Had an interesting one tonight.
This is with my new band I've been with for a couple months. Seven piece party/dance band that's been around over twenty years still with three original members. Fantastic musicians all, and wonderful people.
So the gig is a private party at a swank mid-sized hotel in a well to do, artsy neighborhood. This being a professionally run band, there is a signed contract in place. Terms are very clear and reasonable. A deposit is required. It was received well in advance. So far so good. The balance must be paid in full prior to the band starting our performance. Cash or bank check. If it's bank check we need to receive it no less than twenty four hours prior to the event. All clearly spelled out in the signed contract. The singer (female) handles all business matters. She's really, really good at it.
The person who hired us and signed the contract is contacted earlier in the week to double check details and is reminded of the terms so there's no mix ups. Just being thorough. "No problem". Same thing the day of the party. "No problem".
Today we get there, set up. Beautiful venue, clearly a high budget event.
We're to play a few songs when the guest of honor arrives, break for dinner then finish with a couple hours of dance music. Great.
C=Client (wealthy late middle aged woman).
S=Singer
S: So we should take care of the balance now.
C: I forgot it at home. I'll pay you Monday.
(uh-oh. Sorry we're musicians. We know better. Don't care if you're wealthy. That don't mean jack.)
S: The contract states that we need the balance paid in full.
C: Really? You're serious?
S: Yes, I'm afraid so.
C: I'll send my son for it.
S: Ok, as a goodwill gesture, we'll play when the guest of honor arrives, but we need payment immediately after that.
We play about 30 minutes, head to another room in the hotel to get fed while the party has speeches and dinner.
Singer enters says the client is putting her off about payment and she was taken aside by a very large guy in a loud sport coat who tried to intimidate her into playing and getting paid at a later date. She's pissed. She is also the exact wrong person to pull this with. He is messing with forces he cannot comprehend. We discuss packing up and leaving.
We've fulfilled the terms of the contract and now we have some idiot who's watched GoodFellas too many times trying to act the hero by bullying a woman who is capable of grinding him down into a nub. Not acceptable. At this point the vibe is clearly "if we play without getting paid first, we'll never see the money without going to small claims."
Another guy comes into the room who's nice enough and clearly confused about exactly what's happening. He's just been sent in after being told the band is saying they won't play unless they're paid. The situation is explained to him. We have a contract, we need the terms of the contract to be adhered to. This isn't personal, it's just business. The contract is worded this way for a reason. He asks if we'll take a credit card. Um...no. He says he can get cash for maybe a third of what's owed. Sorry, but no. Payment in full.
GoodFellas then enters the room. Tries the intimidation thing, dropping F bombs. That's ignored completely. "What, you think we're not good for it?" This is shut down immediately. This is a business transaction. We have a signed contract. We have adhered to it. We expect the terms to be met. He tried telling us he owns the hotel. It's getting more ridiculous by the second. He eventually leaves.
Previous nice guy comes in with some cash. It's counted. Not enough, short by hundreds of dollars. "Yes we're really going to hold out for the full amount."
Goodfellas comes back, hands us some more money, gives us attitude, gets told in no uncertain terms that the intimidation thing was completely unacceptable. He tries opening his mouth again and singer goes OFF, in the most straight forward, "you are way over your head here, your name isn't on this contract, get out of my face you ridiculous fool, and before you try saying 'this is a small town word is going to get around about you' again, realize that I know exactly who you are, I know your friends, I know who your parents are, I know you don't own so much as a pillow case of this hotel, now STFU and get out and don't try talking again because I can and will continue this tirade until I see your back on the other side of that door" way you've ever heard. I'm not nearly doing it justice. It was extended and vicious and absolutely beautiful.
A woman comes in with some more money. Asks if we'll play now. We have to count it first. If it's all here, we'll go put on the best show you've ever seen.
While the money is being counted, we're getting people from the party and the hotel trying to get us to go and play. Not until the money is counted. Lots of small bills unfortunately. Apparently there was a collection taken up.
It's all there, we go and play an absolutely killer set. Very few people dance. Most people left right after dinner actually. Apparently GoodFellas took it upon himself to go to every table in the party to complain and say derogatory things about us. It ruined the vibe so a lot of people just left. The ones that stayed had a great time.
