Ever had a great gig fall through?

[PorkPieGuy]

I've been doing this music thing way too long.

Every few years, I'll have a really great gig fall through for various reasons. I guess I was due, so yesterday, I had another one fall through.

Anyone else have a great gig fall through? Care to share?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by PorkPieGuy

I've been doing this music thing way too long.

Every few years, I'll have a really great gig fall through for various reasons. I guess I was due, so yesterday, I had another one fall through.

Anyone else have a great gig fall through? Care to share?

Yes it's just part of the business and part of life.

If you want to experience serious disappointment and rejection, start trying to market your original songs

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Yes it's just part of the business and part of life.

If you want to experience serious disappointment and rejection, start trying to market your original songs

Oh man, been there done that!

We do covers and originals, so I guess I'm still doing it because I'm a glutton for punishment.

[philjs]

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably ain't.

Phil

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by PorkPieGuy

Oh man, been there done that!

We do covers and originals, so I guess I'm still doing it because I'm a glutton for punishment.

Yes indeed I have attended 4 or 5 Durango Songwriter Expo's (a lesson in humility and inspiration)
The subject of "Achy Breaky Heart" came up, apparently it was rejected some 200 times until Billy Ray cut it, and became the best selling single in Nashville's history at that point.

[Tele1111]

If you haven't, you really haven't been gigging long.

I've had very promonent venues sign a contract and then pull out at the last minute. After my expenses were already incurred. I've even had a few where a agreed upon fee (in a contract) was "refused" and they want to change the fee. Try and be calm in that situation. It's my reputation, so i act accordingly. (Calm, and without incident) But it stinks. Needless to say, I never returned to any of those venues.

Mark

[RustyAxe]

Define "great gig" and "fall through". I've had gigs cancel, of course, most often weather related and unavoidable. And I try to work with the promoter/venue to everyone's satisfaction. But to try to recover expenses or get the guarantee called for in your contract might cost you more than it's worth, i.e.; the game just ain't worth the candle. My contracts state that I get paid BEFORE I perform. I don't enforce the clause unless I have serious doubts about the gig.

A few years ago my country band were booked for a Saturday night into a sleazy joint in a nearby city. We called to confirm on Wednesday of that week, and everything was a go. Showed up Saturday evening, and the place was closed with chains and padlocks on the door. Seems the state tax department shut 'em down on Friday morning for non-payment of taxes, license fees, and a dozen other sins against the state. Trying to pursue our pay would have been an exercise in futility.

[cotten]

My "gigs" are a bit different from what most here are likely thinking, but the principles are much the same. It is when we are disappointed or even insulted that the kind of person we are is most clearly evident. I've gotten some great gigs because of the way I handled things when other gigs fell through. The world has plenty of easily offended jerks - be the kind of person that someone remembers fondly the next time they're setting up a great gig.

That said, it can be wise sometimes to have a clear understanding ahead of time, perhaps even on paper, of what will happen if a gig falls through. For instance, my wife taught piano, and the "product" she sold was her training and ability as a teacher, and her time. She learned that in her situation it was best for students to pay for lessons a month in advance. She had a very generous but clear policy on makeup lessons or refunds. This was absolutely necessary, and very helpful.

cotten

[815C]

Yep. A few years ago a big Wall St. firm was having a big party and hired my cover band to play it. They were paying all travel (from Nashville), room, and board, plus back-line gear, sound system/sound man, and lights, and then playing the band $20k on top of that.

Then they had some news come out on the front page of the Wall St. Journal and the CEO decided it wasn't time to throw a big party.

Easy come, easy go....

[Chicago Sandy]

Besides the usual run of coffeehouses closing down or clubs deciding to drop live music (after a visit from the BMI or ASCAP rep) just before my gig date? I’ve got two, albeit from long ago.

