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When Venues Screw You Over


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Sadly, the sordid story I shared continues apace. Got a call from our sound man yesterday. Seems he stopped out at the venue to check out the layout, stage etc. and chatted with one of the venue owners (the woman who has become the bane of my existence this month). In that chat, she told him that he was to use the house sound system which, while not the worst I've ever seen, is not adequate for our needs. This goes in direct contradiction to what she and I discussed when I stopped in a few months back to reconnoiter the joint. At that time she and her husband made it clear that we could use their system or our own and I made a point of informing her that we'd prefer to use our own due to several reasons, not the least of which is the venue's board is up on stage. Having your sound man have to get up on stage  and maneuver around the band members during a gig is idiotic and IMHO a recipe for disaster. Never mind that neither he nor us is familiar with the board they have. Learning it's features and idiosyncrasies on the fly is not what I want to be thinking about when I'm setting up or playing. 

This is one gig I'll be happy to have behind us.

 

 

 

 

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On 7/9/2017 at 1:52 PM, diablo175 said:

This is one gig I'll be happy to have behind us.

Why would they care if you used their stuff or your own? Are they gonna charge you rent from using their system? This just doesn't make freaking sense at all.

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52 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

Why would they care if you used their stuff or your own? Are they gonna charge you rent from using their system? This just doesn't make freaking sense at all.

I see it as possibly an attempt to control our volume, with the possibility of either a master volume slider or cut off switch being behind the bar? I have no idea. But I'm gonna find out!!!

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14 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

I see it as possibly an attempt to control our volume, with the possibility of wither a master volume slider or cut off switch being behind the bar? I have no idea. But I'm gonna find out!!!

Well, they can't shut down the backline unless they unplug it.  :lol:

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20 minutes ago, scottcald said:

Well, they can't shut down the backline unless they unplug it.  :lol:

As it turns out, there was apparently a bit of miscommunication. The story from her was the same as the one I got when we first met - we could use theirs or ours, makes no diff to them.  Apparently, our sound guy totally missed their point.

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, diablo175 said:

As it turns out, there was apparently a bit of miscommunication. The story from her was the same as the one I got when we first met - we could use theirs or ours, makes no diff to them.  Apparently, our sound guy totally missed their point.

 

 

 

 

A bright spot, I guess. 

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1 hour ago, scottcald said:

A bright spot, I guess. 

Yup. I'm gonna take it as such. Frankly, I aim to make this as good show as I can and hope that maybe, just maybe we can parlay a kick ass show into some promotional momentum and never have to go back at that shit hole.

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I don't know if it was the worst, but the most amusing was when a bar owner decided he wasn't going to pay us.  Our lead singer asked him what they paid for a bottle of Grey Goose or similar sitting on the bar shelf, and the owner, kinda startled, said, "about $15."  

Our singer, who was all of 5'8" and maybe 150 points soaking wet, but also with an almost limitless supply or Rankin County redneck balls (his nickname was Honey Badger, and he earned it honestly), hopped over the counter and threw the bottle on the floor, shattering it everywhere.  He smiled and said, "Well, there's $15.  Guess we're down to $235, and it looks like you have plenty of bottles."  

The owner stared at him a moment and then basically threw the money at us and told us to get the fuck out before he called the cops.  But we got paid, and that place didn't make it another two months if I remember correctly. 

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21 hours ago, diablo175 said:

....Apparently, our sound guy totally missed their point.

 And somehow you're surprised. :lol:

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Pizza joint gig with a blues band way back...  the agreement was for a guaranteed amount.  We get to the place and set up and the manager asks if we have someone collecting at the door.  (Oh, and people there for dinner were not to be charged). Apparently the owner had called from the Bahamas and told the manager so.  After a brief argument and discussion with the band, we packed up without playing a note - and quietly explained to the patrons that we don't play for free.   We told all of our friends in the circuit about the place and they were effectively blackballed.  They were out of business within a few months.  I'm sure there were many factors but it's fun to think we had a hand in it.  

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On 7/10/2017 at 8:37 PM, LucSulla said:

I don't know if it was the worst, but the most amusing was when a bar owner decided he wasn't going to pay us.  Our lead singer asked him what they paid for a bottle of Grey Goose or similar sitting on the bar shelf, and the owner, kinda startled, said, "about $15."  

Our singer, who was all of 5'8" and maybe 150 points soaking wet, but also with an almost limitless supply or Rankin County redneck balls (his nickname was Honey Badger, and he earned it honestly), hopped over the counter and threw the bottle on the floor, shattering it everywhere.  He smiled and said, "Well, there's $15.  Guess we're down to $235, and it looks like you have plenty of bottles."  

The owner stared at him a moment and then basically threw the money at us and told us to get the fuck out before he called the cops.  But we got paid, and that place didn't make it another two months if I remember correctly. 

Honey Badger for the win! Epic. 

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a few to file under the heading of "no good deed goes unpunished";

8-10 years ago, acoustic duo gig at a very large pizza restaurant & bar. we play there a few times w/o incident, then we have a last minute cancellation, so i call some pals who also do acoustic duo gigs, call the bar mgr, everyone seems ok with my solution. next time in, we play then load up at the end of the night, mrg says he is docking us $100 for cancelling last time! i asked about our friends i sent over, he said he offered them $150 to play (1/2 our fee, which i quoted to them) but they refused and left without unloading (i don't blame them). never played there again.

FFwd to 2016, dave & brooks are playing another bar a few times w/o incident , then right before our next gig daves dad dies. same story as last time, but its a duo i don't know, found thru FB. i tell them to contact the bar and work out the details (!). they immediately post all over FB that they are playing there before talking to the booker (owners wife). she sends me angry FB msgs ("I BOOK THIS BAR!!!! NOT YOU!!!!"), i explain that i gave them specific instructions to contact her about the gig and that i didn't book them, its on them. after that she never would return my calls and emails for future gigs. try to help someone out..... that was the 1st of our three regular $300-350 duo gigs that dried up, leaving nothing but $200 gigs around here, and thus the end of my duo (& subsequent selling of my duotone).

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