Members steve mac Posted June 8, 2014 Members Share Posted June 8, 2014 Last night was a patio gig at a local restaurant/bar and I was told in advance that I was going on after a dance troop (break dancing, acrobats) which meant that I couldn't set up in advance as they needed the whole stage. So I sat with some friends who happened to be there and had what for me is a rare drink before performing. Well, the troupe 4 boys and 2 girls arrived a few minutes late and then proceeded to inform the staff that they couldn't go on until the stage (which I had sat and watched them clean) was cleaned again. After a while it became obvious they were playing for time and when questioned it seemed they where waiting for one of there members to turn up, which he duly did some 20 minutes after the others.Now they took charge of the FOH sound by plugging in an iphone and cranking the mixer up to the max, we are talking ear damaging levels and what glorious song where they regaling us with? "Smack my Bitch Up" this bearing in mind that the audience age was well in excess of 50 years. Myself and several others had to move to the far end of the patio away from the speakers.20 minutes of gyrations later, they packed up and left, which left me to then set up in front of the crowd, which like anyone else I hate. Sound check on the go, luckily I dialled in close enough and off I went, winning the crowd around by complaining that I was a bit annoyed as "Smack My Bitch Up" was going to be my first number (I played Hermans Hermits' "Something Good") played a couple more numbers and told a couple of stories which went down well, clicked the switch to magnetic pickups to play the intro to "Whisky in the Jar" when onto the car park pulled a cop car with its lights on. Next thing one of the waiting staff is behind me lowering my volumes on the mixer, as if this isnt bad enough he doesnt know what he is doing so now the levels are all over the place. Apparently the cops got a complaint about the dancers music noise levels, and to be fair, it was a fair complaint, but by the time they arrived there is only me there singing my little ditties and telling tall stories..Anyhow they went, levels adjusted again and I did another hour and a half. Lesson learned don't share a stage with dancers I guess. Oh it was also the first outing for the Beat Root stomp box, didn't love it, I need more experimentation to get it usable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SeniorBlues Posted June 8, 2014 Members Share Posted June 8, 2014 My daughter performed with a dance company during her middle school years. Believe me, they weren't at all like you described. The designated dad running sound actually did a pretty good job - important since a lot of shows were to mixed audiences, including seniors. A shame you got one of the bad ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 8, 2014 Moderators Share Posted June 8, 2014 Senior...see my sticky on fixing your sig... I've had to go on after a number of, well, amateur productions at fairs and the like. Never anything like that, though. The worst recent one was two girls trying deperately to harmonize the Star-Spangled Banner to open the show...it was, well, painful in its own right... Your experience though, Steve, sounds like the owner of the club's sister-in-law's nephew's girlfriend pressured him into letting her friends try out their wanna be act...too bad...for all present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RifferDave Posted June 9, 2014 Members Share Posted June 9, 2014 Lol! Great stories. I was in a band and our ages varied; Me - singer and guitar/bass 30 at the time, singer 30, piano player, girl 30, bass/guitar 20, bass/guitar 20 and drummer 18. The drummer was great in that, despite his age, was able to handle things like Rush. Also, we managed to cover his under-ageness......But one time, he forgot his bass drum anchor, which we used a couple of unused mic stand bases. Another time he forgot his snare. Then there was the time he forgot his sticks. We were NY, Westchester based and were playing across the Hudson river in Nanuet, which is about an hour and a half each way. Of course he had to retrieve them! He was funny that way....Not exactly the horror stories you describe, but I thought I'd add some humor as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted June 9, 2014 Members Share Posted June 9, 2014 Sounds horrid. You deserve a nice cool drink after all of that!Nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted June 9, 2014 Members Share Posted June 9, 2014 What, and quit showbiz? My recent story is nowhere near thatof the dance troupe, but it still was strange. For the second time in a month I arrived at my (almost weekly) restaurant gig to find someone already set up. The first time was a young lady I knew who does the Adele thing. I guess she was playing for a private party, and the agent thought I would be "too ancient" for them. She was scheduled to quit when I was supposed to start; good planning. I went on about 45 minutes late. Just a week or so later than the first mess, and I arrive to see some friends of mine playing dixieland and swing. There was a private party and the restaurant had been blocked off. The manager saw me and asked me if I had a gig in the neighbourhood, and I told him no, I thought I had a gig there. He said, didn't your agent call you, your gig was