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To Play Happy Birthday !?


senorblues

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Background music ("music for the digestive tract", as a friend describes it)..to me, all "background music" means is 1) no vocals, and 2) not loud enough to disrupt conversation (birthdays and special occasions being the exceptions). If a customer notices you and requests you to play something, you are their entertainment while being "background" to the ones focused primarily on their filets and dining partners.

 

RE birthdays, for me the bottom line is, if someone is offended by a fellow customer getting a little attention for a couple minutes on their birthday, they have bigger problems than having their dining ambience interrupted.

 

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"all Senor had to do was play the melody while they brought out the cake."

 

OK, THAT makes sense. Don't try to coordinate with the table. Preempt it! Play it before the cake gets to the table. They'll hear you, they can join in, and you won't have to try follow them.

 

There . . . . See how open minded I am!?

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"If a customer notices you and requests you to play something, you are their entertainment while being "background" to the ones focused primarily on their filets and dining partners."

 

That makes sense, too, although it seems contradictory. But I found myself trying to do just that when I noticed one person or one table focused on a particular song. It's just a matter of getting the volume and energy level balanced just right.

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from Wikipedia:

Brown quickly earned a reputation for outlandish performances, which included the use of a burning metal helmet, that led to occasional mishaps, such as during an early appearance at the Windsor Festival in 1967, where he wore a colander on his head soaked in methanol. The fuel poured over his head by accident and caught fire; a bystander doused the flames by pouring beer on Brown's head, preventing any serious injury.[6] The flaming head then became an Arthur Brown signature.

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Okay, just to milk every last ounce out of this, I've got a very recent story about interrupting people. My agent called me a week ago and asked me to do a single at a close but fairly rowdy venue. I've played there before, it was a Wednesday night, so I said sure.

 

I get to the pub and find out that it's a longshoreman's party. I'm 6'1", 190 lbs, and I was the smallest guy there, trying to play for the 150 or so longshoreman. It was a celebration of a bunch of guys joining the ranks. Everyone was drinking heavily, there were only about a half dozen wives/girlfriends there, so it was a case of ignore the entertainment, unless I played something they didn't like. Oh by the way, it was a giant stage with lights that the management insisted I have on. Couldn't even hide.

 

So believe it or not, here's what I had to announce, on my break, at the top of my lungs, on three separate occasions... "last call for the roast beef, last call guys for the roast beef dinner - the kitchen is closing in ten minutes". Like I said this was a mandatory announcement and I had to do it three times. Ya wanna talk about interrupting! I tried talking about dead cows, moo burgers, anything I could think of to make it sound less like a bus station. I seriously thought I might get thumped for making the announcements, but I know from playing there in the past, the beef last call is the most important part of the gig!

 

What, and quit showbiz?

 

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Over the years I have had to make a number of odd announcements...like 'would the owner of a Ford T-Bird License number blah blah please go to the parking lot? There is an unconscious woman leaning on the horn....'

Maybe the oddest was 'and tonight's winner of a box of condoms is...[insert name]'

 

Makes you proud to have spent all those years learning music and practicing, doesn't it? ;)

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