Saturday, June 5, 2010
Cool Gig
Saturday night, I played a gig at Peachtree 200, which is the old Macy's building in downtown Atlanta. This gig went really well. Some developers decided to turn the building into an event center, hoping to bring life back to Downtown Atlanta. The event was the grand opening of the center. Some pretty heavyweight people were there, including Mayor Kasim Reed. Unlike the gig the previous night, things went well. Sometimes it takes having a good gig to overcome a negative one. TTYL
Weird Night
On Friday night, I attempted to play a solo gig at a particular restaurant. I'm not revealing names. At some solo gig, I use tracks. My PA fell apart at the gig. It was a problem that I never encountered. I figured I'll play solo for the 1st set and fix it for the 2nd set. Unfortunately, the "owner" didn't like it and I was told to cut it.
Here's what they said: Everything I played sounded the same and there were complaints. I never found out what were the complaints were. I just packed my stuff and left. FYI...It's hard to have variety with one instrument. I was also given a story about how they never had problems with equipment as long as they had live music. FYI...eventually you will have problems. Things break and have to be fixed.
For those who think I'm just B@#ching about a bad gig, I've done solo gig for over 10 years with no problems. To be honest, I think the owner wanted to have his little meeting and his people were the only ones complaining. The 10-12 customers that were there seemed to enjoy it. I also think that because it wasn't a packed house, he wanted to save some money. This is another reminder that you need contracts. Too many of us are performing without them. I know we want to play and need the money, but we have to be smart.
The only reason I'm being nice is that they did pay me for what I played. If they would have stiffed me, every musician in Atlanta would have known about it. I would be sending warnings like crazy!
My wife has helped to realize that I can't let ONE gig ruining my mood or feelings about music. I just need to move on. As some would say in the business world... SWSWSWN (some will, some won't, so what, Next!).
Here's what they said: Everything I played sounded the same and there were complaints. I never found out what were the complaints were. I just packed my stuff and left. FYI...It's hard to have variety with one instrument. I was also given a story about how they never had problems with equipment as long as they had live music. FYI...eventually you will have problems. Things break and have to be fixed.
For those who think I'm just B@#ching about a bad gig, I've done solo gig for over 10 years with no problems. To be honest, I think the owner wanted to have his little meeting and his people were the only ones complaining. The 10-12 customers that were there seemed to enjoy it. I also think that because it wasn't a packed house, he wanted to save some money. This is another reminder that you need contracts. Too many of us are performing without them. I know we want to play and need the money, but we have to be smart.
The only reason I'm being nice is that they did pay me for what I played. If they would have stiffed me, every musician in Atlanta would have known about it. I would be sending warnings like crazy!
My wife has helped to realize that I can't let ONE gig ruining my mood or feelings about music. I just need to move on. As some would say in the business world... SWSWSWN (some will, some won't, so what, Next!).
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