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I had a 3rd floor upstairs dinning hall gig last Saturday. One of the worst I have dealt with. First of all it was college with a receiving dock and no steps to get on the dock. We had to handle the gear so many times. Then It was an elevator that hardly worked. We then had to take our gear down a long hallway with carts that had wheels froze up to the stage in a dinning room. Then we had to argue with the stupid people that wanted to leave their power point presentation plugged in to where I had to set up my rig.

 

 

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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I'll go ahead and put up one. This wasn't the worst but the most infuriating. And the one I'll always remember.

 

This one is from the past. A large lounge that sat over 600. The main entrance was right next to the stage, but the owner insisted (and it was in the contract) that load in/out would be through the service entrance that was at the complete opposite end of the building.

 

We couldn't use the front even if we wanted to set up before opening. Or tear down after hours.

 

Probably the biggest jerk I've ever worked for continuously. An alpha male type who made up stupid rules just to dominate everyone around him. And I think he was a little jealous of the attention bands got, and wanted to punish anyone taking away from his time in the spotlight.

 

 

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My worst experience was moving a large JBL PA, hammond organ, and assorted other gear for an 8 piece show band to a second story club in a weird rustic mini mall where the only access to the stage was a wrought iron exterior fire escape stair.

 

The ceilings were really high so it seemed that we were moving almost 3 stories up.

 

It was narrow, slippery, had a right angle turn at the top, and was rickety as all getout. I thought that we were going to rip it off the side of the building and plunge to our deaths.

Moe

---

 

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I recall carting a few KBs, one of which was an 88-note in the 'older' SKB case up and down a long, narrow flight of stairs in an old church with no elevator. :cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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I had a 3rd floor upstairs dinning hall gig last Saturday. One of the worst I have dealt with. First of all it was college with a receiving dock and no steps to get on the dock. We had to handle the gear so many times. Then It was an elevator that hardly worked. We then had to take our gear down a long hallway with carts that had wheels froze up to the stage in a dinning room. Then we had to argue with the stupid people that wanted to leave their power point presentation plugged in to where I had to set up my rig.

 

 

A recent experience almost to the letter: The loading dock was the same; then it was a narrow hallway to the service elevator (I think this may have been Mr. Otis' first prototype, up 1 floor took about 3 minutes). Then down another long narrow hallway adjacent to the kitchen. That hallway served as an overflow for the kitchen personnel as well as break room for the bus persons. There we had to weave through the prep cooks, who set up their tables in the long narrow hallway to chop up fruits and veggies and the like. Finally, we get to the ballroom! Ahh, but we had to "stage" the gear in the back half of the room, because of activities that were supposed to end an hour earlier were still going on in the front half. And of course the stage was not yet assembled.

 

Handled each piece no less than 6 times. About 2 hours to load in, not including set up. Fortunately this a yearly gig which typically pays about 3 times our normal rate. So paraphrasing from another post, "We play for free, but we must charge you for load in and out."

Stan

Gig Rig: Yamaha S90 XS; Hammond SK-1; Rehearsal: Yamaha MOX8 Korg Triton Le61, Yamaha S90, Hammond XK-1

Retired: Hammond M2/Leslie 145, Wurly 200, Ensoniq VFX

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There is a bar/grill in town when I used to play gigs with a Motown band a few years ago(Merchants Grille for you, Jay). All those gigs were played in the upstairs bar, and everything had to carted up a long flight of stairs.

Kronos 88 Platinum, Yamaha YC88, Subsequent 37, Korg CX3, Hydrasynth 49-key, Nord Electro 5D 73, QSC K8.2, Lester K

 

Me & The Boyz

Chris Beard Band

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I'll go ahead and put up one. This wasn't the worst but the most infuriating. And the one I'll always remember.

 

This one is from the past. A large lounge that sat over 600. The main entrance was right next to the stage, but the owner insisted (and it was in the contract) that load in/out would be through the service entrance that was at the complete opposite end of the building.

 

We couldn't use the front even if we wanted to set up before opening. Or tear down after hours.

