(This was originally published in June, 2010, but it went “missing” for reasons not understood, so it has been republished this date)

I had mostly a happy childhood. Among the few agonies I can remember is piano lessons. My mother wanted me to take the lessons. I didn’t want to spend time practicing. Mother finally gave up.

Fast forward I won’t tell you how many years. I’m in Las Vegas. I’m not a DJ kind of person; I like live music, the music I personally had no patience to produce. In Las Vegas I can, at a reasonable price, hear talented musicians any evening I want. Colleague Linda Evans often points the way to live (vs recorded) music in these columns. Yes. Yes. Yes! As one MC recently said, “Everyone on this particular stage has a pulse.”

Not long ago, I talked with a Las Vegan who seemed to know a great deal about local entertainment. He mentioned something about successful shows and the fact that each musician might only cost a producer $100 to $200 a night. What? After all those years of practice, that’s what they are paid?

Last week, I had occasion to be around a group of working Las Vegas musicians. Gradually, they got to talking about their lives.

What I heard was that being a musician in Las Vegas isn’t for the faint-hearted.

The best jobs? Corporate or convention jobs are good, though the recession has affected those prospects. Otherwise, playing for a long-running show like one of the Cirque shows or a Broadway musical residing in Las Vegas provides the most money and stability…for as long as the show runs.

Do the best jobs require drug tests? Many do. Yes.

One native Las Vegan mentioned that as an 18-year-old here when casinos had lounges, he could work as much as he wanted. “I earned more then than now,” he said, “but if you have the music in you, you keep at it anyway.”

What do musicians earn? On the best jobs, maybe $1500 a week plus benefits.
On the worst, maybe $100 a night (no benefits) “and if you’re really hungry, even less than that”. A day’s corporate or convention work may typically mean a $200 to $300 paycheck, and only occasionally as much as $600 or $800. “Dolly Parton is known for taking good care of her musicians,” one noted. To this particular group, some are members of the local musician’s union, but most of their work comes from “who you know in town”.

From one musician: “Last year, my daughter earned three times what I earned, and not to be immodest, I’m very skilled at what I do. My daughter learned on the job; she’s a cocktail waitress.”

I’ve heard economists talk about the future of Las Vegas and the need for education to “develop skills for the future.” Yet this town has plenty of talented musicians, many of whom have studied music from a very young age and are arrangers and composers as well. Should it be that in the “entertainment capital of the world”, musicians are considered a disposable commodity? One of the group stated the obvious, “When times are bad in casinos, the first thing to go is the entertainment.”

How do musicians survive? “When you’re younger,” said one, “the musician’s life is exciting. You don’t have many obligations. People want to hang with you and take care of your bar bill. But after that phase is over, you frankly don’t need friends in bars; you need decent-paying jobs to support a family.”

Though age discrimination is supposedly against the law, as with other professions, musicians also feel that older sometimes means “too old to hire”; hence the sudden appearance of hair dye.

Most of the musicians in the group I was with do something else to supplement their earnings. One of the group is his church’s musical director; another teaches music to private students, and a third does voice-over work that in one assignment pays him more than in a week of “gigs”.

Is Las Vegas the place to be as a musician? “It used to be,” they agreed. One felt it was still a “better place to be than most” but making a living was hard. A third said that “these days” he definitely would not encourage a child of his to become a musician (or, I added, a shrimp-boat captain or mortgage banker).

About medical insurance? One noted, “I visit the gym six times a week and try to not get sick. Medical insurance for me and my wife would be $1100 a month and we can’t afford that.” He added he had high hopes for Obama-care.

And yet? The musicians in the group each said they love their work….love it. They have to hustle for jobs, but a variety of work is actually fun. They have the skills to give back to others as well, as in the many benefits held in Las Vegas with musicians donating their time. They can’t imagine life without their music.

Last week, MGM Chairman & CEO Jim Murren reported that some changes are necessary at CityCenter. (We locals all knew that, didn’t we?) So after Aria improves its service and brightens its casino and after useful signage and benches have been installed in the Crystals retail area, how about some cool jazz? Some daily mini-concerts – in the shopping area — by Las Vegas’s best musicians would be sophisticated and “worth the trip” to CityCenter. Serve fancy affordable lemonade, add chairs and let the musicians show their stuff.

And oh yes, pay those talented Las Vegas musicians for their lifetime of skills.