Keeping people offstage (no singing)

[LiveMusic]

I made a mistake letting someone sing. Made friends with this old guy at the bar. (The day before the gig.) As last night (the gig) wore on, the drunker he got. Nice guy turned into (what seemed to be) a volatile old coot. He said he sang with a band for 38 years. I doubt he ever sang with a band. He was horrible. Anyway, he liked my singing and talked all kinds of good stuff about more gigs and stuff. And he tipped big. I don't know a soul in the town where the bar is and it was sounded rather interesting.

 

Bad news is I let him sing a song. I could not get rid of him. I mean, I had to deal with old fart for two more hours. I had an Excedrin #47 by time I was done. I kept thinking his wife or waitstaff would help me but no. He's there every night and they hired me for tonight. I'm going to have to just flat out refuse to let ANYone sing, no matter who you are, I guess. Period, no singing.

 

There was a thread on this awhile back on one of these forums but I can't find it.

[A String]

We had a similar problem once. There was one town we played in where we met this really nice old man. He said he played the trumpet in an army band for 30 years. He wanted to know if he could get up on stage and play a song with us. We said sure.

 

He wanted a blues tune so we played "Stormy Monday". He blasted the trumpet so loud and off key that it made my skin crawl. After the song, he just sort of stayed on stage. We thanked him on the mic and kind of moved him in the direction of off stage, but he would not go. Finally, we started our next song.

 

He finished up the rest of the evening with us. The next night (We were there for a six nighter), He showed up again and just got up on stage with us. This happend every night we were there.

 

Several months later, we found ourselves booked into the same bar. As we showed up, the old man was sitting at a table with his trumpet in it's case, ready to go. We started our show and invited him up to play ONE song. After the song, we said,

"Sorry Eddie (His name), we're going to have to ask you to get down for now, but you are welcome to come back and play a song again tomorrow."

 

He was so happy about being asked back the next day that he hopped down off the stage right away.

 

On our third trip back, we found out he had passed away. As bad a player as he was, he was a nice guy. Getting an old person up for "ONE SONG" isn't a bad thing. Just make sure it's only for one song!!!

 

Sorry about the short novel. Got to typing my story and...You know how it is.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

You introduce him to the audience, you say nice things about him to the audience, you say closer things, like "Wasn't he great, somebody buy this mana beer", you puyt your arms around him and you walk him off the stage while someone else talks to the audience long enough for you to dump him.

 

It is really fun to bring people up from the audience, but set the ground rules before you get them up there.

 

One night, no lie, they couldn't get Springsteen off the stage with a crowbar. Now, it is an honor and all that, but after a couple of songs, my buddy's band had their own thing to do and it became a real PITA, even though of course, everyone there loved it and the bar owner loved it. The bar was famous for having popular drop ins come in and do a couple of tunes with whatever local band was on stage, so it wasn't a big surprise to have him show up, but most guys do one, two, or three songs and call it a night. It was fun for everyone but the band.

 

Bill

[BiC]

So, what did he sing???

 

[LiveMusic]

Originally posted by BiC:

So, what did he sing???

 

Heck I can't even remember. He didn't sing anything. He mumbled through something he asked me to play. He sucked. Oh yeah, I think it was Hank Williams songs. I gotta keep him off there tonight cuz he will not friggin leave. And he gets polluted and he's gonna tear up something. Knock over a speaker or something.

 

I used to frequent a bar owned by James Burton. Nobody set foot on that stage. Or it was a very hurried visit by Mr. Bouncer if you stepped on the first step. James oughta know. Been at it awhile. 'Cept I don't have a bouncer.

[tiger85]

Live,is it possible to get either the owner or the bartender or another employee involved in helping to keep this guy off of the stage? Or maybe even some audience members? Just wondering. Anyway, good luck and have a great show.

[picker]

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

everyone there loved it and the bar owner loved it.

That right there is the answer isn't it? Yeah it's a bite for the band, but they ain't there to play for themselves and they all got paid. You can play anything you want with anyone you want back home, but it's nicer to be payed, even if you don't get to play your set because a super star shows up and you have to back him.

Consider it a night-off with pay. Springsteen takes the heat if it sucks, and what you want to bet he can afford to pay for anything he breaks? Geez, the story is worth doing it for. My guess is the bar owner will hire you back because you were good sports about it, and maybe next time you'll get to work for the money...

[Vin-erator]

My personal rule is that guests don't sit in until the third (or last) set has begun. It reduces your exposure to these types of problems. Also, usually, the crowd has gotten much thinner by the last set.

 

I like the idea about getting someone else to buy him a beer. Up here, that can save you 6 bucks!

[tiger85]

Shoot I remember the night Hendrix and The Monkees came over to jam with us and my mother made them leave cause it was after 9:00 p.m. Oh well. What might have been.

[tiger85]

Originally posted by Vinny C:

My personal rule is that guests don't sit in until the third (or last) set has begun. It reduces your exposure to these types of problems. Also, usually, the crowd has gotten much thinner by the last set.

 

I like the idea about getting someone else to buy him a beer. Up here, that can save you 6 bucks!

