Jump to content

Gig Report: Recent Notable Stories


Potts

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I finished the weekend gigs off at a local Moose Club. It's literally 1 minute from my house. It's an easy gig- some of the people can be a little different but whatever. They like the music and I get a good response.

I get there today at about 12:15 and they're in the middle of a meeting so I cant set up. No biggie. I went back home and told the bartender to call me when I can bring my gear in. I go back at 12:45 and manage to set up and play by 1:05. This Moose Club is a smoking establishment and they take full advantage of this policy. It was pretty disgusting. I quit a year ago and I can be around it. If it was a couple people smoking. I cant believe these people can sit in there for hours at a time with everyone smoking at the exact same time; all 70 of them. I just sat there thinking that I'm done with this venue- I dont need to play there anymore after this gig. No big deal. So I get done and blah blah blah everyone "loves" me and all is well.

I get paid and as Im leaving the parking lot I see the "guy" come running out. I yelled to him and asked if I had forgotten something.

He said, "Yeah- you forgot to fill out your application to become a member."

I laughed and said,"Sorry man it's not going to happen. I've got too much going on with school, family and gigs."

He replied "It's just that some of the members are complaining that we pay you all the time and you're not a member here."

I said, "Dont have me play then. This is my job- you solicited me to play not to pull a Jehovah's Witness pitch on me." Of course I was polite when I said this but I really wanted to rip into him. I'm done with the place.

Seriously..can you imagine? We get all kinds in this business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

thats what usually happens in the clubs. if you play in them and never join, they try to make you a member. i play all of them (eagles, elks, moose, vfw, american legion) and they have all asked me to join. i tell them i cant be members with one and not be members with all of them, so i never join. i am the same as the electrician, plumber, etc. i perform a service. do they ask the electrician to join before he can work.

down here in florida, if they allow smoking in the venue, you "Have" to be a member to be in the building. i faught it by telling them they need to card the electrician, plumber, beer delivery, etc. they just didnt understand that i was employed for a service just like them.

i'm still not a member in any of the clubs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah...I respect the clubs and all but what's the point of joining if I don't share the ideology and have no time all to attend any of the meetings, etc? But the pressure is therenot only when I gig but also when I do bike rides with some of them.

Rod

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It hasn't rained in months. I played a private party for a huge group of friends last night and it was a disaster. It was cloudy all day and I thought we'd end up inside. The homeowner had really nice tents everywhere so I wasn't worried. I set up and of course it started raining pretty hard. The wind picked up and the rain was encroaching on me a little bit; no worries he had sides for it so I was takin care of.

I played for two hours and it started coming down hard. I realized somehow I was getting wet. I looked down and saw a few drops of water on my IPad and realized the tent was leaking. No big deal- I was just going to pack up and play a few acoustic songs in the house once the truck was loaded. Well of course there was no end in sight with the rain and I had to make the trip from the backyard to the truck and everything got soaked. I'm not paranoid about the Bose {censored} because it's durable and I've gotten it wet before, but needless to say I wasn't thrilled about it.

The biggest thing that pissed me off was the reaction from my drunk "friends". I came back to the party completely soaked from head to toe and I was getting the drunk, "you're done already?" At first it didn't bother me but after about two minutes of saying my goodbyes I started getting pissed. I didn't say anything but really???? I'm sitting here like a wet dog, my gear is soaked and you want me to sit down with my $1500 guitar and start playing for you??? Ugh! Anyway the homeowners were cool as hell and tipped me an extra $50.

/rant

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members
Tonight's Gig

I was dreading this night for weeks. The venue/restaurant in in my little hometown and I never played there because it was always known be an elderly crowd. They called me a few weeks earlier and and told me they do "Live Music Wednesdays" in August. I grudgingly took the gig because I'm in no position to be turning down money. I get there and set up under a huge tent. The entire time all these old people just kept shuffling in- everyone getting dropped off at the door while the husband parks the car.

