Thanks for the compliments. All of our large gigs like the White Album gig are charity events so a lot of people donate their time and efforts. We could make pretty decent money if we kept it all but that's not why we do it. The core band is 7 members, Ed Turner, Jeff Johnston, Chip McDonald, Roger Davis, Jamie Jones, Tim Arbisi, and myself Kirkwood Deal. We all have day jobs and this is pretty much our recreation although Jamie and Jeff play in other various bands several nights a week. We practice pretty much every Tuesday night year round, with a couple weeks break after a big show. All the additional people are friends and friends of friends that come in 2-3 weeks before a show and add in their parts. We have a wonderful lady named Laura Tomlin who kind of heads all that up and scores out the parts if needed. The Beatles Complete Scores is a huge aid in this. Most of the horn and string players are teachers and band directors but a couple do something entirely unrelated to music.
So basically, we have a lot of people that don't get to let their hair down and play rock music very often, and to boot, its all for a good cause which is a great motivator. Plus, we get a lot of support from the community and as the date for each show approaches, corporate sponsors cater our practices. Ed has really built up a diverse network of friends over the years and its his connections along with a strong community that really makes all this work. I don't know if it would be possible in a large city. Did I mention we go through a lot of beer? Yeah, beer does amazing things.
The core 7 have done some regular gigs and those worked out well, including a great New Year's gig but of course it limits our song selections. Ed and Tim have put together promo packages and we actually have a road show coming up in April in Alabama with just the core 7. If someone wanted to hire the entire band though it would be rather pricey but we would be more than willing to consider it.