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I hate canceling gigs


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I really do. Paid, unpaid, work, fun, whatever... once I commit to doing a show, it bugs the crap out of me when I can't make the date.

 

After managing to avoid the sickness that my son, ladyfriend, and several pals have had over recent weeks, I awoke the day after I returned from my weekend trip and felt the undeniable burn of a terrible chest cold. The good news is that I seem to be getting past it relatively quickly, and I feel mostly fine... no fever, coughing is starting to subside, etc.

 

However, it did leave me with a bout of laryngitis, so I currently sound like a blender full of metal shavings when I speak, and singing is out of the question. I'd been booked for a show today and was looking forward to performing, but the reality is that a) I'd really sound like crap and b) I'd end up causing more damage to my voice that would take much longer to recover from than if I'd just rest up the voice entirely for awhile.

 

So, I canceled. The booking people were nice and understanding. I suggested a few people who might fill in, which they appreciated. It's all good, and yet I'm left with that nagging feeling of having let someone down. It, in a word, sucks.

 

Anyway, I'm doing the right things to get better -- lots of water, vitamin C, avoiding speaking as much as possible. My next show isn't for another week, so I have plenty of time to recover. But I'm left with that, "Damn, I could be playing right now" vibe.

 

Crap. :(

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However, it did leave me with a bout of laryngitis, so I currently sound like a blender full of metal shavings when I speak, and singing is out of the question.

Hey, you should record a couple of tunes like that. Then you could have fun telling people what plug-in you used to process the vocals.

 

Get well quick. At least this doesn't sound as bad as the last malady you told us about. ;)

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In all my years of gigging, I only missed one gig. I had pneumonia. The guys in the band still tried to coax me into playing. They told me I didn't have to do any of the moving equipment or set-up. Just sit there and play. My fever was 103, and I felt like {censored}.

 

The sax player's friends from work (and his relatives) were going to be at this gig (very special gig for him).:cry: Made it even harder to refuse.

 

They got a replacement for me, but after that I felt the sax man resented it. Maybe not. It may have been my guilt.

 

Still to this day, I wish I would have made that gig. Jeez, now I'm depressed.:cry:

 

Why did you have to bring this up Jeff? :mad:

 

John:cry:

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Yeah, that sucks Jeff. Hope you`re feeling better real soon. Nothing a little whiskey and sugar can`t fix. Seriously, get some rest, some tea with honey will help. And for the cancelled gig, promise your fans another date and something special thrown in. I don`t know... maybe a CD of 2-3 new songs? or you performing with just an acoustic! :thu:

 

Feel better bro.

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I never canceled a gig.

 

Once I probably should have... I had a nasty intestinal virus, and had to run to the bathroom every ten minutes. I let the band know, and we adjusted the setlists to cover. But it was not pleasant. Fortunately it was a bar gig and not a wedding or corporate thing.

I really do. Paid, unpaid, work, fun, whatever... once I commit to doing a show, it bugs the crap out of me when I can't make the date.


After managing to avoid the sickness that my son, ladyfriend, and several pals have had over recent weeks, I awoke the day after I returned from my weekend trip and felt the undeniable burn of a terrible chest cold. The good news is that I seem to be getting past it relatively quickly, and I feel mostly fine... no fever, coughing is starting to subside, etc.


However, it did leave me with a bout of laryngitis, so I currently sound like a blender full of metal shavings when I speak, and singing is out of the question. I'd been booked for a show today and was looking forward to performing, but the reality is that a) I'd really sound like crap and b) I'd end up causing more damage to my voice that would take much longer to recover from than if I'd just rest up the voice entirely for awhile.


So, I canceled. The booking people were nice and understanding. I suggested a few people who might fill in, which they appreciated. It's all good, and yet I'm left with that nagging feeling of having let someone down. It, in a word, sucks.


Anyway, I'm doing the right things to get better -- lots of water, vitamin C, avoiding speaking as much as possible. My next show isn't for another week, so I have plenty of time to recover. But I'm left with that, "Damn, I could be playing right now" vibe.


Crap.
:(

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Wait a sec... how many of you macho "I never cancelled a gig" men are singers? If I just had to stand around and play guitar, that wouldn't be a problem.
But gargling vocals through phlegm?
No thanks.
:D

 

That's what I sound like normally, except with the added bonus of really bad pitch control. That's why I'm not a singer.

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Since I don't sing, I have never canceled a gig. I had a raging fever for one gig, a live gig that I did in KXLU, and I've been kinda sick for another (I don't get sick that much). But I've never missed a gig. In fact, I've never been late for a gig either, and I've gigged a fair amount.

 

I've also had a really really bad back while gigging but kept going, having friends carry my amp. I even sat down a couple of times because I was hurting so badly, and had one gig where I laid flat on my back for one song. I would be on Oxycontin and Vicodin, in utter agony, but I'd do the gig anyway.

 

If I were a singer, I would have missed just one gig, the one in which I had a really bad fever. I just don't think I would have had the energy to sing because I was about to keel over.

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Very good. You plowed through it.

 

I announced to my crowd before I played a note that I was getting over a cold, and to forgive any hacking or phlegm gargling during my set. They were understanding. :)

 

I have another show tonight at 7PM (live on Facebook via StreamJam), and another show tomorrow at 4PM (at the Second Life Burning Man festival), so I'm hoping that all the singing will actually be good for me. Planning to relax over the weekend in any case.

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Very true. When I'm sick, I'm less worried about any of that stuff, though, and more concerned with, "Am I going to be able to give a performance that is up to my standards and the expectations of my fans?"

 

If the answer is no, I tend to choose to not play at all. Fortunately, it's pretty rare that things get that bad.

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That's always the primary consideration.

 

One of the gigs I did was for an in-store performance at Hear Music in Santa Monica. My back was just awful. I took the usual Vicodin and Oxycontin, but I was still in so much pain. But I was focus, barreled through, playing really well. And just after the last song, I was in so much pain and so spent that before I even bothered to put down the guitar, I just laid down on the floor for a couple of minutes.

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I did gigs when my lower back was out, in the early 2000s. It was... "torture" doesn't begin to describe it. I'd spend the entire show gritting my teeth and being in a cold sweat. Just putting the guitar on hurt, and it got progressively worse over the night. By the end I'd want to die. Meh.

 

Memories of that are one thing that keeps me doing my morning stretch routine every single day, without fail.

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1) I discovered I have rhematoid arthritis onstage. Luckily, there was a ringer friend of ours in the audience and played my last two sets for me (it was a four-hour gig). I fell off the edge of the stage into my guitar player's arms because I literally couldn't step down off the stage I hurt so bad in every joint in my body. Then I waded into the audience to find someone who would load my gear at 1:45 AM, then drove straight to the emergency room to discover there was nothing that they could do for me... 2) I got violently ill to my stomach some two years later than that first ordeal I described, once my medicine started working. I had to quit gigging until I escalated from NSAIDS to steroids to injections to infusions and narcotics. I finally made it back to gigging again and I barfed at a big country-club dress-up event, which was my comeback performance... so embarrassing...

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