As I mentioned before, not all gigs would end well, and this was one of those times.
We had played well at the fundraiser and the owner of the establishment hired the band to perform the following Friday.
I stopped in to the venue to drop off some fliers promoting the gig. She was very pleased with the posters and the smaller fliers I had printed. We were discussing the times and music for Friday. Then she said “Oh here are the tickets.”
My response was, well frankly, no response.
“The tickets, “she continued, “Your band is responsible for selling these for the show.”
“I did not know that.” Naivety now showing.
“This is how it works” she explained, handing me 80 tickets “You have an 8 piece band that is only 10 per person.”
With tickets in hand I started toward the door.
“One more thing, “she added, “you will need to have someone working the door.”
I thought to myself that I had better get out of there or I will be sweeping the floors after the gig.
BlueShadow had a practice that night and I relayed the info I had received. Jerry’s response was “I ain’t selling any freakin’ tickets.” The rest of the band split up the tickets. I offered to have my son work the door for the night. It cost me $15.
The big night arrived. I gathered up the remaining tickets from the band and the money from the sold tickets. Between Todd, Mark, Dave, Al, and me we sold a total of about 40. I gave the money and the remaining tickets to the owner. Her response was less than glowing. I kept it to myself and we started the first set.
The band played pretty well. The guitarist said he was freezing and the horn section was sweating. I personally was having a great time. We played 40+ tunes with no train wrecks. From the stage the patrons seemed to be enjoying themselves. The show came to the end. I counted 11 people at the bar as we played the last note.
The Band started to break down the equipment. I was still feeling the buzz of the gig when I went to the owner to collect our fee. I started a rapid descent from my euphoric state however when she said it had been a slow night. I thought we had played pretty well, I countered. Apparently I was not catching her drift. “I am sure I lost money tonight “ she continued.
I did not like where this was going.
“Maybe the band should take less” she suggested.
“I can’t make that decision for the rest of the band, as for me I don’t think so. However I will put it to a vote.”
I put to the rest of the group it was a quick decision.
“No” I said “we will take the original fee.”
“Fine” was the last word she said.
That was not the end of it. The next day in Craig’s list there was an anonymous post blasting the band. The author said the bar however, was nice with good food. ----We just let it go.
We had played well at the fundraiser and the owner of the establishment hired the band to perform the following Friday.
I stopped in to the venue to drop off some fliers promoting the gig. She was very pleased with the posters and the smaller fliers I had printed. We were discussing the times and music for Friday. Then she said “Oh here are the tickets.”
My response was, well frankly, no response.
“The tickets, “she continued, “Your band is responsible for selling these for the show.”
“I did not know that.” Naivety now showing.
“This is how it works” she explained, handing me 80 tickets “You have an 8 piece band that is only 10 per person.”
With tickets in hand I started toward the door.
“One more thing, “she added, “you will need to have someone working the door.”
I thought to myself that I had better get out of there or I will be sweeping the floors after the gig.
BlueShadow had a practice that night and I relayed the info I had received. Jerry’s response was “I ain’t selling any freakin’ tickets.” The rest of the band split up the tickets. I offered to have my son work the door for the night. It cost me $15.
The big night arrived. I gathered up the remaining tickets from the band and the money from the sold tickets. Between Todd, Mark, Dave, Al, and me we sold a total of about 40. I gave the money and the remaining tickets to the owner. Her response was less than glowing. I kept it to myself and we started the first set.
The band played pretty well. The guitarist said he was freezing and the horn section was sweating. I personally was having a great time. We played 40+ tunes with no train wrecks. From the stage the patrons seemed to be enjoying themselves. The show came to the end. I counted 11 people at the bar as we played the last note.
The Band started to break down the equipment. I was still feeling the buzz of the gig when I went to the owner to collect our fee. I started a rapid descent from my euphoric state however when she said it had been a slow night. I thought we had played pretty well, I countered. Apparently I was not catching her drift. “I am sure I lost money tonight “ she continued.
I did not like where this was going.
“Maybe the band should take less” she suggested.
“I can’t make that decision for the rest of the band, as for me I don’t think so. However I will put it to a vote.”
I put to the rest of the group it was a quick decision.
“No” I said “we will take the original fee.”
“Fine” was the last word she said.
That was not the end of it. The next day in Craig’s list there was an anonymous post blasting the band. The author said the bar however, was nice with good food. ----We just let it go.
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