Gig commuting cost calculator

Building upon last week’s post about how driving expenses eat into one’s gig income, Drew McManus from Adaptistration put together an extremely cool online utility for Inside The Arts.  Type in a set of parameters (distance to gig, cost of gas,...

The real cost of driving to gigs for the freelance musician

  The price of gas rose 31.5 percent in 2007, which means that the average consumer (driving 10,000 miles a year) will spend between $5,510 and $9,095 to operate a 2008 model car. This figure is based on gas, oil, tires, and maintenance–parking or tolls are...

Realities of full-time freelancing

Click to Play Listen to a very tired Jason prattle on about the pros and cons of the freelance lifestyle in this video. Though I’m trying to keep the tone light, you can tell that the last few days have been nothing but driving, playing, driving,...

The Freeway Philharmonic

A reader recently passed along the following link about the Freeway Philharmonic, a new movie based on the lives of San Francisco Bay Area musicians, and I am amazed that I haven’t seen this before. This movie completely ties into the various phenomena that I...

Panic on the Podium

When you think about it, isn’t it amazing that a group of musicians can ever play together in a symphonic setting? Honestly, having all those different instruments, from tuba to tympani, with all those methods of sound production, from blowing to plucking,...