... ever turned down a gig because you didn't think you were the right person for it ...
This past week I got a gig through an agent for a house party - a 50th birthday party - he told me they wanted 'upbeat, lively' music ... so I contact the client and find out she wants 4 hours of deck/bar music - 70's through the 90's ... after thinking about it for a while (and going through my library) I called the agent back and told him I didn't have enough of a library of those tunes to do the gig ... he ended up getting a guitar player/singer who had a rock band in the 80's ...
Have any of you had something similar in any venue? ...

PS ... the client called the agent to book the music only two days before the gig, so I wouldn't even have had time to get enough tunes ready ...

t.

Tony..it is a smart move to pass on a gig..if it does not feel right for you..

Of course, make sure we understand the music they are requesting...It may not be as represented , ask more questions..many times we are more in tune with their needs than first thought ...

And agents/managers don't help..they often misplace acts...

...was there any music in the 90's?

I had done some work for an agent in the 90's and he sent me on a job that he said required some background music before and during dinner. He told me I didn't need my OMB setup, just a piano.

After I got to the job, the guy in charge said he wanted me to play classic rock for the dinner hour, and then really rock out after that. Enough said. I don't do gigs for that agent anymore since he sold me down the river.

Bottom line, be careful!


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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Performing (entertaining) are really different today...

No matter what the venue is today..I can switch gears...I can do the stuff I love..40's , 50's , 60's.. (the real music)..playing/singing, or at least selling the songs...If I get throw-ed a curve..I am Mr DJ (laptop loaded with Billboard top 100 from 40's- Today's top songs)....Including a lot of material..I hate, but the show will go on...

Don't get me wrong, I can do the music, but not when I've been sold down the river by an asshole agent. I guess that's why I've done all my own booking in the last 12 years.

Joe



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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Yeap, I won't do un-sweet sixteens! Those damn kids drive me nuts, they come up ask for song after song. you play what they ask for than another kid comes up and asked to change the song because they happen not to like that particular song. NEVER AGAIN!! I'll stick to older folks, much easier.

[This message has been edited by mc (edited 07-08-2009).]

Time stands still behind a keyboard when in the wrong venue. I say good move. No one needs that aggravation. I find it hard to believe some can play ALL venues.

I find I walk away from a few club offers every year after talking with the booker. Usually I've been referred to them so they're ready to give me the dates but I need to know more about their club before I agree.

If there's a history of dancing and a slightly older crowd...I'll usually take it on and it usually works out.

The clubs where there is no dancing, they want hard core modern country or hard rock...I pass on.

Could I...could anyone...work up a dj/mp3 thing for such gigs? Sure...it really wouldn't be that hard but I'm not interested in it.

As I've said before, next year I'm looking at making major changes to my overall business with regard to how I book myself, what type venues, the band, etc. The criteria for everything moving forward is personal fullfillment, profitability and quality.


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Bill in Dayton

Ditto, Bill.

I ALWAYS scope out a venue before I accept anything. This stems from one incident where an agent, whom I've since abandoned, set up a gig at a lounge. I wasn't familiar with the area and when I arrived and was about to unload my gear, some jerk in a pick-up drives through the front window and all hell breaks loose. That was it. I never even opened the trunk of my van and was outta there.

Of course, you can't 'scope out' with private functions, but you try to glean as much info as possible up front.

I always check out the venue before agreeing to work there. Recently, I got an offer from a huge indoor/outdoor complex. There was a nice dining room, a large dance area on the bottom floor, a large outdoor patio and a huge outdoor bar, stage and game area (some kind of bean-bag toss and volleyball).

They wanted me in the dining room in the winters and on the patio and on a 60 person boat they're outfitting as a dinner cruise boat.

Problem was, the dining room had continuous Buffet music, which I don't do, The food was awful and the customers were country music fans.

I ran like the wind, even though the contract was extended and generous.

That just wouldn't have worked out, and the pay was considerably less than what private parties pay.

It just wasn't for me, but I appreciated the offer. The owner has seen an operation in St. Louis with a dining room piano player, and customers recommended me.


That was nice of them.


Russ

I seldom, if EVER, have a problem on gigs from this agent BUT I learned a loooooooooong time ago to ALWAYS make personal contact with the client so that there is no misunderstanding about what is expected ...
As for "DJ"ing tunes I don't play, well I usually ONLY do that when working a party that wants certain 'line dances' i.e. the Cha Cha Slide, and I tell them in advance that's what I will be doing ... and I don't think the client in this situation would have been happy with a "DJ" performance when they were looking for LIVE music ...
It's tough enough for musicians nowadays ... I'm not going to 'promote' "DJ"ing if I can help it ...
t.

As far as many clients are concerned, nowadays (especially the younger ones), a DJ and a musician ARE both 'live music'!

I guess that is to distinguish it from them just hooking up their own iPod's and spinning what they feel like.

Personally, I make sure the client (not the agent!) knows EXACTLY what I do (and don't do) before every single gig. I don't need the work so bad that I am prepared to stand by a laptop and DJ... I actually like PLAYING more than I like money...

THAT, and not wanting to be in an uncomfortable position, is why I did not take the gig ...
t.

Believe Zuki, believe.....

For example, we played an Old time Venue last night, average age of the patrons - 55 at least.
This Friday it will be MOR (50's 60's 70's, 80's, 90's) and up to the minute Top 40/RnB.

Guys, I'm not trying to be a Wise Ass, (you know me by now I think), I'm just saying it CAN be done.

Many of you on the boards want to specialize though, and I completely understand that. More power to you.

