A tale of two gigs...

[B-NoteCowboy]

So...

Saturday night, my band had a gig as a headliner on the outdoor stage at the Neewollah (Halloween spelled backwards) Festival in Independence, KS. It was fantastic. Professional production of booking, lights, sound, stage management and pretty much everything else. My only complaint is that we were off schedule at the headliner because the opening acts went too long and as a result, people that showed up specifically for us had to wait 45 minutes over posted start time. Oh... and there were about 3000 of them. They stayed, rocked, responded and requested autographs after the show. It was completely insane. God how I loved that show....

Afterwards, the quote from an unnamed offical was, "That was the best G**D***ed band we've ever had!" Keep in mind, they've had REO Speedwagon and Roy Clark as headliners before. They were talking immediately about booking for next year and lamenting the fact they hadn't booked us for more nights. Oh.. did I mention we broke an attendance record? This show was supported with excellent promotions of posters, radio, TV and newspaper.

OK...

Fast forward to last night. THIS was actually the show I was looking foward to. Halloween Night in Branson, MO. This show in the center of the musical universe of middle America was booked EIGHT MONTHS AGO. We travelled at our expense from Tulsa (four hours) last July to film a TV commercial to support the promotion of the show. We basically played a free gig outside of the terms of our contract in order to get some good stage footage of us on a Branson stage (admittedly the best stage I've ever played).

So... last night we show up on time and the soundman was late. The power supplies were locked up and we couldn't sound check. The sponsoring host requested us to make an appearance and do two songs (pro bono) at THEIR show and then make it to our show on time and do a kick ass 2 hour concert style gig.

No problems. We love the guys we've been dealing with and are COMPLETELY cool with making an appearance at their show and doing a mini gig outside our agreement if it helps them and us. But they work for the guy who owns the theater and the club. So back to the show... we start on time and are playing a tighter show than we did at Neewollah. It's ****ing spectacular in fact.

Problem is.... this crowd obviously isn't there for a rock concert. They look in fact a lot like teusday night regulars who are used to coming out and dancing to a DJ rig. In spite of this, we are kicking their asses and nobody is leaving. But at the same time, they aren't that into us and that feels weird. No big deal, we are pros and under contract so we fight through it and put on a fantastic show UNTIL....

Halfway though our set, I'm told by our frontman that our roadie was told we were getting the plug pulled. I say to the crowd, 'sorry we've got a minor issue to deal with, we'll be right back.' and we go back stage. The "manager" (a nubile young hottie who is the daughter of a local condo magnate) tells us 'it's not a good fit with the crowd guys. So we are just ending early.'

I say, 'OK, but we are under contract for three grand!' She starts writing a check. It's all good but I want some clarification on what exactly just happend, so I ask who pulled the plug. "The owner" I'm told.

"Can I speak to him?" I ask. Had to send my roadie to find him. Two minutes later, the owner storms backstage with two goons and gets straight up in my face and says he has customers leaving and tells me it's because my band sucks. Well... my band doesn't suck and I have several recent gigs that prove otherwise but one thing you do NOT do is get in my face and tell me my boys suck so I pushed him out of my face and proceeded to tell him a little bit about his parentage and some other things and naturally his goons decend upon me and tell ME to chill.

So... we loaded up and left, check in hand (ALWAYS DO A CONTRACT FOR EVERY SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but very disappointed with how this show went down.

Basically, I believe none of the TV commercials we shot ever aired and I believe that nothing more than local flyers were done in support of this show. We weren't even on the marquee outside the flippin club!!!! They wound up with a dance party crowd at a rock concert and handled it with the most total lack of class and proffesionalism I've ever seen.

There were some people who saw the flyers and showed up just to see us though. Those people all told us they loved us and were pissed to see what happened. "Tell the manager." I said. Evidently several people showed up after we were booted and were pissed that there was a DJ on the stage. DJ's suck by the way.

So... my cautionary tale has a morale. It is this...

NEVER deal with The "Shake It Up Show Club" in Branson Missouri. The owner is a moron of spectacular proportions. And always, for every show, get a contract. This guy would most definately have stiffed us for his mistake if he hadn't been bound by the terms and conditions of the contract.

What a waste of time! But we got paid because we had a contract.

[tlwaps]

Yeah that sucks and all but look on the birght side you walked away with three grand and you didn't even play a whole set. If that happend to me I'd be pissed but I think I'd get over it since my band would get three grand. Although we'd never play there again.

[B-NoteCowboy]

Bottom line, they dropped the ball on promotions. That's their problem and I can live with it so long as they honor the contract and are professional about it.

Crap happens, after all.

But storming backstage and screaming at me for merely wanting clarification on "why" is unbelievably out of line. Insulting MY band to my face is also an example of poor judgement.

[Lazylion]

The guy hires a KISS tribute band, and then is surprised by what he gets???
Yup, moron.
"...the owner storms backstage with two goons and gets straight up in my face..."
You got all the money and the goons didn't turn you into a pretzel. I'd say overall, you made out well, considering.

[B-NoteCowboy]

He wasn't surprised so much as p/o'ed because we actually wanted an explanation.

There's more to the story but the short version is that he had just sold the bar *unknown to us* and had stopped putting ANY money into promotion of events - including ours which was to have included TV commercials, radio spots, and a billboard. We weren't even on the marquee outside because evidently someone else's $ was on the hook now for our contract.

In fact, this was literally the guy's last night as the "owner" of the club.

I'm still not sure why he went so totally insane, but I'm have my ideas which I won't speculate on in detail.... but I can tell you it was a surreal scene if you can imagine a guy maybe 5'7" screaming at me in full Gene gear including the boots which made me easily a foot taller than him.

Live and learn. Gotta agree, getting paid soothed rest of the problems considerably. What a jerk.

[FriscoBassAce]

I went to Branson once for my job....I can safely say that I will never go back there again...the town and the whole atmosphere was just "weird." Now, I know some cool guys that live there that I met when I was there, but the place is such a tourist trap that it's one cheesy place after another.

[Dr. Feelgood]

Nice story. Apparently lots of freakos are out come halloween in Branson.

[B-NoteCowboy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Feelgood

Nice story. Apparently lots of freakos are out come halloween in Branson.

But wait... it gets better! Just found out on wednesday that the guy stopped payment on his check!

So now I gotta get medieval on him.

Anyone else ever have to lawyer up to get some scumbag to honor his contract with you?? This is a new one for me.

[invader3k]

Well, there's always collection agencies, too.