Excellent advice! Invite 'em up when you have 3 or 4 songs left!

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by picker:

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

everyone there loved it and the bar owner loved it.

That right there is the answer isn't it? Yeah it's a bite for the band, but they ain't there to play for themselves ...

Well, the entire crowd showed up and paid their admission to see the band, not a surprise guest. And besides, maybe you don't -want- to play old rock songs to back up anyone. What if old rock songs are not your schtick? Theres definitely two sides to this. What might be an honor to you might be a real imposition to someone else.

 

Bill

[musicalhair]

I don't know, I guess I'm like into chaos and "Andy Kaufman" moments, but I think that would have been fun.

 

I like when people get up and join in on stage, sometimes it works great sometimes it is a big mess but that unpredicatablility is like part of the fun.

 

Especially if the crowd dug it, then it may have been more worth it than not.

[picker]

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

Well, the entire crowd showed up and paid their admission to see the band, not a surprise guest

 

Hey, you said they loved it. And why not? My guess is that they would have paid a lot more to see a Springsteen concert than a bar band, and they were NOT disappointed. If they had shown a dislike, my guess is that Springsteen would have lost interest pretty quick.

 

And besides, maybe you don't -want- to play old rock songs to back up anyone. What if old rock songs are not your schtick?

 

Like I said above, you can always play whatever you want at home, burt when you take money for it, just like any other hooker, you do what the john pays for, not what you'd like.

 

Theres definitely two sides to this. What might be an honor to you might be a real imposition to someone else.

 

As I read it, it would be an imposition to anyone. I ain't a Springsteen fanatic by any stretch of the imagination, and I know what a drag it is to have your show taken over, and by someone with nowher near the casche' of a SPringsteen. All I am saying is that sometimes you do what you have to keep making a buck. And hey, how many bands can talk about the night Bruce Springsteen got drunk and made an ass out of himself by Bogarting their entire show. You can't buy memories like that...

 

[g.]

Let's see: wild chicks with their hair caught in the guitarist's tuning pegs/string ends (ouch!), footpedal lead getting shorted out by a high heel, people tripping over mic cables and sending equipment crashing, spare instuments getting agshed, people that make your microphone look and SMELL really bad for weeks afterward... what's not to like? ; }

[Tedster]

Originally posted by LiveMusic:

I'm going to have to just flat out refuse to let ANYone sing, no matter who you are, I guess. Period, no singing.

 

There was a thread on this awhile back on one of these forums but I can't find it.

Solution...

 

Talk to the bar staff before the gig. Tell them you intend to tell folks that the bar owner didn't want anyone else coming up to sing at all. Let the bar owner deal with it. If I know most bar owners, they won't have a problem. If your drunk goes up to the owner, the owner will say something like "We had four tables get up and leave the last time anyone got up and sang. It's not gonna happen anymore".

 

If, on the other hand, the crowd loves it, the bar owner thinks it's funny or whatever...don't play there anymore.

[BlueZet]

Originally posted by picker:

Originally posted by bpark@prorec.com:

 

 

And besides, maybe you don't -want- to play old rock songs to back up anyone. What if old rock songs are not your schtick?

 

Like I said above, you can always play whatever you want at home, burt when you take money for it, just like any other hooker, you do what the john pays for, not what you'd like.

 

ground rule: we are a being hired because you want to hear US doing OUR thing - you heard the demo, maybe even saw us at another gig, THAT's what you get. We do NOT do requests, we haven't rehearsed the songs, maybe don't even know the song - If it's your girlfriends birthday, ask us to dedicate a song FROM OUR SETLIST to her, we'l even throw in a "happy birthday" (and maybe even kisses ), if you want to get on stage with us, you play along to one of the songs on our setlist WE'll tell you which one (or give you a choice), most likely it'll be at the end of the show, so you can enjoy the "finale" with us

[Gifthorse]

I had a similar thing with the guitarist for the Romantics. He saw us play live and liked my leads. He came up to me drunk as a skunk and started to 'close talk me', meaning he would keep getting closer and closer while he talked to me. His breath sucked and I hate that shit when people get too close. Anyways, all I wanted to do was leave and I had already put away my guitar and he went up on stage and grabbed it and started to show me what he thought I was doing. Of course I was nice and a good sport but I just wanted to get the hell out and go home!! It is always the drunks who do that stuff. Another time this guy kept asking me if I could play all these Ozzie guitar solos. He would come up to the stage in between songs and talk to me. After I started to ignore him he yelled, "you can't play revelation mother earth, you fuckin suck!!"

 

I thought that was hilarious actually.

[Chad Thorne]

Originally posted by flagshipmile:

[QB]...It is always the drunks who do that stuff.../QB]

Yup. It's a bar, these things happen.

 

IME, these old folks who frequent bars drinking over past days of glory, real or imagined, are often beloved by the rest of the regulars. From a strictly business point of view you can't just boot 'em off and be mean. Very likely the bar owner will help control him if you ask. Let him up for one song, everybody will like you for being nice, then get him sat down.

 

Springsteen, now - that's just celebrity assholism...