Written by JEROME Kern for Fred Astaire in the 1936 movie Swong Tome and then recorded by Bublé, Sinatra, Rod Stewart, and a bunch of others – best of all in my opinion by Tony Bennett… Just the way you look tonight

I had two shows at the same community this afternoon. Beforehand, I dropped in at a few other places. Since it’s Saturday, I didn’t get to meet any of the Life Enrichment Directors, but I picked up their business cards, talked with staff, and even played piano for residents for about 10 minutes at a few stops. One of the things I learned is that there are about 8 communities just minutes away from each other in this city close to my home. It felt productive. We’ll see if it pays off when I follow up early next week.

Okay, I have a question. I think I might know the answer, but I’d really love to hear what you guys think — or, even better, what you’ve experienced yourselves. I currently work full-time, Monday through Friday, 9–5, and I need that income for now. But my goal is to eventually transition into doing music full-time. What do you think about being completely upfront about that when I approach activity directors? Basically: "I want your Saturdays. I want your early evening spots. I want the holiday bookings and anything else that works around my current schedule." My thought is to use this time to get out there, meet activity directors, build relationships, and hopefully become one of the residents’ favorite performers. Then, when I’m getting enough traction and I’m ready to make the leap, I can hopefully pre-book a solid number of shows before leaving my day job. Does that sound like a smart approach? Has anyone here made the transition this way? I’d especially love to hear what worked — or what you wish you had done differently.

Hi everyone - I have a friend who is mentoring me a bit as I prepare for my first show (with more to come after that!) - He does his shows using backing tracks that he then plays guitar and sings on top of. He said that he did it because he felt 45 minutes of just a guitar/singer wont be entertaining enough. Any thoughts from you experienced people?

As I move forward with creating s business entertaining seniors, I am looking to create a website, a business card, and a “demo reel”. Does anyone have examples, specific to performing for seniors, that they can share? I suppose activity directors would be the primary audience.