1.
In the early ‘80s I led a musical double life as both a solo folkie and one-third of an acoustic rock (two guitars, three voices) trio. The first time, we were about to enjoy a fun evening watching the Venetian Night boat parade when we got a frantic call from a club owner asking us to fill in for his regular Sat. night act who’d called in sick, and the gig paid $400 (big money for us back then). So we drove out to the exurbs to a club with a “no colors, leave guns at the door” sign in the vestibule. Not promising, but at least no chicken wire. We asked where we should set up, and the bartender pointed to the downstairs room. So down we went and were amazed to see a P.A. already set up, with even a foot-operated bass pedal keyboard (yup, an octave, with sharps & flats). We set up, sound-checked, and were barely into the first verse of the first song when we heard an angry bellow:
“GET THE F… OUTTA MY GIG!”

We turned around to see…an Elvis impersonator in full regalia. Our leader said, “But the owner said you called in sick and asked us to play!” Elvoid replied, “Well, I’m here now, and I’m playing.” We called the owner, and he said the club had two levels and we should just alternate sets all night, and would still get our money. So we hauled our gear back upstairs, set it up, and started up the minute Elvoid finished his first set. Except for once or twice when he decided to give himself an unsolicited encore, it worked out pretty well. At 4 am we walked out, exhausted but fully-paid—with the bartender telling us she’d reported how well it went and the owner told her to offer us two more gigs, on Friday nights, when we’d be the only act. Hot dang!

So we drove back out the next Friday night, played till 4 am, and was told by the bartender we’d get our $800 after the following Friday. Our leader’s arm was so sore his wife & I had to give him ice massages before he could manage to crawl into bed at 7 am. The following Friday, we walked into the bar…and there was a different bartender. And Elvoid setting up downstairs. “Never heard of you,” the bartender said. “The boss didn’t say anything about a band. Or money.” So we never went back, and were out the $400 we’d earned the previous week and another $400 we were supposed to have earned that night. Poetic justice: the club got raided a week later for illegal gambling by a motorcycle gang.

2. Earlier that summer, one performer who’d alternated with me as a soloist and at open mics at a local LGBTS (yup, all orientations welcome—way ahead of its time) folk/cabaret bar called me up and told me she was moving to Nashville and asked if I’d like her regular Sat. night gig at a bar on the far Northwest side of town. I replied I’d be honored, but the two of us should meet with the owner first to make sure I’d be acceptable.

So we all had lunch the next day, and the owner, who had a heavy Eastern European accent, said I came highly recommended and if I was okay by Becky I was okay by her—could I play four one-hour sets? Sure. All covers? Yup. Did I have my own P.A.? Well, my leader said I could use the band’s, since we didn’t have any group gigs booked for the next few Sat. nights. And would $300 be acceptable? (For a solo folkie, that was huge).

So I put together four hourlong set lists, heavy on the (then) classic rock and folk-rock with at least a dozen current covers. Practiced my keister off, loaded the P.A. into my little Datsun along with my 6 and 12-strings, and off I drove. Pulled up to the bar an hour before showtime and loaded in.

First sign that things were about to go awry: there were several women in scanty lingerie circulating among the crowd selling what looked like raffle tickets. Then they got up on to the bar and paraded around, then drew ticket stubs from a fishbowl and tossed various items of lacy undies to the lucky winners. And then it was my turn.

So I set up and began to play. The crowd quieted down and began listening…and more importantly, ordering drinks. Sometimes they sang along. I even interacted with them, telling them if they could identify the artist who originally did the semi-obscure Sixties cover I was about to play I’d buy them a beer at the break. (And one did). So the break came, I was handing out my business cards like crazy and writing down requests.

Then the owner stormed in. “Vere is your bass pedal? Vere is your drum machine? Nobody ees densing. You steenk. Get outta my club! I vill call rock band now.” The bartender shrugged and slipped me a twenty. I had played exactly one hour. I gathered my stuff and people kept coming up to me aghast, asking why I was leaving. “Ask the owner,” I replied.
One couple told me that they wished I could come out to their suburb’s coffeehouse and play. I slunk home in defeat.

A week and a half later I got a call from the manager of that coffeehouse. He said a couple had come in the Friday night before and raved about me. So he asked me if I’d be willing to come out and play a 3-person showcase that Friday. I did. Then he offered me my own night a month later. I’ve been playing at that coffeehouse ever since (including some of its “favorites” sets at a local folk festival), even though it’s been so popular over the years that artists are booked on a 2-to-3-year rotation.

