Saturday Night's Non-Gig

5andFretless · #1 06-15-2008, 08:19 AM

We drove nearly 30 miles (On Long Island going West that is a haul) to a bar Saturday night to play. Verbal contract, the web site showed us playing, normal bar thing.

We get there at 6 and the stage is in a shambles. I go to find the owner and she isn't there. I finally find the guy that is in charge and he says "Its canceled, we aren't doing the live band thing anymore. You should have been called."

I tell him that is fine. Pay us and we will be on our way. He says he can't do that and to please leave, we are taking up valuable parking spaces. We left, but...

I may be just a bass player in a cover band on weekends, but on week days I wear a $500 suit, work in a corner office, and have lawyers on call. This not going to be pleasant for someone.

Sahm · #2 06-15-2008, 08:31 AM

My old band got into the habit of calling day-of to confirm if it was out of town because we caught the web site of a venue last minute once that said they stopped having bands, and never told us!

Keep us posted on how this turns out. We had a written contract once that was pay rain-or-shine. They cancelled last minute, luckily before we left town. They refused to pay. We talked to our lawyer, and he said it would be hard to get anything A) 'cause it was 300 miles away-we'd have to argue in their small claims court B) it was an LLC that basically folded. They utilized one of the benefits of the LLC, we couldn't go after anyone individually.

You probably have a better chance, of recovery since it's only 30miles away!

John Wentzien · #3 06-15-2008, 08:42 AM

Last Thursday we had a gig in Des Moines, IA (about 200 miles away)
The big flood had started , and as our gig was "Nitefall on the River"--we called to see if it was cancelled.
We were informed that there were 2 alternate sites..so off we go..
We are just pulling in to town when we get the call CANCELLED.
400 mile round trip in the loaded down gas guzzling van in a tornado warning both ways for nothing!

kevinmoore73 · #4 06-15-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5andFretless

I may be just a bass player in a cover band on weekends, but on week days I wear a $500 suit, work in a corner office, and have lawyers on call.

Can I use this as my sig?

5andFretless · #5 06-15-2008, 11:57 AM

Be my guest.

I will let you know how it comes out, but I have deep enough pockets to be able to loose money to win on principle. I did not get where I am today by allowing this type of stuff to go.

kevinmoore73 · #6 06-15-2008, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5andFretless

I will let you know how it comes out, but I have deep enough pockets to be able to loose money to win on principle. I did not get where I am today by allowing this type of stuff to go.

Good luck with that! You know what they say about the worth of verbal contracts.

Depth_Charge · #7 06-15-2008, 05:20 PM

Based on principal alone, that sucks they did that to you.

I'm not sure of the law here, but just to plant the idea are you sure it's just a verbal contract when the band was listed as playing on the company website, then cancelled at their discretion with no one advising you prior to arriving?

Surely some legal person could, if necessary, pull the relevant information from their web server proving they listed you to be playing.

I guess proving they never advised you of the cancellation is the kicker?

Anyway good luck mate, and good on ya for not just letting it sit. Might not help you if you take a cash hit fighting the principal but it might help the next bands.

That down right sux they didn't even offer anything for your gas or time, or a cancellation fee of sorts!! Some people in "business" have some real cheek!

DanRJBrasil · #8 06-15-2008, 05:49 PM

nail them!! usually bar, venue ownes treat musicians like garbage like they are doing a favor, when is just the opposite. Good luck man,win that one for us all !

derrico1 · #9 06-15-2008, 06:26 PM

I'd like to see you get justice on this one. At the same time, it doesn't take very long for club gossip to travel from Long Beach to Montauk; and I don't imagine having the reputation as "that band that took Club X to court" will make booking your band any easier--especially as the facts of the case get embellished in the retelling.

invader3k · #10 06-15-2008, 06:29 PM

Sometimes just the threat of legal action is enough to get people to make good, though.

jdthecrazy · #11 06-15-2008, 06:50 PM

F-um! Sometimes I wonder if being a prick is a prerequisite for club ownership.

ashtray · #12 06-15-2008, 07:03 PM

I really don't understand some of the bar owner mentalities. They think that guys in a rock cover band just sit around and do nothing all day long, and beg for money in the streets when they're not playing at the bar?