I busted out the "mellow" category on the IPad and prepared to play a night of Simon and Garfunkel, Ricky Nelson and anything else that would normally be appropriate for a snooze fest. I started at 6 and played to about 10 people until about 6:45 when the patio started filling in with 40-50 year olds. By 7:30 the place was taken over by about 30 people that are my little demographic and the gig blew up. smile.gif

I was supposed to play until 9:00- at 8:30 the owner asked me to play until 10. I was in marathon mode and hadn't take a break yet. I ended up playing straight through until 9:30 and finally called it. I finished the gig and was met with the greatest reception from the husband and wife owners. They commented on no breaks and asked how much they owed me. I humbly told them to just through me an extra $25 for the 30 minutes. They gave me an extra $50 and we're setting up a regular "same" Saturday a month gig. Believe it or not, it was great that I was able to tell her that I can't do anything until January because all of my dates are filled. It made me feel good. I pretty much left there floored.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Potts View Post
Tonight's Gig

I was dreading this night for weeks. The venue/restaurant in in my little hometown and I never played there because it was always known be an elderly crowd. They called me a few weeks and and told me they do "Live Music Wednesdays" in August. I grudgingly took the gig because I'm in no position to be turning down money. I get there and set up under a huge tent. The entire time all these old people just kept shuffling in- everyone getting dropped off at the door while the husband parks the car.

I busted out the "mellow" category on the IPad and prepared to play a night of Simon and Garfunkel, Ricky Nelson and anything else that would normally be appropriate for a snooze fest. I started at 6 and played to about 10 people until about 6:45 when the patio started filling in with 40-50 year olds. By 7:30 the place was taken over by about 30 people that are my little demographic and the gig blew up. smile.gif

I was supposed to play until 9:00- at 8:30 the owner asked me to play until 10. I was in marathon mode and hadn't take a break yet. I ended up playing straight through until 9:30 and finally called it. I got don with the gig and was met with the greatest reception from the husband and wife owners. The commented on no breaks and asked how much they owed me. I humbly told them to just through me an extra $25 for the 30 minutes. They gave me an extra $50 and we're setting up a regular "same" Saturday a month gig. Believe it or not, it was great that I was able to tell her that I can't do anything until January because all of my dates are filled. It made me feel good. I pretty much left there floored.
Right on! Nothing feels better than knocking 'em dead and knowing you did. thumb.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Elks club story. A sales rep who calls on my business invited me to join the local elks club. He talked up their facility-they own a nice hotel downtown and lease it out, but retain a floor for themselves. They also retain the indoor swimming facility and gym. I've had back problems since I was 21 years old, so i thought the swimming thing would be good. I went through a bizarre initiation ritual that was right out of the flintstones, complete with vows of silience and secret handshakes. A few days later I go to the gym, only to find out that since it was all males, all the old guys swim in the pool naked. Uh Huh. Just a bit weird- I was about 35 years old and these guys were mostly in their 70's. Bolted from the elks.
To keep it gig related, I have a gig booked on 9/1 and managed to throw my back out again last week. I'm freakin dreading it-it's a four hour gig. Pays great, which is why I haven't cancelled, but I'm thinkin about it, or asking my bandmates to sub me out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by MartinC

View Post

I went through a bizarre initiation ritual that was right out of the flintstones, complete with vows of silience and secret handshakes. A few days later I go to the gym, only to find out that since it was all males, all the old guys swim in the pool naked. Uh Huh. Just a bit weird- I was about 35 years old and these guys were mostly in their 70's. Bolted from the elks.

 

LOL... awesome story!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I"ve been playing Mooney's every Thursday night for about a year now. The summer has been great. The owner sponsored an entire softball league so the teams come in and pack the place. I've met a ton of cool people and have picked up a bunch of new fans. The season is pretty much over and everyone is partying their faces off the past few weeks...they've been good gigs.

Last night one of the teams tossed me $50 and asked me if they could sing a few tunes. I took a short break and cleared my stage area. I basically did live karaoke for the last hour and it was a riot. The peope there thought it was fun, I had a good time, and the bar owner loved seeing his customers partying and spending more money. The only "rule" that I had (and kept to myself) was I played a song in between the "karaoke" singers just in case some of the other bar patrons weren't into the pseudo-vocalists.

I doubt I could do this as a complete "live karaoke" type show but it was fun for last night and I made an extra $50.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Potts View Post
I"ve been playing Mooney's every Thursday night for about a year now. The summer has been great. The owner sponsored an entire softball league so the teams come in and pack the place. I've met a ton of cool people and have picked up a bunch of new fans. The season is pretty much over and everyone is partying their faces off the past few weeks...they've been good gigs.

Last night one of the teams tossed me $50 and asked me if they could sing a few tunes. I took a short break and cleared my stage area. I basically did live karaoke for the last hour and it was a riot. The peope there thought it was fun, I had a good time, and the bar owner loved seeing his customers partying and spending more money. The only "rule" that I had (and kept to myself) was I played a song in between the "karaoke" singers just in case some of the other bar patrons weren't into the pseudo-vocalists.

