foreign entertainers.

And a pub owner charged local bands were unprofessional and charged too much in the off season.

Mr. Roger Pedro said he had no qualms about hiring local bands but there were not enough who played the type of music the Rum Runners' crowd enjoyed.

"Calypso is nice but it won't work in here,'' he said.

Mr. Tony Brannon's band had proved popular at the Front Street pub, but he could not hire them year-round or patrons would get bored. And other local bands he had hired had failed to show up on time.

Mr. Pedro, who hired a Canadian band for the summer, said he had advertised for two weeks for a local band but no-one had applied.

He added he did not know why Mr. Brannon was protesting because his band was not out of work and, he claimed, his drummer was a non-Bermudian.

Mr. Dexter Flood, known as Fudge, said local musicians were their own worst enemies.

And he said there was room for both foreign and local entertainers in clubs and pubs on the Island.

Mr. Flood is a professional photographer who has played percussion in a number of bands.

On Monday around 20 people, including members of bands and individual performers, handed in a 30-name petition to the Labour Ministry.

They were led by Mr. Brannon, a former nightclub owner, who regularly employed both Bermudian and overseas musicians.

But Mr. Flood said: "I have worked both here and abroad as a percussionist. I know what you have to do.

"A lot of Bermudian musicians have other jobs and other things to do and are just not willing to put in the rehearsal time. They cannot cut the mustard.''