 

Probably the biggest jerk I've ever worked for continuously. An alpha male type who made up stupid rules just to dominate everyone around him. And I think he was a little jealous of the attention bands got, and wanted to punish anyone taking away from his time in the spotlight.

 

I had one almost exactly like this. The front door was less than 3 feet from stage left but the owner insisted that we bring everything in through the kitchen and then through the audience - the entire length of the building. That was 5 years ago and it pisses me off thinking about it now.

 

My worst was also a University Rathskellar. Loading dock, long hallways on flatbed carts, 2 freight elevators, through a working catering kitchen, length of the building to the stage. Two hours cartage plus set-up/tear-down on each end of a three hour gig.

 

Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer. W. C. Fields
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My worst experience was moving a large JBL PA, hammond organ, and assorted other gear for an 8 piece show band to a second story club in a weird rustic mini mall where the only access to the stage was a wrought iron exterior fire escape stair.

 

The ceilings were really high so it seemed that we were moving almost 3 stories up.

 

It was narrow, slippery, had a right angle turn at the top, and was rickety as all getout. I thought that we were going to rip it off the side of the building and plunge to our deaths.

 

Oh man Mate I remember doing several of these before the Disabilities Act. Same situation. Large band with Hammond and JBLs. I really don't know how we all survived. Youth and good luck I guess.

 

These days my worst load in/out room is a yacht club. Because it's private it's like the old days. A l-o-n-g outside staircase from the parking lot descending to a series of wet pitching floating ramps.

 

I do it as a single with just my ES7, Bose 802s, and a small rack. And usually someone volunteers to help.

 

If it wasn't such a fantastic gig I wouldn't do it at all. They feed me well and dance to literally every song. It's my best current gig.

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Played a gig during an Ice storm. Jersey Shore (1988).

Parked behind club. Tried to unload gear. Guitarist and singer decided not to help the off-load.

 

I pushed the giant caster wheel bins toward stage entrance.

 

Door locked - wind-chill -4. brrr.

 

Ran in through front door, used monitor wedge like a doorstop - yelled over to the slackers: "Help"

 

Slid back to car to wheel over rest of gear. Returned to find Monitor missing and door locked.

 

----------

 

Second bad event:

 

Leaving gig. Had to use the stairs. Drunk patron insists on helping out. Drummer says "carry one of those boxes".

 

The box he suggested contained drum hardware - too heavy.

 

the box the drunk guy picked up had my KB in it.

 

I walked back up the stairs only to see this guy stumble out with the giant skb case.

 

No sooner do I say "wait...", he stumbles, sprawls forward and the skb case hurtles down the concrete stairs END OVER END!!!"

 

"sorry..."

 

"aaaargh!"

 

Sure enough - the skb case did it's job - but I sustained a mild heart-attack.

 

 

 

 

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I have a somewhat regular gig at a casino (Slots only) no tables. The load in is tricky as it involves multiple check points, and security and chaporones.

 

We go in through the back, up a small stair case and pile all of our gear outside the door. Then pick up the phone on the wall and call the security guard who buzzes you in. You open the door and load everything inside.

 

Then you have the airlock. It's two doorways in the hall that form a mini room. You can't open the far one until the first one is closed. So you load in as much gear as possible into the stupid thing and close the door, and get the security guard to buzz open the other door and load it out. Go back and get the rest of the gear doing the same funny both doors must close to open the far door dance. Normally four trips to get all our gear through.

 

At that point we are at the security desk and we have to sign in. We give him our drivers license and he writes down the number and we get a badge.

 

While doing this he calls another guard who comes and meets us. They have two dollys that we load gear on and go with the guards to the next door that leads into the slots floor where the guards walk with us at a snails pace so we don't crash into anyone on the floor and get the casino sued. Then we go back and get more gear...

 

Not so much difficult, as slow and tedious. Lot's of starts and stops and no real way to make a straight shot in one trip.

 

Still fun gig and it pays well. Also, the guitar player in my band lost 20 bucks out of his pocket when he was getting his drivers license to sign in. Security found it, and rewound the security tape to see who the money belonged to and returned it!! That was cool.