As a friend once put it, “When God closes a door, someone else jumps out a window."

[cotten]

Sandy, you always have The Best stories! Thanks for being here, and sharing your experience with us.

cotten

[Pitar]

I can't say I've ever had a great gig, meaning, a venue I had or hoped to have, because I never wanted one. Gotta want it first. I like the idea of new. Plus, I don't do it for an income so it's just the few traveling minstrel gigs that I like.

I have been asked back but that often conflicts with my calendar, which is pretty full of scheduled days to do nothing at all, so my repeats are few and far between.

[6L6]

The better part of 30 years ago, our Classic 50/60's Oldies Band MID LIFE CRISIS opened for Tower of Power. Shortly thereafter, one of our bandmembers received a call from the Johnny Carson Show (who had been contacted by a Tower of Power bandmember) and was asked if we'd like to come on the show with one special condition... our regular drummer was out and Johnny would be playing the drums. BTW, Carson could REALLY PLAY the drums. I saw him sit in with Doc Severnson's band one night and he could flat out play.

Of course, we said "YES!" and they said they'd get back to us.

Well, we eventually received a call saying the deal was off. When we asked why, they told us, "You'll find out very shortly."

Johnny had decided to retire and Jay Leno was coming in.

SO... we contacted Leno's people and they said in an extremely rude fashion, "We don't care what Johnny Carson was going to do, we are not interested."

Now, all of us had real day jobs and we had no visions of a new career in the music industry. But it sure would have been fun to play that show. Here's a pic of us playing the County Fair that day we opened for Tower of Power:

[Mooh]

The celtic band was booked for one of a video recording series related to a local annual folk festival. Due to minor time restraints, the artistic director cut us in favour of other bands/artists. The video series ended up being released as a multi DVD set and broadcast on public TV. (To elaborate, we were cut at the last minute, dressed, tuned, warmed up and ready to go on stage.) As the local sweethearts of the festival, and long time volunteers, we felt we got the shaft.

Last summer I had a great gig with my violin/guitar duo become a mediocre gig with a pickup band because the violinist forgot to mark the date in her calendar and booked a flight somewhere. I found out way too late to do anything more than slap together a pickup band of guys who kinda owe me. The violin/guitar duo hasn't played since...I can only guess I've done something to piss her off.

After teaching at a summer music festival for a couple of summers I had to turn down 2 subsequent ones because the artistic director didn't try to book me until way after I had taken other work/gigs. He expected me to drop other commitments for his event but I'm unwilling to give others the shaft. I had called him to offer my services prior to taking other work but he would never book soon enough, even though it's pretty much a sure thing event (and continues to this day). I guess because I turned him down a couple of times he now doesn't call at all. I liked the gig, but as a working musician I gotta make hay while the sun shines.

In 40+ years of gigging there hasn't been a lot of gigs fall through, but those 3 kind of stick in my craw.

[Mandobart]

A slightly different twist for me. My "day" job for years was as a power plant operator working rotating shifts. Lots of time off, but only have 2 real weekends (saturday and sunday) off each month. My main gigging partner had no job but music. He would land gigs and ask me if I could play. Many times I could. There were a couple times when I really wanted to play a special gig with him but couldn't as no one could cover the shift (and I never want to be "that guy" who is always asking someone to cover work for them). So I missed a chance to play some great local gigs. Now he's passed away and I get offers for fewer gigs. My current job is day shift only, 4 days a week so I have more "normal" free time And can play music more.

I guess many of us "hobby musicians" run into that conundrum - if I didn't have my day job I'd be able to play tons more gigs. BUT if I didn't have my day job, even if I got a $200 paying gig each night for 7 nights a week I would bring home less $, have no healthcare for my family and no retirement. And I like my custom instruments, and camping at music festivals, and taking vacation now and then, so I do what works best for me. Fortunately there are three different music organizations in my area with up to 10 events per month to get together and pick tunes with other players.