Unexpected gigs

[paologregorio]

AC-30 HW, hands down. After all, wasn't it you who said "it can nail the tone of anything you want"? What kind of music/audience will you be playing to?

+1: I'm not all that fond of the `59 Bassman RI.

I just picked up a 50th Anniv HW AC30. It's pretty cool!

[whojamfan]

I've had many gigs that have turned out less than favorable. Too many I really can't post here, but here's a lovely example of one:

Mid 90s, Hawthorne, California,

We're on the stage playing and there were several unsavory characters hanging out from different, let's say, social clubs. A guy I'll call Knucklehead walks over to the head of the other "social club" takes his pitcher of beer off the table, takes a big swig, and throws the rest on the guy. Well not to be accused of not rising to the challenge, the beer owner and his crew decide to engage the other guys in some very violent activity. The whole club, before our playing eyes on stage, erupts into a riot with people running everywhere breaking stuff and heads. Then, a swarm of idiots end up on stage chasing knucklehead down and in the process, bring the PA columns down on us while we were playing. We had to dodge all of that, and I discovered what a usefull defense weapon my Les Paul could be. The owner brings out a shotgun and all of the idiots run out of the place.

So, we pack up our gear, a little shaken obviously, and go outside to pack it up, and there stands knucklehead with a pipe and for some reason he thinks my friend is the cause of his problems. He is obviously drunk,and starts heading towards us. I know this guy, not a friend, but know him, so I walk towards him in a calm and curious manner and ask him why he's doing this, and then take the pipe out of his hand and threw it on the roof. At that time, the cops show up.

My only thought is to get my gear out of there and get home, so I start to load up my VW bus. The cops are parked in the space behind me on the other side of the throughway in the parking lot, watching me load up. I finish, get in, start the engine, put it in reverse, and bingo, the cops hit the siren and lights.

Great, I'm thinking, what now?

The cop comes up to my window, tells me to get out for a sobriety test, so I comply. I don't drink so this shouldn't be a problem, right? Nope, always a problem with the cops. I asked him if he thought I was drunk why he didn't confront me in the parking lot when he was watching me load. He replied that he was waiting to see if I was going to operate a motor vehicle while impaired. This, of course after all I had just been through, really made me mad and I just didn't care anymore, so I threw up in front of him and asked him if he smelled any alcohol. He said no, and I got in my bus and bailed, fully expecting me to pull me over, which thankfully, he didn't.

Oh yeah, and of course, no money for the gig.

Knucklehead went to state psychiatric hospital a few months later when he was found cooking a dog on or near some railroad tracks. Pcp had fried his brain.

So, there you have it, one of the worst gigs I've ever done, and I have many more, but most are unfit for forum compliance.

[whojamfan]

2. What guitar did you use? was it your tele? If it was your tele, why didn't you break it on some of their faces, kids who attack in a group will run away if you hurt one of them bad enough. I know it from experience.

+1
Unfortunately, I have been their too.
While not supporting or condoning violence in any way, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

[jps]

This, of course after all I had just been through, really made me mad and I just didn't care anymore, so I threw up in front of him and asked him if he smelled any alcohol.

I would have thrown up on the officer for what he put you through!

[whojamfan]

The thought sure crossed my mind, but I'm sure he would have gotten me on assaulting a police officer.

[jps]

Only if he was a crooked cop, otherwise you were just throwing up.

[admin]

I would ask the obvious at this point.

If you have a personal situation that you wish to discuss that is in violation of the criminal code, the appropriate response is to contact the authorities. It is not appropriate discussion for this board. Those who feel that such discussion is pertinent here do not know the difficulty that may arise from this dialog.

These posts have been removed.

