3/145) and a lot of
other fine equipment.  I am looking forward to playing again when my cancer
recovery stuff is over with.  I play because I love it and its a gift to be
able to entertain people.  At this point in my life - notes is notes and I
don't really care anymore whether it's covers or anything else.  I just go
out there and try to put on my best show every time I can.

I also participate is a music ministry in a "mega church" (over 5,000
members) and that's really the highpoint of my career.  With such a large
population, we are gifted to have some of the top musicians in the SF Bay
area so I get to play a wide range of styles, with some really great people
which is very rewarding (they all show on time and have great attitudes to
boot). On Sundays we do a lot of secular music, carefully chosen to
reinforce the message of course.  I have had to hone my sight reading skills
for this and push myself professionally.  On a typical Sunday, I'll play in
front of 3,000 people - the same as a medium sized venue.  It's very cool.
Wednesday night services typically have 3-400 people and that's a good time
also.  We also have state of the art sound and lighting, 18kW sound system,
Shure in-ear monitors, etc.  The only thing the church doesn't have is a
Hammond.  They do have a rotosound leslie and a Voce V (?) and a couple of
Kurzweils which come pretty close.

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