An old friend and accomplished musician showed up in my office this morning: master drummer/percussionist Tony “Oulabula” Bazley.  Tony was only 14 years old when he played at the Dew Drop Inn. Since then, he’s played and lived all over the world, spending his time based in Belgium for a time, and in St. Lucia in the Caribbean. He’s 79 now, back in New Orleans for a year, traveling over while he settles into his hometown again.

“I can’t believe that musicians in New Orleans are still playing for $125 a gig,” he said. “It’s terrible. I won’t play for that. I’ve played with big-name musicians and I’m worth more. Won’t do it. It doesn’t matter where I go in the world, but when people hear I’m a drummer from New Orleans, I never have had a problem getting a gig and I get paid well when I do it. But not in New Orleans.”

This is about the millionth time I’ve heard this tale from musicians who travel outside this country to play. The United States, for the most part, doesn’t value the artistic among its citizens. It’s obviously hard to make a decent living as an artist here. I know my mama always told me never to marry a musician (I didn’t listen). Or an artist. “They don’t make any money and it’s a hard life,” she said. Well that’s true (of course), but it’s very sad  that a musician who works hard can’t make a decent living.

Since so many of OffBeat’s constituents are musicians and artistic “types” I understand. It’s really hard to be creative in this country. God bless the writers, musicians, actors and artists who find partners who don’t mind working to subsidize their spouses’ creative endeavors. Those creatives are the lucky ones. Most people who have a creative bent struggle just to make ends meet, and many times they can’t and have to obtain a second or third job just to keep a roof over their heads.

In their annual report that will be released in May, Sweet Home New Orleans will demonstrate the low wages that most musicians endure in New Orleans. When you see the numbers (I’ll save that for Sweet Home’s report), it’s sort of mind-boggling: The average musician’s annual income is way, way below the poverty level.

It's sure hard to be a musician in the US.

I don’t have solutions to how we support creatives. But without music, art, theater, visual arts, craftspeople, designers, can you imagine what our lives be like? Why can’t we attach a value to what legitimate creatives contribute to us, reward them and give them financial support as a society? It’s not like this isn’t being done in countries outside the US. It is. Just google the phrase “musician support Europe” and see how many organizations exist to help musicians there, unlike in this nation. In the US, if you tell someone you’re a musician, you’re automatically considered to be a bum. Not so elsewhere; in fact, you’re respected and revered—and paid a decent wage.

It’s truly shameful and it’s mighty embarrassing to me as a citizen of the US to know that musicians are considered to be second-class citizens. As my readers know, I tend to be altruistic in my outlook.  I purposefully chose to work in an artistic field, and one of the main reasons I did so is to devise a way (OffBeat) try to raise the public’s appreciation for our music and musicians. It’s the least I can do. But it’s not enough. Musicians are not automatically worthless because they’ve chosen to walk down the creative path. That’s just not true. When you’re a creative person, you must create or you are stunted spiritually and emotionally. You live an entirely unfulfilled life. Creating is part of your DNA.

I think the creative mindset and an appreciation of what it takes to survive as an artist is a topic that should be taught in schools, and presented to government and industry in this country. We need a major mind shift to change our attitudes towards artists. It’s time.