I'm getting ready to head out for another night of singing, as I do every weekend, and I got to thinking about what price I pay to be a musician and DJ. See , my first thought tonight was "I hope my vocals hold out," and then was the dreaded thought of having to stop by the gas station to get "Gas, Gum, & Water".

The gum, not bad, too much, but not bad. $.79 The water, well, try $1.29 It's water for gods sake!

Now comes the part that cuts your paycheck, "GAS" I'm sure that everyone who is reading this has visited the pumps and you don't have a smile on your face. If you are like me, you don't even want to get out of the car because if you do then your afraid your wallet may fly open and a hose will come out and suck out everything you've got in it.

Everything you hear talks about how the price of oil is on the rise. And with the ethenol from corn that is being grown by more farmers that puts a strain on the food prices because it still has to be transported from supplier to consumer - and its not sweet corn.

I guess that it would be smarter for the farmer to grow cheaper corn and get more for it. I don't blame him for trying to make a buck. So who's going to grow the sweet corn? Thats right! Up goes the food prices. So what can you do about it? What does a band do about it? And that brings me to my point.

See a local band gets around $250 to $600 a night, depending on who and where they are. Now most bands come from another town and that involves four or five, and sometimes more band members. You add in your equipment that you have to bring and that adds another car to the one you have now. And most likely it is going to need "GAS."

Now you have two or three cars to put gas in. You have seven or more people to feed and you brake down your $250 to $600 dollars among five people. And don't think that the mic cords last forever. Something always has to break, you know, that uncalculated cost. Yep, we all have them. I know you thought you are the only one, but, nope, we all do some times. But its something we deal with and move on.

So if sometimes you wonder why a band don't go out and buy a bunch of stage clothes and special effects, or you wonder why there is a cover charge to get into a place where there is a band, it may be the gas! And that plays a big part in the price of music!