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saturday jan 3 2004 13 economist sunsuntribune diversions advice play bars for love of music not money performers say by martin derbyshire staff writer t hey dont do it for the money although it can help pay a few bills belting out rock clas sics while warm and fuzzy singles on the hunt stumble around a tiny dance floor or testosterone- driven hockey fans pore over the highlights of the latest leafs effort may not sound like your idea of a solid saturday night but for the dozens of cover bands playing weekend gigs at local bars and pubs around york region it does they do it because they love to play we must love doing it said gord jones lead singer for the sixpiece classic rock cover band stonefinger which plays saturday nights at various venues around the region john blue entertains in bars such as the duchess of markham a lot of live acts dont play their own music now back in the 1970s and 80s bands like rush and max webster started outplaying the gta bar scene no more now people want to know every song especially considering were constantly lifting all that equip ment all over the place as well as bars in newmarket and aurora stonefinger is one of 10 bands that play regularly at the 110seat col mustards in markham manager tony hallett says they are one of the bars more popular draws we have a more mature crowd that likes the oldies and classic rock he said people def initely come for the entertain ment and our regulars dont come if they dont know the band mr hallett a veteran in the industry says times have defi nitely changed for bands in bars a lot of live acts dont play their own music now its mostly cover bands he said back in the 1970s and 80s bands like rush and max webster started out playing the gta bar scene no more now people want to know every song mr jones had a group in the 80s that played original music he and others in the band still write their own stuff but save those tunes for the basement rehearsals and possible publish ing contracts you can get a lot more work doing covers especially in york region he said basically were like a juke box to tell you the truth ive gone to see other bands sort of checking out the competition and those bands not playing covers arent getting the crowds playing covers makes it a lot easier to book gigs and the thing is i like the songs were playing like the sly and the family stone classic you may one day hear at a stonefinger show the band is really a family affair mr jones sings and his father gord jones sr is on the drums ron bisset plays keyboards and his son alex bisset is on bass guitar mr jones brother in law dwight graham plays guitar and tom meures a friend from work plays guitar and saxophone with six members nobody in the band has been able to quit their day job and live off what they make but mr jones says the 100 a piece they usually pull in isnt that bad weve played gigs for no money not that we want to but we do it because we love to he said to make a living youd have to play pretty much every staff photosjoerd witteveen night and most bars have bands on just fridays and saturdays the truth is we would have to work just as hard as any full time job lugging all that equipment around and im not sure id want to john blue doesnt mind lug ging his gear around and is a little more serious about music as a fulltime job the acoustic guitar solo artist a 12year markham resident plays smaller pubs and bars around york region as often as he can up to four nights a week i cant complain i work only four hours a night he said can you make money sure if youre good not to sound pompous but its true the bottom line is im doing what i love and my father always told me do a job you like and youll never work a day in your life and thats the way i feel a lot of younger musicians seehappypagel3 ryan mason game on five favourites small fraction of great games the past year was actionpacked at the video store but what was the best game of the year here are five personal selections- no 1 project gotham racing 2 6499 for the xbox console its an actionpacked racing game in which you perform moves such as 360s while racing to earn kudos points and even tually get better vehicles this game is also compatible with xbox live so you can race against people around the globe no 2 ratchet and clank 2499 for playstation in this action adventure game you take on the role of a squirrel like creature and use more than 50 dif ferent weapons and cool gadgets to defeat your enemies no 3 metroid prime 3999 for the gamecube console in this action rpg you take on the role of a cyborg named samusaran you must now defeat the evil metroids and other space beings and kill all evil no 4 mario golf toadstool tour 6999 for gamecube in this game you golf using your favorite mario characters including yoshiandwario no 5 voodoo vince 4999 for xbox in this action game you take con trol of a magical voodoo doll named vince who has to save his master madame charmaine from an evil bad guy who tries to take her zombie dust ryan mason 13 is a video game enthusiast a yrng newspaper carrier and president of his schl council snapshots o frequen travelled areas check out the trafficcam today jyorkregtonxsw z jl york regio