cancelled! Then he said, you know what we'll use you anyway, and I felt relieved that I would get paid. I then called my agent and she said she was sorry, and that in fact, I was going to be paid anyway whether I showed up or not. Gee thanks, now you tell me. So this time I started an hour and a half later. The private party had just cleared out, and because they hadn't let anyone into the restaurant, there were no diners. I played to two or three people for a couple of short sets and went home. I get so many last minute cancellations from hotels and restaurants that I don't post any gig info on Facebook. I mean I get it, if they get a last minute request to block book their venue they have to take it. A hundred people at $50.00 to $100.00 a head is serious cash for a place that isn't usually very busy. Just give me some advance warning please... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members toober Posted June 13, 2014 Members Share Posted June 13, 2014 I get so many last minute cancellations from hotels and restaurants that I don't post any gig info on Facebook. I mean I get it, if they get a last minute request to block book their venue they have to take it. A hundred people at $50.00 to $100.00 a head is serious cash for a place that isn't usually very busy. Just give me some advance warning please... Seems it would be fair of you to request half pay if they cancel you with less than 24 hours notice, you gotta pay your bills too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted June 13, 2014 Members Share Posted June 13, 2014 Seems it would be fair of you to request half pay if they cancel you with less than 24 hours notice, you gotta pay your bills too. Yep. If I'm doing a self booked gig, that's what I generally try to do, although I'll start at full price and negotiate from there. The whole thing gets tricky when an agent is involved. Agents generally work for the room, not the artist, so they often want to keep the room happy and won't demand cancellation pay. However, this one room in question has done it so often, the agent demands full price for cancelling at the last minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted June 26, 2014 Members Share Posted June 26, 2014 We can laugh about it now, but..................... picture the scene, we are playing in a Hotel lounge, audience of about 30 people at various tables, all in close proximity. An intimate setting you might say. We start to play "The Boy From Ipanema" - a smooth backing track plays, I sing and my partner is playing a Cabasa gently - then a man two tables away suddenly produces two dessert spoons from his pocket, and starts playing them - clicking the back of the bowls of each spoon together........clickety bloody click all the way through the song.......not even in time. Some guests were turning to him and glaring at him, others were looking baffled at us thinking the noise was US!!!!!!!!!!!!! But what do you SAY????????????? At the end of the song I asked the audience to give a round of applause to the gentleman who played the additional percussion on the song and then politely asked him down the mic not to play any more thankyou. Luckily he stopped. At the end of our set and they all filed out to go into dinner, I mouthed an apology to him. he just carried on walking and said nothing. But why is it though that when people do stuff that is rude, it is US who apologise to THEM? As I said, we can laugh about it now. In our late set, the keyboard player from the Resident Band came into the lounge clicking some spoons and laughing - he thought it was hilarious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted June 26, 2014 Members Share Posted June 26, 2014 Some people should never be given knives. Some people are fine with knives but should never be given spoons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 26, 2014 Moderators Share Posted June 26, 2014 you should have told him to go fork himself....sorry, could not resist an utensil joke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted June 26, 2014 Members Share Posted June 26, 2014 hee hee you two are funny.xxx We've had all sorts of comments from friends we've told. Where is Uri Geller when you need him?What Song did you play next......Spoon River? Fly Me To The Spoon? How High The Spoon? Under the Spoon of Love? Oh our sides ached with laughing. There's never a dull moment is there? At least he wasn't an aggressive man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted June 26, 2014 Members Share Posted June 26, 2014 hee hee you two are funny. xxx We've had all sorts of comments from friends we've told. Where is Uri Geller when you need him? What Song did you play next......Spoon River? Fly Me To The Spoon? How High The Spoon? Under the Spoon of Love? Oh our sides ached with laughing. There's never a dull moment is there? At least he wasn't an aggressive man. [video=youtube;l-NhmyGsIqM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-NhmyGsIqM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SusieP Posted June 26, 2014 Members Share Posted June 26, 2014 Thank God he didn't sing and dance either!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted June 26, 2014 Members Share Posted June 26, 2014 Your show doesn't include you and several dancers on a swing? Really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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