Week 2 Log Excerpt
Thursday June 18, 2009
10:00 am
We spend the after noon running some basic tasks. Depositing money into several accounts around town to pay musicians, this is Beto’s version of direct deposit. He’s always answering his phone and calling people back and checking his “agenda”. I offer to drive to a void an accident.
Friday June 19, 2009
8:00 am
We drove to the AT&T store to pick-up Beto’s new IPhone. He is excited to show off his new gadget. GPS navigation, Internet and recording capabilities convinced him to reserve one.
Issue comes up:
How do you keep your musicians happy?
Rumor has it that some of Beto’s musicians are not happy because they are not getting invited to some gigs or the better gigs. “You’re never going to keep everyone happy” but you have to make sure you throw a bone every now and then. This business is tough, you have to have work for everyone every weekend, at least four hours, or you will find yourself without musicians.”
Friday June 19, 2009
3:00 pm Talon
The Talon is when mariachis hit a local restaurant. They usually charge by the song or a series of songs, occasionally they get hired to do last minute gigs. Sometimes, Beto says, it gets really busy; you may end up playing the second you walk in until closing. Today however, it’s dead. I ask what we do when the restaurant is empty? One of the musicians says in an annoyed tone, we wait. “It’s not about how many people are in the restaurant, we are waiting for the right client”. The right clients are aficionados. Aficionados will keep a mariachi playing for hours at $15.00 a song, and you never know when one is going to walk through the door.
Tonight we hung out from 3:00pm to 10:00 pm. Not one song was played the entire night. Today was a bad night. I am told we will hit this place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night.
Saturday June 20, 2009 not worth dying for
3:00 am
Beto walks into his office, where I sleep. He has me call musicians for today’s gigs. Surprisingly, most of them are awake and ready to jot down the information. Everyone wants to know how many hours, but I was only told what time and where to meet. Mariachis know the best free places to park cars for long periods of time without the risk of being towed, getting broken into, or get ticketed. All meeting points are given nicknames to save time, for example I say “meet at the market in Salem,” which means to meet at Alberto’s Restaurant in Salem three blocks off the Market Street exit from the I-5 interstate. Beto says he did not pick these spots, but where picked over time by many different musicians, “once someone gets towed, we look for another spot”. |