[stubby]

Well mine is certainly innocuous Peter. One of the bands I play in is a Celtic band. We used to have a couple more guys but over the last few years it's just been a duet. I handle strings and my buddy plays whistles, recorders, bodhran, bones, and concertina. We mostly play pubs and festivals but we get the odd weird gig. One day a few years ago, my buddy asked me if I'd into playing the National Dog Show in Kitchener Ontario. Apparently, we were to play jigs and reels as people entered and as the dogs came into the stadium to kick off the competition. We were scheduled to play about 45-60 minutes. They wanted something simple and straightforward for set up so I just brought a mandolin and an acoustic and my buddy brought a pocketful of whistles. The show started at something like 7:30 a.m.. I couldn't get any babysitters so I brought my two daughters along (they were about 4 and 7 at the time) and my friend's wife could watch them there while we played. It was the first time they had seen me at a "gig." This was out of town so I had to haul my kids out of bed at around 5 a.m., get some food into them, and drive for an hour. We then looked around for about an hour to find somebody who could tell us where to set up. We got set up in the middle of a big track and were ready to play. The organizer told us to hold off, to wait for this and that, etc., etc. When we finally got the signal to play, as most of the dogs were already in, we played exactly Part A of a jig (approximately 20 seconds) and then got the signal that we were done. We still got our $600 for the morning's work so I figure that if you calculate the wage/hour, this is the best paying gig I've ever played! When I finished and went to see my kids in the stands all they said was "That's it?" Needess to say, they were unimpressed with the life of a hobbyist musician.

[jdogric12]

If you got paid $600 for 20 seconds of music, and were able to get that rate for a whole year, 52 weeks, 40 hours a week, your salary would be $224,640,000. Nice work if you can get it!!!!!!!!!

[stubby]

Yea, it's like I was one of the Rolling Stones, for a few seconds. Except I don't think the Stones play dog shows....

[captsandwich]

Dogs & whistles, huh?
That story ended better than I thought it would.

[captsandwich]

Oh, I just thought of another: our brand new booking agent told us we had a gig at a new club in on of Toronto's suburbs. Neglected to tell us that it's not really new, it's a club trying to attract a more diverse audience, ie; one that does not stuff dollars into performers g-strings. Yes, he booked us to play a strip joint. An 8 piece ska band with a female lead singer in a strip joint. The stage was completely surrounded by mirrors and the PA was suspended from the ceiling pointing back at the stage.
Awesome sound.
The 'sound man' was also kind enough to set my mic up right next to the large vertical brass pole that was slightly to stage left.
Awesomer.
A large number of strippers showed up, since they all seemed to 'live' in the apartment upstairs. They were all very nice girls to chat with. I don't think I sat down all night for fear of what might be on any flat (or non-flat for that matter) surface.

[johnashfield]

In the 90's my band was just starting to play and we thought it would be cool to play the stone pony, in Asbury Park, NJ. This was before it was re-opened so it was seedy, and they had the back bar fenced off with iron fencing! It was a "battle of the bands" pay to play thing, and it was on the way to a beach house we had rented with some friends. So got the tickets we were supposed to sell... and just planned on eating the rest and paying up when we showed up to play. Some friends bought tickets, some we just gave gave away. And we just "bought" the rest ourselves and paid the lady running the event. She got really ****** that we didn't have people there for each ticket and changed us from where she said we'd play, to being the last band on.

Our friends stayed, and were the only people there over 21, so they were off to the side of the stage in the fenced in area drinking and hanging out... all the bands played... then we played to just our 7 or so pals. Then the lady running the battle of the bands starts berating us, saying we didn't bring people, blah blah blah, I counter with well we paid you and met our end of the deal and then you treat us like s**t, so bleep off". The manager hears all this, tells the lady we were the only band with people buying booze and that he liked us. He then tells her to "bleep off". Then he had us come and play a few more times at the bar before it closed.

He would always book on nights that had all bands he didn't like, so he could hear at least one band he did. So my bubblegum rock band played a bunch of nights with Iron Maiden cover bands, Rage Against The Machine wannabes, screamo bands... it was kinda funny. I learned to take the "I hate the kind of music play, but you do it great" comments really well!