For me, this time of year between the end of the AFL season and the beginning of the Cricket season is absolutely wonderful.

As a professional musician who plays in pubs where there are huge flatscreen televisions pumping out some kind or sport in all directions, I don’t have to compete for the attention of the punters so much.

That’s a refreshing change.

Personally, I don’t understand the concept of pubs with so many TV’s as it seems to defeat the whole purpose of going to a pub in the first place.

I see it time and time again, a pub full of people but no-one talking to each other. All eyes are glued to the sport, or the TAB or whatever else is flashing up on the multitude of screens around the place.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike sport. I just think there’s a time and place for everything.

Lately I’ve been experiencing a disturbing trend of being hired solely as a defacto jukebox politely playing in the background while the punters are watching TV or, rudely texting on their mobiles.

It seems that a lack of ambient background noise/images is the enemy and I have no idea why.

Another thing I’ve noticed lately is that no-one claps anymore (not even politely) and trying to communicate to people through live music is becoming harder and harder to achieve.

I don’t want to sound like I’m having a whinge, I really love what I do, playing music for a living and of course with every occupation there are good days and not so good days to experience.

I get that.

However, I just want live music to be seen (and heard) as something that makes a difference in peoples lives rather than a functional accompaniment to watching sport on the TV.

Is that too much to ask?

Oh well, AFL is over for another year and Summer is just around the corner. Things are already looking up.

Peace,

Corey