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PSA - Never Say Never


Shaster

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I lost a room earlier this year, with no explanation as to why. Could be because I'm not thirty years old with a man bun. Could have been because I played a couple of instrumentals per set (most people don't play any). Could have been anything... hotels are weird that way. Anyway, instead of protesting loudly, I just moved on to other pastures. It was a tough room with a terrible PA, awful stage area, and I had just about had enough of it anyway - so I was fine with parting ways.

 

So today I'm doing a little gig right by the cruise ship terminals. I take a break, check my phone and see that there is a voice and a text message. Turns out the agency wants to see if I'm open to do a last minute sub in the room that let me go. I tell them I'm literally across the street but I've got to play another hour. They say fine, and short story long, I walk across the street with my guitar and small cable bag, set up the venue's PA and play. Went over great.

 

I'm not expecting to get invited back, but it was a great example of not burning bridges. Speaking of which, I knew some guys that got fired from this one place and tried to burn it down. Needless to say they couldn't even do a last minute sub there.

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Definitely a good point. There's a difference between not working with someone for a specific reason, and not working with someone just because they didn't work with you. Also, thanks for using 30 as your example of youth. I appreciate it.

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Sooner or later we all get fired for something that isn't our fault. We might not be given a reason.

 

IMO not burning the bridges is the best way to handle that.

 

Many years ago we were playing at a Hyatt on a lengthy contract. We were playing pop music of the day and the bartenders were happy because the business was better than it had been for years. A new F&B comes in and fires us immediately, breaking the contract. He hires a jazz trio and the business goes down the tubes. I guess he liked jazz and didn't care if the lounge made money or not. Who knows?

 

Anyway, I hope you get replacement work soon and don't take it personally.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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Funny...we got cut from a room as of January 1 this year. Our leader wasn't happy about it, nor was I but I kept up a good relationship with the manager there [he's a drummer]. Now I am looking to strike out on my own [we are losing another venue, and the replacement rooms our leader is getting are crap] and am meeting with the venue to set up a once a month pro jam, with a horn section, keys, etc and they are open to it, so you just never know.

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I'm finding that venues like hotels are choosing their words carefully these days, so I'll probably never know what the deal is. I suspect however, that the venue wants to skew more towards the man bun type of entertainer, even though their actual clientele is forty to seventy years old.

 

Last time I played there I had several fifty somethings say how much they enjoyed my music - normally that's a good thing, but the room seems desperate to get the young and hip in their. Funny thing is, most youngsters don't wanna pay ten or eleven dollars for a beer, so maybe the venue is stuck with the old folks...

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