My band is full over middle aged professionals, well established in their careers, each making a considerably decent salary. On weekends, we play at local bars for a few hundred bucks. The bars treat us like they're doing us a favor, tell us what kind of music to play from our set, threaten to not have us back if we don't do xyz, etc etc. Basically just treat us like crop.

We haven't gotten the "cancellation" notice... yet. Wouldn't surprise me though. Sucks they did that to you. I know half the work for that night is getting everyone's gear loaded up, and hitting the road to the gig.

Why bars tend to treat the musicians as scum is beyond me - especially when it's obvious they're well above the bar owners on the social ladder!

57pbass · #13 06-15-2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5andFretless

I wear a $500 suit, work in a corner office, and have lawyers on call.

Thats some scarey sh*t

ryco · #14 06-15-2008, 07:31 PM

This not going to be pleasant for someone.

EBodious · #15 06-15-2008, 07:33 PM

we have a club in town whose owner is notorious for screwing up (OTOH, we have very few places to play around here). well, we were involved with a gig with another band last fall. he told us one thing and them another (they thought they had the whole nite for themselves). they ended up leaving in a huff, BUT, the owner still gave them $100, cause, well, he knew he screwed up! the other band was still p'ssed, but at least they got some cash.

its too bad you couldn't strong-arm some cash out of the owner that nite. i think it gets harder as time goes by.

kevbassman · #16 06-15-2008, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5andFretless

We drove nearly 30 miles (On Long Island going West that is a haul) to a bar Saturday night to play. Verbal contract, the web site showed us playing, normal bar thing.

We get there at 6 and the stage is in a shambles. I go to find the owner and she isn't there. I finally find the guy that is in charge and he says "Its canceled, we aren't doing the live band thing anymore. You should have been called."

I tell him that is fine. Pay us and we will be on our way. He says he can't do that and to please leave, we are taking up valuable parking spaces. We left, but...

I may be just a bass player in a cover band on weekends, but on week days I wear a $500 suit, work in a corner office, and have lawyers on call. This not going to be pleasant for someone.

I feel your pain, but the only one to make $$ will the lawyers. A verbal contract is basically worth nothing in today's world.

EBodious · #17 06-15-2008, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Wentzien

Last Thursday we had a gig in Des Moines, IA (about 200 miles away)
The big flood had started , and as our gig was "Nitefall on the River"--we called to see if it was cancelled.
We were informed that there were 2 alternate sites..so off we go..
We are just pulling in to town when we get the call CANCELLED.
400 mile round trip in the loaded down gas guzzling van in a tornado warning both ways for nothing!

john, i hope you still get paid! that is a bummer of a story; the weather around here has been crazy. i also hope you guys aren't flooded out at home. so, i was in the blues competition (didn't make the final cut, though) and saw you guys at the finals. you are a smoking hot bass player! i thought your set rocked. just wanted to let you know.

Mike Shevlin · #18 06-15-2008, 07:53 PM

If you have a print out of the web site showing you playing, you have a case. But then again I'm a bartender.

invader3k · #19 06-16-2008, 07:04 AM

I've heard this is one good reason to confirm things via e-mail (assuming the bar owner actually uses a computer). Even a quick e-mail from the owner saying "You guys are playing at 9PM on such and such day" can constitute an agreement. I know e-mails can be used as hard evidence, not sure about a verbal contract (though my understanding is that verbal contracts are still supposedly binding?).

5andFretless · #20 06-16-2008, 07:27 AM

Update:

My lawyer printed out the web page that shows us playing Saturday night at 9 pm (it is still up, BTW), wrote a nice letter, and sent it to them this morning.

He advises not taking legal action for a couple of reasons. It is bad PR as someone said, and it is expensive and protracted. He has some other ideas that we are considering.

BTW, the letter asks only for compensation for travel based on the IRS deduction. When you calculate it that way, the difference is not much from what we would have gotten paid if we had played. Kind of depressing.

This is at least going to be educational and interesting.