 

I'm just saying', everyone that confuses correlation with causation eventually ends up dead.
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I was watching that Stevie Wonder tribute at the White House PBS special, and looked at all that gear and thought, "getting all that through Secret Service security must be a b*tch!"

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I had a gig go real ugly

 

That sounds interesting... do tell!

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I played for a Regan appearance in 1984 in HS. The secret service came in and said this is what you are to play and no deviations from the score for Hail to the Chief. They took all the gear apart including the fake rifles the color guard was using to look for weapons and left everything in the band room on the floor.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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Maybe not the worst loading story, but definitely worth sharing. I was moving into a new apartment some years ago and had a Yamaha S80 in a box. Well as it turns out I was lucky and had quite a few people(including many females unknown to me at the time)who showed up to help me. Well being the immature guy that I am, I attempted to heave the S80 box on my own over my head trying to show my superior strength :D . Well in the process I lost my footing and it fell right on top of me, literally. What makes the story is the description my friend gave as everyone was laughing hysterically. He described what he saw as being almost identical to the house falling on the witch in the wizard of oz. He said I was looking at this box with feet squirming on at the bottom and arms squirming on the sides frantically trying to get it off. It was like the box was alive.

Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive

- Rush

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LOL

 

Seriously, do you look back at that now and laugh? Or is it still one of those things for you?

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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LOL

 

Seriously, do you look back at that now and laugh? Or is it still one of those things for you?

That one really changed me. Mostly for the better over the years, but that really deeply affected me and still affects how I deal with others on a personal level to this day.
A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable.
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My worst experience was moving a large JBL PA, hammond organ, and assorted other gear for an 8 piece show band to a second story club in a weird rustic mini mall where the only access to the stage was a wrought iron exterior fire escape stair.

 

The ceilings were really high so it seemed that we were moving almost 3 stories up.

 

It was narrow, slippery, had a right angle turn at the top, and was rickety as all getout. I thought that we were going to rip it off the side of the building and plunge to our deaths.

 

I think I played that same place! Probably not, but it's funny, when I read the 1st post, my story of the gig in the mini mall on the 2nd floor with a B3 up the greasy, icy fire escape, right angle into a narrow pantry sort of place and then thru the kitchen to the stage came to mind right away. We actually did that gig a number of times. The fire escape was always greasy but when it had ice on it that made it that much more fun.

 

Another one was a gig at a big hotel in DC, the "Reptilian Cotilian", a save the earth snobby hippy party. Load in thru a loading dock with no lift truck, thru a myriad of dark passageways, elevator, more passageways, into a ball room that held 2000 people. It was a great gig, but the load in stunk. And when we loaded out, we had Barney Fife the security guard telling us over and over he was going to "shut us down" if we kept making noise. You can tell how that went....

Live: Korg Kronos 2 88, Nord Electro 5d Nord Lead A1

Toys: Roland FA08, Novation Ultranova, Moog LP, Roland SP-404SX, Roland JX10,Emu MK6

www.bksband.com

www.echoesrocks.com

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Last summer we did a country club party. We had to set up at four because a guitar duo was playing 5 to 8. We were 8 to 12.

 

It's one of those hot, windy days. Tornado watch. We are on a little stage under a pavilion tent thing open on three sides. It's almost five, we're all set up and sound checked when the sirens go off. The drummer has already left. Coming from the southwest is a wall of black clouds. We start grabbing gear and running for the nearest door. We get everything electrical into the adjacent dining room and throw a tarp over the drums.

 

My ten year old son is with me and we go down to the basement/cart barn. The power is out. When the storm has blown past, the patio is a wreck. Tents and furniture are blown over. The tent above our stuff would've blown away but for one corner sitting on the patio had its leg lashed to a 55 gallon drum (400+ lbs) full of water which has shifted about 3 feet. The other guys who stayed upstairs did get a little scared when it seemed the windows were going to blow out.

