My wife & I were playing for a couple of hours, last Saturday afternoon, for a community group who'd organised a fun day for the benefit of the children who lived in this large housing estate. So the kids had three bouncy castles, a variety of games had also been organised & for a couple of hours we played live music at .... sorry for them.

I'm pretty sure most of the kids would far rather have had POP music blaring at them instead, but I was delighted to get the opportunity to at least expose these kids to live music being played by real people.
In situations like that I'm always hoping to at least sow a few seeds of interest.

Anyway, once we had finished & packed up, over tea the organiser took one look at my bushy white beard, chubby cheeks & large midrift & immediately signed me up as a volunteer SANTA for this coming December!

Just a perk of the job I guess!

Now I suppose I'd better start practicing my Ho Ho Ho's

So now I'm just wondering if anyone else here has ever ended up getting a non musical job, through their playing?

Of course, what they were probably saying was, we don't like your music, but hey, next time you can play Santa!

Cheers
Dick

After hearing me play, many people have suggested I take up knitting or juggling or almost anything else to do with my hands. I assume they were admiring my manual dexterity.

I've been told I should work at a wild west theme park and get on the stage. They leave at noon.

Well, I did acquire my current job--director for the community senior center--through a gig. I was playing for a St. Paddy's Day dance at the center in 2007. I really liked the place and told the folks there that day to call me if they ever needed a director. They did so last year, and so on... I've since been implementing more dances, music, jams, etc. (but no santa-izing yet..)