I doubt I could do this as a complete "live karaoke" type show but it was fun for last night and I made an extra $50.
Very cool! Karaoke pro here, you do have one advantage you didn't have the words up on screen, the issue with the words on the screen is that they think EVERY song you play through the speakers has the word on the screen which is false, only the Kar tracks have words with them so i constantly have to make announcements that no you cannot sing to any song you want and no I do not have words on the screen for all the songs on the radio and I never will, if it's not in that handy dandy book I do not and will not have the words EVER. Repeat every hour until gig over frown.gif

Live band Karaoke I think is a great thing but hard to find around these neck of the woods. They have it 1.5 hours a way but normally on weekdays and it's just too far to drive.

Maybe you could offer it more as a one man show and get the words on a screen?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Potts View Post
It hasn't rained in months. I played a private party for a huge group of friends last night and it was a disaster. It was cloudy all day and I thought we'd end up inside. The homeowner had really nice tents everywhere so I wasn't worried. I set up and of course it started raining pretty hard. The wind picked up and the rain was encroaching on me a little bit; no worries he had sides for it so I was takin care of.

I played for two hours and it started coming down hard. I realized somehow I was getting wet. I looked down and saw a few drops of water on my IPad and realized the tent was leaking. No big deal- I was just going to pack up and play a few acoustic songs in the house once the truck was loaded. Well of course there was no end in sight with the rain and I had to make the trip from the backyard to the truck and everything got soaked. I'm not paranoid about the Bose {censored} because it's durable and I've gotten it wet before, but needless to say I wasn't thrilled about it.

The biggest thing that pissed me off was the reaction from my drunk "friends". I came back to the party completely soaked from head to toe and I was getting the drunk, "you're done already?" At first it didn't bother me but after about two minutes of saying my goodbyes I started getting pissed. I didn't say anything but really???? I'm sitting here like a wet dog, my gear is soaked and you want me to sit down with my $1500 guitar and start playing for you??? Ugh! Anyway the homeowners were cool as hell and tipped me an extra $50.

/rant
I was booked to play a festival at a catholic School, the contract said rain location, school gym. It was spitting rain, and i was using my backing tracks so I asked the principle where she wanted me, so she said set up the gym cause it might rain pretty hard, so I did. just as I was getting ready to start a priest came up to me and said i was supposed to be outside and I had to move. I asked him what if it rains on my stuff? who will be responsible if my equipment was damaged? He said he wasn't responsible for what God does. I said God isn't the one telling me to move out side. He stormed off and said, just move. So as I was setting back up outside it started pouring down. So I put my stuff back in my trailer, and here come the priest instructing me to set back up inside. I told him to go {censored} himself and left. About 3 days later i got the check in the mail from the agency for the job. biggrin.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by moogerfooger

View Post

I was booked to play a festival at a catholic School, the contract said rain location, school gym. It was spitting rain, and i was using my backing tracks so I asked the principle where she wanted me, so she said set up the gym cause it might rain pretty hard, so I did. just as I was getting ready to start a priest came up to me and said i was supposed to be outside and I had to move. I asked him what if it rains on my stuff? who will be responsible if my equipment was damaged? He said he wasn't responsible for what God does. I said God isn't the one telling me to move out side. He stormed off and said, just move. So as I was setting back up outside it started pouring down. So I put my stuff back in my trailer, and here come the priest instructing me to set back up inside. I told him to go {censored} himself and left. About 3 days later i got the check in the mail from the agency for the job. biggrin.gif

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1000 thumb.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I have the IPad with about 50% of the words avail...but even then they're pretty much "half assed" lyrics. I'm going to give this a little thought though. Maybe I could book it on a mon/tues.


Quote Originally Posted by nchangin View Post
Very cool! Karaoke pro here, you do have one advantage you didn't have the words up on screen, the issue with the words on the screen is that they think EVERY song you play through the speakers has the word on the screen which is false, only the Kar tracks have words with them so i constantly have to make announcements that no you cannot sing to any song you want and no I do not have words on the screen for all the songs on the radio and I never will, if it's not in that handy dandy book I do not and will not have the words EVER. Repeat every hour until gig over frown.gif

Live band Karaoke I think is a great thing but hard to find around these neck of the woods. They have it 1.5 hours a way but normally on weekdays and it's just too far to drive.