 

The power is out just in time for rush hour traffic on a Friday and it takes forever to get home. Turns out there weren't any tornados, but 80-90 mph winds. The streets are smeared with a green goo of leaves stripped from the trees and ground up by the traffic. I figure we'll head back out around 7 and pack up our stuff. Can't play without power. You can see for miles from the back patio and there's not a light on.

 

It turns out some quick-thinking club employee started calling rental places and secured enough generators to power up the kitchen, hang a few lights on the patio, and had a big one for the band. This is one of those golf courses built to sell real estate and almost everyone in the neighborhood belongs to the club. They figured there was food and drinks and music and it beat the hell out of sitting at home in the dark. Turned out to be a really fun gig.

 

edit: We also played in a heavy-duty permanent tent/pavilion that summer during a severe thunderstorm warning/tornado watch.

 

 

aka âmisterdregsâ

 

Nord Electro 5D 73

Yamaha P105

Kurzweil PC3LE7

Motion Sound KP200S

Schimmel 6-10LE

QSC CP-12

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It was the gig that never happened. It was a gig the band I was in college drove to play. My gear at the time included a C-3 and a Leslie + some synths and a Wurly. We were supplying the PA. Called ahead and asked about load in situation. We were told there was a large freight elevator and a loading dock. Drove 2 hours to the gig. Arrived and found the elevator was out of order, and we were playing on the 2nd floor. The only remaining way up was a wrought iron spiral staircase! The PA cabinet wouldn't even fit through the hole for the staircase. Needless to say, we couldn't play. To make matters worse, the owner was a total dick, and acted like it was somehow our fault.
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Maybe not the worst loading story, but definitely worth sharing. I was moving into a new apartment some years ago and had a Yamaha S80 in a box. Well as it turns out I was lucky and had quite a few people(including many females unknown to me at the time)who showed up to help me. Well being the immature guy that I am, I attempted to heave the S80 box on my own over my head trying to show my superior strength :D . Well in the process I lost my footing and it fell right on top of me, literally. What makes the story is the description my friend gave as everyone was laughing hysterically. He described what he saw as being almost identical to the house falling on the witch in the wizard of oz. He said I was looking at this box with feet squirming on at the bottom and arms squirming on the sides frantically trying to get it off. It was like the box was alive.

 

Who drew the Joker Avatar? Never seen that one?

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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Ten years ago. First gig with my new (then) band. Load in a Hammond Porta B with the designated Leslie and a Nord Lead 2 with a small mixer from the 5th floor in a crowded area of a crowded city and a small and dngerous elevator. Trying to find a place to park my car as near as possible in the jazz club. Load in the beasts one floor up with my two mates. Trying to find place in a narrow stage where there's also a grand piano. A bartender mocking me about my "dead-man-basket" (the hammond). Minimum money after the show. Load in the beasts and trying to find a place to park the-nearest-the-better at home. Setting up back in my studio 2 o'clock in the night...10 years past. Reduce this to a Nord Stage Compact with the gig bag, a pair of cables and a light stand. Now, even the Nord Lead 2 or my MacBook/Ozone are too much to carry around unless the money worth the hauling. Seems i get old
Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands
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Played a gig during an Ice storm. Jersey Shore (1988).

Parked behind club. Tried to unload gear. Guitarist and singer decided not to help the off-load.

 

I pushed the giant caster wheel bins toward stage entrance.

Door locked - wind-chill -4. brrr.

 

Ran in through front door, used monitor wedge like a doorstop - yelled over to the slackers: "Help"

 

 

How do you all deal with the slackers that don't seem to want to help move the gear? Been a problem for years. Either showing up late on the load-in or disappearing at the end of a gig on load-out. We work just about every Friday and Saturday and again Saturday night I found myself and the female singer rolling up PA cables, while the other 4 guys are nowhere to be found. The band leader is the female vocalist who seems to be afraid to challenge the slackers. Frustrating!

 

Cheers

Matt

Montage 7, Mojo 61, PC-3, XK-3c Pro, Kronos 88, Hammond SK-1, Motif XF- 7, Hammond SK-2, Roland FR-1, FR-18, Hammond B3 - Blond, Hammond BV -Cherry
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