What's the most ridiculous request you've had at a gig?

[Doug Ring]

Coulda been worse. Coulda been Baker Street...

[Kneehimiah]

A few years ago I think it was a movie called Four Weddings and a Funeral (That or the Wedding Planner) that featured a sing-a-long of Say a Little Prayer For You. Well, we're playing our little wedding, and a group of drunkening (this word is defined as getting sloppy stupid with the aid of spirits at a very rapid rate) young girls come up and request the song. I blurted out that we didn't know it, not giving anyone else in the band a chance to answer. I'd seen the movie, I think on a bet. Well, this one loud girl insisted that she knew the song and would sing it. So as in the movie a group starts out singing. Then they turned for the curve (for the bridge) and they started falling apart, mumbling lyrics, looking to each other for support. I actually knew the song better than anyone in the band and...plucked softer and softer until I was no longer there. The girls just...stood there for a moment and then went...away.

Kneehimiah
www.ramonpooser.com

[Kam]

I was in a jazz combo in high school, drums-bass-keys-sax. We generally played restaurant bars in the Milwaukee, WI area. One night at a very German, very ritsy restaurant, a large man who could have passed for Santa Clause yelled out from his table, "Do you know (insert name of german song I've never heard of here.) We all looked at each other in bewilderment and almost simultaneously said, "Nope." Santa made some sort of chortling sound and assured us that we must know it. Without hesitation he then bursts into a robust baritone, filling the entire room with this german folk tune. It went on for what felt like an hour, probably more like 30 seconds. Akward.

[boombloom]

I used to do a bunch of American Legion dancehall gigs and the Rod and Gun Club circuit. Somewhere along the way, some lucky couple wanted their first dance as husband and wife to be "Your Cheatin' Heart." I heard that union didn't last very long.

[Don Higdon]

You can know 2,000 tunes, but if you don't know the one they ask for, they act like you're a dummy. They ask for tunes with no understanding that there might be some odd changes. You say you don't know it and they start singing it at you, as if that's all there is to it.
Many times people ask for a tune, then are so busy talking they don't even hear you play it, then come over bummed out because "you never played our song."

[TroyK]

Dude, you shouldn't even be out there until you know all the German folks songs in every key.

Originally Posted by Kam

I was in a jazz combo in high school, drums-bass-keys-sax. We generally played restaurant bars in the Milwaukee, WI area. One night at a very German, very ritsy restaurant, a large man who could have passed for Santa Clause yelled out from his table, "Do you know (insert name of german song I've never heard of here.) We all looked at each other in bewilderment and almost simultaneously said, "Nope." Santa made some sort of chortling sound and assured us that we must know it. Without hesitation he then bursts into a robust baritone, filling the entire room with this german folk tune. It went on for what felt like an hour, probably more like 30 seconds. Akward.

[farmerdude]

Ok, I'll play along...so we have this new years eve big band gig at the shriners temple. Big event, should be the perfect gig for a big band playn' 30s/40s stuff...we kick off with Moonlight Serenade, the floor is packed with happy shriners, we kick into the next tune of the era, and so on until the shriners turned on us and demanded we play disco music....ended up being a long night but the duck was excellent...who booked that gig

[Doug Ring]

Originally Posted by boombloom

I used to do a bunch of American Legion dancehall gigs and the Rod and Gun Club circuit. Somewhere along the way, some lucky couple wanted their first dance as husband and wife to be "Your Cheatin' Heart." I heard that union didn't last very long.

Talking of Hank Williams, my buddy wants to go down into the flames at his funeral to the tune "Never Get Out of THis World Alive."

[Kneehimiah]

Originally Posted by Don Higdon

You can know 2,000 tunes, but if you don't know the one they ask for, they act like you're a dummy. They ask for tunes with no understanding that there might be some odd changes. You say you don't know it and they start singing it at you, as if that's all there is to it.
Many times people ask for a tune, then are so busy talking they don't even hear you play it, then come over bummed out because "you never played our song."

I say that I don't know Feelings, sometimes I don't know Misty or Summertime. When a bad singer returns to a jam session I nearly forget how to play.

Ramon
www.ramonpooser.com

[mpoppitt]

We had a hippie chick come up to us and ask if we knew the theme from the tv show "Dallas". After a minute of discussion we said sure, and she asked if she could perform it with us.

She played the whole thing by making fart noises with her hand in her armpit, like we did in jr. high. We almost lost our lunch laughing so hard. Unfortunately we also lost about half the audience....

[Doug Ring]

Hey! I'd a stayed to see that

[Anon2962]

Originally Posted by arto alho

There´s a joke over here which just goes on and on...almost every time there are jazz musicians in someone else´s audience, they request "Paranoid" just for the fun of it. Of course nobody ever plays it.

The drummer of the famous Finnish band called "Trio Töykeät" ( the Rotten Trio ) finally broke the rule and made the cut in their album titled "High Standards". It´s a 3:04 drum solo.

R2

I've done a gig with Lari Lius (do you know him?) (from lahti..) and he did this in a gig in torvi...what a crowd pleaser!

[arto alho]

Yep, I think he does a lot of latin percussions and teaches them, too.
Musta been fun to hear that.
BTW, I see you moved your butt from Lahti to Helsinki...is this permanent?
Are you still hanging out/playing with the Lahti Big Band?

R2

[Anon2962]

yeah i've moved to the big smoke. not playing with the lahti big band anymore, it was intersting while it lasted tho! i wouldn't mind getting some gigs here in helsinki...

thinking of rediculous requests i also played (with lari and miikka kallio) jazz versions of 'Tahdon rakastella sinua', and 'Like a Virgin'. what a laugh!

[arto alho]

Originally Posted by maccarthyconor

i wouldn't mind getting some gigs here in helsinki...

I wouldn´t either...

anyhow, if ya want to hang out, just send me PM.

R2

[Marcus Johnson]

The most intriguing request I ever got was not a musical one. I had just finished playing a quintet wedding gig, and the bride and groom came over to thank us. Then the groom said, "Hey would you guys like to come up to the room and "service" the bride? I just can't keep up with her!" Meanwhile, the lovely young bride was smiling and nodding her head, like it was the greatest idea in the world. So there we stand, all five of us, dumbfounded. I finally broke the silence, saying, "Sorry, can't, got another gig" (well, I DID). I made for the nearest exit. Dunno if she had to make do with a quartet or not.

[Doug Ring]

...and you call yourself a bass player.

[TroyK]

Now that's a tip!

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

The most intriguing request I ever got was not a musical one. I had just finished playing a quintet wedding gig, and the bride and groom came over to thank us. Then the groom said, "Hey would you guys like to come up to the room and "service" the bride? I just can't keep up with her!" Meanwhile, the lovely young bride was smiling and nodding her head, like it was the greatest idea in the world. So there we stand, all five of us, dumbfounded. I finally broke the silence, saying, "Sorry, can't, got another gig" (well, I DID). I made for the nearest exit. Dunno if she had to make do with a quartet or not.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Doug Ring

...and you call yourself a bass player.

LOL! I know, I let y'all down!

Unfortunately, I'm married to a blonde ultrababe, so I have no interest in such distractions.

[Doug Ring]

Yeah Marcus, that IS unfortunate....