| Great thread...
Story # 1
My band arrives 45 minutes before our show at the Max Creek festival. It's day one (fri) of the festi and we are the only act performing that night. Despite the fact I'm repeatedly telling the staff at the gate that we're on in 45 minutes they must still search our vehicles (loaded to the gills with gear) for glass bottles. Btw, the security resembled the Hells Angels in most respects. We get in and they have us play in an old barn on the property (not the main stage for some reason). 3 or 4 songs into it the place is packed with drunk/wasted folks freaking out and jumping up & down. Security forces in the "office" below become scared that the freaks will crash thru the floor of the barn. Security (bikers with billyclubs) jump on stage and start yelling at us. We don't know what's going on so we just keep playing. When we eventually stop they're screaming at us that we didn't stop when they told us to. So was the end of the gig and the friday night entertainment. Got paid in full and left.
Story # 2
My band has played 4 times in the Madison Hut on top of Mt.Madison in NH. Appalachian Mountain Club folks hike all our gear in and out on pack boards. A five mile hike from the base and about 5000 ft verticle which we of course must also hike. It takes me about 3.5 hours. Fortunately they feed us well and let us sleep there. It's the amc's annual party and It's an awesome experience. Talk about a captive audience.
Story # 3
An off night in Mobile, AL. There's 2 or 3 staff members and one couple sitting at a duece table. During the first set I make comments and jokes to the staff in between songs. A few times I try to engage the couple in banter but w/o any response. It's like they are ignoring us just to be rude. After the set I went over to talk to the couple and come to find out that they don't speak english. We had a few laughs, the couple left and we played the second set for the staff since they were nice enough to still pay us according to the contract.
Story # 4
I get hired as a sub for a wedding. The band leader also hires some of my regular bandmates for another wedding later in the day. I arrive to meet (for the first time) a drummer, fiddler and a guitarist and the band leader whom I know already. The entire band is made of subs. It takes a long time to get set up and there are problems with the lighting and power. At one point smoke comes out of my power strip and I quickly unplug my rig until everything else works for a while w/o a problem. Just before we go on for the first of 3 sets, the band leader says that he's "good for about 45 minutes" and then he has to run to the other wedding. He says that he knows that the fiddler and the guitarist and myself all have songs we can each lead/sing so just come up with some songs and we'll be fine. The wedding party is all big fans of the band so it's totally cool. Everything goes ok and we get thru the gig by taking turns picking/leading songs. Thank goodness we could all sing. During dinner we swap horror stories and generally badmouth the absent band leader. Classic moment: Guitarist's turn to pick a song, looks around audience; says "I don't know anybody here, Johnny B. Goode in A !" I think I was the only musician that day who got a check that didn't bounce, only because I was the first one to go to the bank on monday.
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Last edited by smokinbass : 06-29-2004 at 08:38 PM.
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