• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

A Letter from Bridezilla's parents

#42
Cool letter - lotta fun, but it does illustrate the hassles you go through to do "personal" gigs. Our band has decided (rightly) never to do private events like weddings and birthday parties, etc. unless they agree to give us total "artistic control", but we still discourage them from hiring us. Life is too short for the crap you have to go through for those gigs (my favorite was one dork who wanted us to audition to play his backyard birthday party).
 
#48
Crazyeelboy said:
Cool letter - lotta fun, but it does illustrate the hassles you go through to do "personal" gigs. Our band has decided (rightly) never to do private events like weddings and birthday parties, etc. unless they agree to give us total "artistic control", but we still discourage them from hiring us. Life is too short for the crap you have to go through for those gigs (my favorite was one dork who wanted us to audition to play his backyard birthday party).
Click to expand...

We had something similar happen. This girl who is sort of friends with our guitarist was helping to organize a Halloween show (basically a party for school children) and wanted us to audition, even though she had heard us playing at practice for like, two years on and off :P

Well, that didn't really happen and she booked us anyway, but then sent this crazy list of demands...like we were going to have to get there three hours before the party even started in order to set up (so we'd have to get there at like 4 PM), and then wanted us to do our set around 8 for two hours...but play the final song at midnight. It was totally ridiculous. She basically wanted us to hang around 8 hours or more for a show we weren't even getting paid for. Plus, this show wasn't even in our normal area...it was a good 1 hour+ away. Yeah, that doesn't sound like much...but we didn't really want to be on the road at 1 AM for a show we weren't getting paid for to begin with.

Oh, she also wanted us to learn some song by Concrete Blonde none of us had ever heard of...keeping in mind Concrete Blonde's singer is female, and we're a band of all guys...

Oh, and also this chick and a couple of her friends thought they were vampires or something. One of them was trying to tell our guitarist he should change his bedroom into a recording studio (he was renovating his home at the time). He basically pissed her off by telling her "Uh, no, it's my house, and that room is my bedroom."

Needless to say, we ended up not doing that gig, and instead had a cookout/basement show at said guitarist's place. Still didn't get paid, but at least had a good time and weren't driving home at 1 AM :P

It takes all kinds, I tell ya.
 
#49
I guess that just like anything else, the longer you are in this business, the longer the list of crazy ideas becomes. It is often the case that the person who is asking just doesn't understand, and that I can live with (within reason). The ones I can't live with are from those folks that just don't care!
 
#50
It really does cut close to home with me. My current group was contracted for a Bat Mitzvah (sp.?) last summer. The band's actual performance (1 hour of a 4-5 hour gig) was based upon our usual set lists - no problem there. But, we did get a rather long list of litmotifs that we had to play as each family member came up to the center table during the ceremony, and rather pointed suggestions for what to play during cocktails, pre-dinner time, and other gaps in the festivities. The whole affair had to be very precisely choreographed. When our somewhat inexperienced lead singers got the list, and it looked very much like the "joke" that started this whole thread, they feaked out. I was gung ho to learn all the stuff (what a challenge!), but saved the day by calling the client and asking if we could do most of the theme stuff and atmosphere music via DJ. They agreed. They were really worried that we would look at their requests and bail out on them. So, it may be a joke, but it is not that far from reality.
 
#51
That's kinda the point I was trying to make in my previous post, those folks just didn't know and were willing to work it out a different way. (OK by me.)

Its the demanding types who just don't care that are tough to deal with. :mad:

I don't do many weddings anymore, but I sure remember some goofy stuff.
 
#57
People do get crazy about a wedding sometimes. The one time when I can understand a very early arrival time is when the actual ceremony is in the same place as the reception. I just worked one Saturday. The bride and groom had been living together for years already, and were having the whole thing at their ranch (groom is a former bullrider and current cattle rancher). Our soundman was the last to arrive, and he was held up down at the gate while the ceremony took place. Luckily all the equipment was already in. We played on a flatbed trailer that they normally use for hauling bulls. Yes, they cleaned it for us.
99 times out of 100, you're booked for a wedding by someone who is not in the music business, and has never booked a band before. They are frantic that every detail be exactly perfect for their little darling (bride, usually), and they have no clue what is reasonable for the band. The best thing is to have a big library of CDs with all the weird crap that your band can't/won't play: chicken dance, bunny hop, electric slide, etc. Usually Bridezilla's mom will be OK with that. IME it's not the bride that's the problem, it's her mom.
 
#58
I was a wedding DJ for years -- this brought back some BAD memories. Most people were great, but you had parents/brides/grooms who could be a REAL pain in the ass!!

Unfortunately, you usually don't find out in advance!

Example: I had one bride who complained that I had played a DEPRESSING song and that it was bad karma --"Song Sung Blue" - Neil Diamond.

When I had an inkling in advance that I didn't like the tone of their direction, I basically turned the gig down. Pure and simple.
 
#59
QORC said:
I had one bride who complained that I had played a DEPRESSING song and that it was bad karma --"Song Sung Blue" - Neil Diamond.
Click to expand...
I've been playing country for most of the last 25 years, and I've had many a good laugh while playing a totally inappropriate "bummer" song at a wedding. You don't realise how many of those you typically play, until it's a wedding! For instance, "I Will Always Love You". If you check the lyrics, it's about a couple breaking up! :eek: But damn if they don't ask for it at every wedding! :rolleyes: Go figure.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back