#1645389 - 04/09/05 08:06 PM
The Up's and Downs....
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Strangerbytheminute
Senior Member
Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 190
Loc: Seattle
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Last night before my gig I had one of those low points where you wonder if it's all worth it. 3 of my regular gigs have turned over their bookings to young employees so I'm having to sell yself all over again to 3 of my favorite places to play. I have to mention that we always do really well at all these places so it's not that there's trying to get rid of us. I think the owners have burnt out and turned over the responsibilites to subordinates.
So I'd like to know some of the experiences you all have gone through. Then I have to tell you what happened at the gig last night......
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#1645390 - 04/10/05 02:19 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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GZsound
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/17/01
Posts: 6074
Loc: Somewhere in Oregon
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Same kind of thing has happened to me. We have been promised several city sponsered events for the coming year only to find out the booking duties have been passed to someone else who has never heard of us and didn't get the promo pack from the last guy.
When I do my follow up calls I get the same answer.. "sorry we are already booked for this summer, but get me a promo pack, you guys sound perfect".. Horsepucky...Three times last week.
_________________________
Mark G.
"A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs
"I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson
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#1645391 - 04/10/05 09:01 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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way2fat
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 02/09/04
Posts: 4121
Loc: Egypt
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One of our favorite wineries booked a blues band into our twice yearly slots in an attempt to drive band prices down. On a freaking $600 gig. Looks like we won't be playing there anymore.
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#1645392 - 04/10/05 09:32 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Rick Hoffman
Platinum Member
Registered: 03/25/04
Posts: 1095
Loc: Long Island, NY
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You know something, I'm not very fond of young stupid people booking shows because they don't know what the hell they are doing. I think all booking duties should go to older, knowledgable professionals. But nah that makes perfect sense so it can never actually happen.
Give the booking duties to a young, ignorant douchebag, that's a good idea. Its the person that handles the bookings that will make or break the club's rep as a live music venue, no?
You know this is why I'm always on endless promotion duties, because of constant turn-over at clubs and bars. Well, maybe not constant but when you're dealing with hundreds of clubs and bars it seems that way.
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#1645393 - 04/10/05 04:17 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Strangerbytheminute
Senior Member
Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 190
Loc: Seattle
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It seems to be an epidemic in Seattle. I'm pretty sure it's not us. They were always happy before.
Anyway...this gig was in a new club and I was very nervous about people showing up so we could get this place as a regular gig. And the short of it was that the gig went wonderfully, everybody was dancing and screaming. This hot young thing danced in front of the stage the last half of the show, (and then tried to come home with me) all in all it was a great gig and totally re-energised me. My drummer was right on all night too, we had a blast. But it's like a roller coaster at times.....
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#1645394 - 04/10/05 05:17 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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GZsound
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/17/01
Posts: 6074
Loc: Somewhere in Oregon
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We get those too. Two weeks ago we had a gig booked at a regular club and our lead singer was home throwing up. So we decided to play as a four piece.
Place was packed from start to finish and a good time was had by all. I was really concerned since we don't want to lose the regular gig..
But my biggest problem is with club owners that book their own clubs more than youngsters who don't know anything.
These folks want us to play a gig for free to "see how it goes" and if you actually do play for them and do well, you find out they are booked six months ahead so you can't get on regular rotation. We no longer even bother.
Since our main diet is not club work anyway, I'm glad we don't have to jump into that club booking scene any more than necessary for a couple regular gigs.
_________________________
Mark G.
"A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs
"I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson
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#1645395 - 04/10/05 05:30 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Lee Flier
10k Club
Registered: 09/13/00
Posts: 15398
Loc: Atlanta,GA,UNITED STATES
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Yes this seems to be a problem everywhere. Nearly every club here in Atlanta has changed booking people several times since my band has been together - if the club hasn't just recently opened or changed owners or closed entirely. This usually means, like some of you have said, that we have to start all over with the promotional stuff because the new booker doesn't know about us. In a couple of cases we knew the owner personally and were still able to get gigs that way, but most of the time, we have to make the rounds all over again. It really sucks, but let's face it, most clubs are just not very stable anymore and they may constantly change their format in order to try to stay alive, or they may just sell out entirely to someone else.
One time a couple of years ago we had a gig at this restaurant where we'd never played before, and we kept seeing all these shady looking guys going back and forth between the band area and the kitchen. We had no idea what was going on but it didn't look good. Then we found out a couple of days later that the place had been shut down the next day. Seemed the owner had no money to pay the rent on the building, and he'd been trying at the last minute to come up with the money by dealing coke. Guess it didn't work out for him. There are still a couple of clubs that stay afloat by selling drugs. :rolleyes:
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#1645396 - 04/11/05 10:09 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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PBBPaul
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 07/31/02
Posts: 2949
Loc: Wonderful World of Cheese - Wi...