Maybe you could offer it more as a one man show and get the words on a screen?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

+1


Quote Originally Posted by moogerfooger View Post
I was booked to play a festival at a catholic School, the contract said rain location, school gym. It was spitting rain, and i was using my backing tracks so I asked the principle where she wanted me, so she said set up the gym cause it might rain pretty hard, so I did. just as I was getting ready to start a priest came up to me and said i was supposed to be outside and I had to move. I asked him what if it rains on my stuff? who will be responsible if my equipment was damaged? He said he wasn't responsible for what God does. I said God isn't the one telling me to move out side. He stormed off and said, just move. So as I was setting back up outside it started pouring down. So I put my stuff back in my trailer, and here come the priest instructing me to set back up inside. I told him to go {censored} himself and left. About 3 days later i got the check in the mail from the agency for the job. biggrin.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by Potts

View Post

+1

 

That sucks. If you have phone with the net , you could have just brought up a live radar and said, its going to rain. We had an outdoor market day show where we sat up , and played one song and struck the stage and loaded back into the trucks. They block off a street and put a band at each end of the block. The other band had pickups with blue tarps. I hope they didnt lose any gear. I was looking forward to hearing them, I know one of the guys but never heard his band.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
This was last Sunday...

Today, being the last Sunday of the month, I was at one of my "regular" nursing home gigs (been doing this one for about 7 years), and the Activity Director called me this morning to let me know that he'd be out and might not return before I finished, but that his new assistant would have my check...no problem.

I get there, set up my Limo 50, mic and stand and am getting tuned up when his new assistant came in...first thing she demanded was top see a list of the songs I'd planned to do...I explained that, asa a general rule, I let the folks request songs, as, after 7 years, most of the long-time residents had particular tunes they'd like to hear...no (she said), that just won't due because these old folks were too old and senile to know what was good for them! eek.gif

I pointed out that most of these folks were still sharp as a tack, and, besides, who are we to tell folks that have been on this earth 4X longer that she has (and almost 2X longer than I have) what they may or may not hear, and, besides, I only do "family friendly" tunes at these gigs?

She then explained that if "Jesus were to call them home in the middle of an inappropriate song, what would He think?"...

By this time I was wondering just where the AD found this assistant, and if she came with restraints, but we discussed tunes that weren't likely to send anyone to the Fiery Pit (Rambling Rose, Georgia On My Mind, Ain't Misbehavin', and Chattanooga Choo-choo just barely passed approval! rolleyes.gif ) and I finally got to start the show...15 minutes late.

Things went smoothly until one old gentleman called out for "Whiskey Before Breakfast"...as I started flatpicking the melody, I looked over at her and she agitatedly giving me the "cut throat" gesture, but I proceeded to play and sing it...when I get to the chorus

"Saints preserve us
Lord protect us,
We been drinkin' whiskey 'fore breakfast!"

the entire room belted it out with me, and sang along every time the chorus, as always...the Assistant was furious!

Played the rest of the hour, and as I was sticking my gear back into the gig bags, she told she needed to speak with me before I left...

Went down to the AD's office, whereupon she explained how I was never to come around again, and, if absolutely neccessary, she'd see that a restraining order was issued against me! eek.gif

Along about then, the AD walked it, and caught her screaming all this...he asked "What's going on?", and she explained my transgressions. The AD explained to her that I'd been coming in, once a month, for long before he'd started working there, and that I was a favorite among the residents, and asked just what songs were upsetting her so? She explained that I sang a song encouraging the residents to drink strong beverages!

The AD then pointed out that everyone there well over the legal drinking age and that if the song I sang encouraged the residents to drink strong beverages, they had every right to do, if they could get someone to make a delivery! tongue.gif

She turned bright red, and asked "what would Jesus think if one of them were "called home" in the middle of a song about whiskey"? The AD opined that Jesus was a pretty good sport and probably wouldn't be all that concerned... smile.gif

At that point, she explained that maybe she just couldn't work among such sin and moral degradation (her exact words tongue.gif), and the AD agreed that she might want to reconsider this line of work, as the residents have a right to enjoy themselves...and then she stomped out.

As the AD was handing me my check, he commented "Don't yet know exactly what happened, but she strikes me as awfully high-strung...see you next month". icon_lol.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • Members

I played a private holiday party the other day. It was all 40-50 somethings and professionals. A lady came up to me and said,"Linda told me I should give you a couple of these brownies." I laughed and said ok...she said, "No. They're special." I was floored. I wasn't expecting that at all. In all my years I've never ingested pot that way and let me tell you I laughed my ass off to myself for about 90 minutes while playing. There's a notable gig story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...