Anyone else pay people to rehearse/jam?

[glocke]

Due to the rigors and demands of my day job, other responsibilities, and an overall decline in my desire to play music as much as I have done in the past, the days of me being in a band that rehearses or plays out on any kind regular basis are pretty much done and over with.
 
However, I still do like to jam once in awhile, and know a guitar player that is pretty much in the same boat as me...Problem is trying to find other musicians of equivalent skill sets that know the same songs we do is really hard these days.
 
As a result I have taken to recruiting some professional musicians I have met in the past to come and sit in with us, and compensate them for their travel expenses (one guy comes from two hours away), as well for their time.  Its not often, maybe once every couple of months that we do this.  It works out well as these guys know all the tunes we play inside and out and show up on time and prepared.  As a result we are pretty much able to roll through a good 3-4 hours of music with things ending up sounding really good.
 
My other musician friends think I am nuts for paying people to play like this, but given my limited free time these days I would rather spend 3-4 hours doing a productive session of jamming as opposed to spending that same amount of time with people who don't really know the tunes as well.
 
Just curious if anyone else is doing this?

[funkyjazzjunky]

Years ago a retired physician (piano/organ) hired me (bass) and a drummer to play with him at his home.  Occasionaly a friend of his (trumpet) played with us.  
 
Funny thing, his son was a better musician than I, but did not appreciate Jazz until after his father passed.  
 
VMG

[terryc]

Rehearsals are a pain but necessary if you play live and want to change the set, I am lucky that the band I am in currently all have positive attitudes and we can usually get one or two new tunes worked up within three hours ready for the next gig.
Although no one get paid we do have a fund(the spare cash left over from when we get our share) which pays for the room hire. So everyone is happy.

[lbpesq]

While I've never paid for it, I see nothing wrong or weird about it.  If you can afford it, and have fun, then there is no problem in my eyes.  I have done something similar in the past when I ran an intermittent informal Dead jam every month or two.  I put an ad in craigslist, kept the contact info for all who responded, and then sent out invitations a couple of weeks in advance.  I could usually put together a decent line up.  From session to session, different players rotated in and out.  Also, I've often picked up the bill for studio time when I was the only one who could really afford it.
 
Bill, tgo

[dnburgess]

Makes complete sense to me. It maximises the return on your valuable leisure time. Also has the advantage of allowing you to call the shots creatively.
 
I did something kind of similar a few years ago when I had a  residency on a weeknight. The gig didn't pay well - but I hired a roadie to pick up my rig from my place, take it to the venue, set it up, break it down at the end of the night and deliver it back home.
That way I could take it easy getting to the venue, walk on stage and play, have a nice time and go home.
 
Even though most of my fee went to the roadie it was worth it to make the experience much more enjoyable.

[pace]

Hey Greg!
 
Just like every other facet of life nowadays, money motivates, time is money, etc etc.... I have no problem paying 20-40 per rehearsal, if it is a means to an end, and there are gigs lined up. In those situations I think of it as an investment. After the first 1-2 gigs that investment is paid off, and hopefully you have the chemistry, dynamics, and repertoire to keep everything afloat.  
 
Currently I have a few friends that I get together w/ weekly, and another established band that rehearses the week or two before the start of the season~ neither one requires money to practice, but in the past I've played with bands that pool gig money, roll it over and then pay a little out at rehearsals just so no one blows 'em off.