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Originally posted by Lee Flier:
There are still a couple of clubs that stay afloat by selling drugs. :rolleyes:
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#1645397 - 04/11/05 11:11 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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SpookyKid
Senior Member
Registered: 04/07/05
Posts: 150
Loc: Ft. Lauderdale
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Yep, this happens all the time here. It's really hard when you have to replace a member and take some time to get them up to speed. By the time your back into the scene everything has changed. Clubs have closed, different people are booking or the club has just changed there format. What helps is to keep a book of all your clubs and contacts. Sometimes a person will quite one club and get hired for booking at another. Also you can use these people as reference and name tossing.
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#1645398 - 04/11/05 01:02 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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CMDN
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 11/13/01
Posts: 6105
Loc: Philadelphia,PA,UNITED STATES
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After playing in this town for so many years, I've seen some clubs change booking agents and policies 10 or more times. They go through booking agents like a flu clinic goes through tissues.
I've seen some joints go from being "the" place to play to being virtual wastelands. It really sucks, but that's the nature of the business. One of my favorite places went from being a seriously undergroundy music venue to a cheezeball "shiny shirt" dance nightclub DJs in about a month... another place that used to be a total dump is now hot shit...
It's the nature of the beast—shit changes constantly, but the same faces seem to recycle. Hence, the old adage about burning bridges in the entertainment industry rings true even on this level—so be nice to everyone, as that kid who's annoying the crap out of you at a show today could be an important booking agent next week.
_________________________
\m/
Erik
Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?
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#1645399 - 04/11/05 01:10 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Lee Flier
10k Club
Registered: 09/13/00
Posts: 15398
Loc: Atlanta,GA,UNITED STATES
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Originally posted by PBBPaul:
Ah yes.... I've run into that one many times. The problem with those (beyond the obvious :rolleyes: ) is that the club owners tend to be their own best customers.
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#1645400 - 04/11/05 08:00 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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GZsound
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 01/17/01
Posts: 6074
Loc: Somewhere in Oregon
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Well, here in Portland, a lot of the bands are payed with Video Lottery proceeds. I know one club that said he couldn't afford live music at all if he didn't have lottery machines. The normal crowds he gets just don't spend enough to support a band.
So all my friends are addicted to gambling or we don't let them come to the gig..
_________________________
Mark G.
"A man may fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame others" -- John Burroughs
"I consider ethics, as well as religion, as supplements to law in the government of man." -- Thomas Jefferson
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#1645401 - 04/11/05 09:52 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Strangerbytheminute
Senior Member
Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 190
Loc: Seattle
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I finally got ahold of two of the places that I've had trouble getting to and they both said that they love what we do but they are considering not having music for a while to see if it affects business. One of the places has had continuous live music for 30 years, but now has a new owner.
It's really easy to get all twisted up over it, but it just means I have to go out of town a bit. I've been extremely lucky in the fact that I've been able to play in the city almost every weekend for the past couple of years, but it looks like that's about to end......
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#1645402 - 04/12/05 07:31 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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cherri
Gold Member
Registered: 09/10/03
Posts: 731
Loc: N. MI USA
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My latest frustration: We've played a place about three or four times a year for two years. The manager is always tough to reach, especially with my day job.
Last time we played, at the end of the night he said he didn't want to book anything right now. Time passed, can't get ahold of him, when I finally do drop in and catch him, he tells me they aren't doing bands for a few months to see how that goes.
But in talking to other musicians in the area, seems like everyone else is playing there. I hit the guy up again in early March, he says, "Call me next week, we'll set something up for April 9." So I call three times, and he doesn't come to the phone. The week of April 1, a fellow musician tells me they're playing there April 18, and saw us on the schedule for April 9. So I figure I better find out what's going on. I cruise into the club to talk to the guy and he's not there, so I leave him a note. He finally does call, to tell me we're not on the schedule and they aren't having bands. Except the three they had last weekend and my musician friend next weekend.
I'm not calling that place any more. Makes me crazy. Trouble is, our fans keep asking us when we'll be back. I tell them to ask the bar manager that question.
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#1645403 - 04/12/05 10:47 AM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Strangerbytheminute
Senior Member
Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 190
Loc: Seattle
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Tht really sucks Cherri...
I was afraid that I was getting the brush off too from the one place, so I called and asked if they had music. They told me the stage is getting repaired for 6 weeks.
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#1645404 - 04/12/05 10:06 PM
Re: The Up's and Downs....
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Picker
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 7247
Loc: A few miles from the corner of...
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Originally posted by cherri:
...our fans keep asking us when we'll be back. I tell them to ask the bar manager that question.
_________________________
Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away.
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