Members Shaster Posted November 10, 2015 Members Share Posted November 10, 2015 I've been playing places that are so small and so quiet, that I'm relegated to volumes just above the break music. One place I play has about 13 tables and roughly 55 seats total. As per usual, folks come in and even if it's dead, they head for the tables closest to the musician. They then proceed to have a heavy duty personal or business conversation, and expect (rightfully so) to do it in relative peace. The other day, there was a very nice lady and her friend, about five feet from where I was performing. I couldn't help hearing her whole conversation, because she was louder than I was - and she wasn't loud, just audible. All this while I'm trying to sing Stormy Monday, or She Caught The Katy (it was Blues Mondays). I guess that's okay, but it just felt odd to hear other's conversations louder than my vocals. Wound up playing lots of instrumentals. Same gig, different week, it was Canadian Thanksgiving. There were about thirty to forty people in the place (that's jam packed) and I was the only person speaking English in the whole place (including the staff). Singing in English felt very intrusive, so again I tried to play more instrumentals. Beautiful place, super friendly staff, and great to have a Monday gig once in a while. I guess it's worth the paradigm shift, just wanted to see if there were any other folks with similar experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 11, 2015 Moderators Share Posted November 11, 2015 Same gig, different week, it was Canadian Thanksgiving. There were about thirty to forty people in the place (that's jam packed) and I was the only person speaking English in the whole place (including the staff). Singing in English felt very intrusive, so again I tried to play more instrumentals. Please tell me they weren't speaking...Francais...no, I'm guessing you were inundated with furriners...of the Asian persuasion...but you know, you singing in English is all part of teh EXPERIENCE they come there to have...so...basically, you cheated them out of part of their Canadianization [or isation]...shame on you! Canadian Thanksgiving? Oh, you're thankful you aren't from the USA, right? And for being metric...and tar sands...Molson Brador...oh, no wait, they stopped brewing it! Never mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted November 11, 2015 Members Share Posted November 11, 2015 saucy yanks we have our thanksgiving early because our winter is longer and better than yours many Canadians can spell toboggan without looking it up Shaster's in Vancouver, so they were probably speaking some form of Chinese Interesting fact -- because Chinese writing uses ideograms instead of phonetic spelling, people who speak different dialects can read the same printed material Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted November 11, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 11, 2015 Yep, they were speaking Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese. It was all the international business travellers that got the day off and had no idea they were supposed to eat turkey until they passed out! Re: English.... normally I do feel like some sort of cultural ambassador when I play "North American" music for the overseas crowd. That day however, it felt like I should have just been playing some light classical guitar, rather than screaming "my baby left me without a whiskey still...." Living in Vancouver I'm used to, and enjoy many other cultures, but again, I guess I felt like I had the wrong material for Chinese tea... Being an early week gig I'm very happy to have it (for as long or short as it lasts), and it's a pretty cool place - one of these days I'm going to catch the Kung Fu tea Show, or the Chinese Opera http://www.shangri-la.com/vancouver/shangrila/dining/bars-lounges/xi-shi-lounge/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted November 11, 2015 Members Share Posted November 11, 2015 … eat turkey until they passed out As an aside. My family tradition (dinner @ grandma's) was: Thanksgiving: turkey Christmas: goose Easter: ham This was, I think, invariable. Now, since my wife and daughter are vegs, I sometimes manage to sneak in a chicken for my son and I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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