Perhaps one difference is in your saying "we", and I take that to mean a group of you or a band ... I definitely think it is far easier for a 'band' to have a mix of people who each can perform various genres, making 'the whole greater than the sum of its parts' and being able to perform well for different types of audiences ....
Having a "one man band" attempt that is a whole other matter ...
t.



[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 07-08-2009).]

OH NO...55! Was music even invented in their day????

Hellboy...c'mon down to Florida...and find out how young 55 really is.

Seriously, most pro musicians play to a wide variety of ages & social economic groups with a vast diversity of musical tastes. I don't look down on any one of them...but rather try to satisfy their expectations. If I don't feel right for the gig...I politely turn it down.

Eddie



[This message has been edited by btweengigs (edited 07-08-2009).]

No Tony, actually that's a Duo (my wife and myself) which is something to take into account agreed, but that speaks more to the fact that we can do a wider variety of Male AND Female songs, not the style (or even era) of songs per se.

Ya know it's funny, I find myself singing (and playing) 100% of the time as we back each other up with lead or harmony or very often dual vocal renditions of songs.
That is, I sing about as much on a duo gig as I have when I have soloed in the past...

Lol, yeah Eddie, I perhaps should have said the YOUNGEST was 55 last night (being kind) not an "average age" - truthfully many of them were in their 60's, 70's and (I suspect a few 80/90+ - I didn't ask, to be polite... ) more to the point, the musical Program is what we call a "60/40 dance" which is a strict Old Time Dance Program with specific sequenced and partner dancing (Swing Waltz, Oxford Waltz, Evening 3 Step, Canadian 3 Step, Pride of Erin, Gypsy Tap etc etc etc) with "Mixed" dancing thrown in at specific times.

We find it a very exacting schedule and form of performance, as the songs have to go to a certain number of bars and we have to (usually) vocally count the dancers in at the beginning of a vocal start so the sequence can be started (and stopped) at the right time.

We also play a musical game called a "Monte Carlo" (you guys know it?)

It's all fun, but certainly very different to our normal gigs.

So how's the Weather in Florida this time of year?....

Hotter than Hell (and far more humid!)

Seriously, I have a whole new outlook on Sinning... I don't think I have to worry any more, because I have been to Hell, and apparently, I can get a gig there!

Hellboy...
Diki covered the weather report in Florida. Good thing, because I have the urge to go buy some Dorito's.....if you know what I mean.

Great site, btw.

Eddie

Oh, if you mean my site, thank you kindly sir.

I live in the State of Queensland (Australia) and from what I can tell, the two climates (Florida and Queensland) are VERY similar.

Both hot and humid and noted for such.

I think I really, REALLY know how you feel right about now!

I hear ya ... The duos I play are usually with one of two sax players I work with, both of whom sing ... I am always doing harmony or background to their leads ...
Did the same thing in the band I had when I wasn't singing lead ...
t.

I actually liked Alanis Morisette a lot. I thought she had a number of great songs that the cover band I play in still covers today.

There WAS great music in the 90's...

What went wrong was we started to get lousy RADIO... The start of the Big Consolidation started (or got up to steam) then, and local radio stations started to have no DJ's or their own programming, and just started to take satellite feeds. Once you lose local promotion, the field of playlist choice narrows considerably, and you start to get this awful homogenization we currently suffer (at least in the US).

How many great bands got their start in the sixties and seventies by being pushed by a local area radio stations, and then blowing up nationally? Nowadays, that opportunity is MUCH smaller and less likely...

Unfortunately Diki, it's not just in the U.S.

In Australia, (and frankly I'm assuming most parts of the "Western World"), there is a pre-packaged corporate concept behind all commercial broadcasting that I'm aware of.

Aside from Community Radio and a scant Hour or two of "Let's Discover New Talent" Programs or Competitions, there are no DJ's who discover and play whatever they want including new Artists.

Even Internet Radio is quite commercial and structured (well, a lot of it is) though you DO get an INCREDIBLE amount of diversity and choice thanks to it's wide array of Genre and Niche Broadcasting - part and parcel of simply being the World Wide Web of course.

The bright side is though, Myspace (and other Social and Music Sites) let you discover new (or hell, even Old) Artists/Bands thanks to that same, good ole World Wide Web.

As much bad as there is on the Net, I also think it can be an overwhelmingly positive force for good - it's pretty much still "The People's (Virtual) Place", and it's now put the power back in the hands of the Artist.

As long as they self promote and believe in themselves that is.....

Diki and Hellboy are right. I know a couple of traditional "jocks" around here. Since consolidation and automation, they each work about 10 hours a week, part-time doing commercials and the banter that's played between pre-programmed tunes. They do a week-s worth of broadcast stuff (their "programs-20 hours playing time) and complete their commercial production in those 10 hours. They make a fraction of what they used to a few years ago.

Just for an eye opener, if you have access, go to a station run by Cumulus or other "biggie". The lack of live production and staffing is a shocker. The local staff, if any, is simply there to fill in the blanks left in the feed.


Russ (ex-old jazz jock) Lay




[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 07-15-2009).]

Yes indeed, mainstream radio is pretty much bottom of the barrel. College radio and stations which run by dint of public donations are the only ones left with any semblance of a real radio station with live human beings at the mic. and interesting playlists which aren't dictated by advertising moolah. One such station seems to be
http://www.phonographblues.com/2006_09_01_archive.html

which I stumbled upon quite by accident while searching the web for an old single of ours and which happened to be on their playlist (God bless 'em! ). There probably are many other stations of their ilk, but most of us seem to fall into the ennui of leaving the dial where it is. And we all buy the stuff that's advertised, don't we?

Still, it seems as though modern radio is a good fit with the current culture of declining human contact in this ever-cyberising world. Where does it go from here?