I ran into a party-goer and a hotel employee afterwards and found out that the client was actually the couple that owned the hotel. I gave them the rundown on GF. They knew who he was. I informed them that he really embarrassed himself and the owners. They made a cursory attempt at defending him. The were just being polite really.
There's the possibility that someone might try to slam us on social media, but the clients would really be smart to avoid this. A couple of guys had the forethought to record everything on their phones and what would be shown is that they tried to break the contract by sending a representative to try to physically intimidate our singer. This is a one party consent state, so we're fine.
There are a few morals to this story:
- A good signed contract can make all the difference between getting paid and getting stiffed.
- Don't be afraid to demand that the contract be adhered to.
- Do not mess with this singer.
- If you're going to try to act like a goon out of a movie, be prepared follow through all the way with it, else you just end up embarrassing yourself and everyone around you.
This is with my new band I've been with for a couple months. Seven piece party/dance band that's been around over twenty years still with three original members. Fantastic musicians all, and wonderful people.
So the gig is a private party at a swank mid-sized hotel in a well to do, artsy neighborhood. This being a professionally run band, there is a signed contract in place. Terms are very clear and reasonable. A deposit is required. It was received well in advance. So far so good. The balance must be paid in full prior to the band starting our performance. Cash or bank check. If it's bank check we need to receive it no less than twenty four hours prior to the event. All clearly spelled out in the signed contract. The singer (female) handles all business matters. She's really, really good at it.
The person who hired us and signed the contract is contacted earlier in the week to double check details and is reminded of the terms so there's no mix ups. Just being thorough. "No problem". Same thing the day of the party. "No problem".
Today we get there, set up. Beautiful venue, clearly a high budget event.
We're to play a few songs when the guest of honor arrives, break for dinner then finish with a couple hours of dance music. Great.
C=Client (wealthy late middle aged woman).
S=Singer
S: So we should take care of the balance now.
C: I forgot it at home. I'll pay you Monday.
(uh-oh. Sorry we're musicians. We know better. Don't care if you're wealthy. That don't mean jack.)
S: The contract states that we need the balance paid in full.
C: Really? You're serious?
S: Yes, I'm afraid so.
C: I'll send my son for it.
S: Ok, as a goodwill gesture, we'll play when the guest of honor arrives, but we need payment immediately after that.
We play about 30 minutes, head to another room in the hotel to get fed while the party has speeches and dinner.
Singer enters says the client is putting her off about payment and she was taken aside by a very large guy in a loud sport coat who tried to intimidate her into playing and getting paid at a later date. She's pissed. She is also the exact wrong person to pull this with. He is messing with forces he cannot comprehend. We discuss packing up and leaving.
We've fulfilled the terms of the contract and now we have some idiot who's watched GoodFellas too many times trying to act the hero by bullying a woman who is capable of grinding him down into a nub. Not acceptable. At this point the vibe is clearly "if we play without getting paid first, we'll never see the money without going to small claims."
Another guy comes into the room who's nice enough and clearly confused about exactly what's happening. He's just been sent in after being told the band is saying they won't play unless they're paid. The situation is explained to him. We have a contract, we need the terms of the contract to be adhered to. This isn't personal, it's just business. The contract is worded this way for a reason. He asks if we'll take a credit card. Um...no. He says he can get cash for maybe a third of what's owed. Sorry, but no. Payment in full.
GoodFellas then enters the room. Tries the intimidation thing, dropping F bombs. That's ignored completely. "What, you think we're not good for it?" This is shut down immediately. This is a business transaction. We have a signed contract. We have adhered to it. We expect the terms to be met. He tried telling us he owns the hotel. It's getting more ridiculous by the second. He eventually leaves.
Previous nice guy comes in with some cash. It's counted. Not enough, short by hundreds of dollars. "Yes we're really going to hold out for the full amount."
Goodfellas comes back, hands us some more money, gives us attitude, gets told in no uncertain terms that the intimidation thing was completely unacceptable. He tries opening his mouth again and singer goes OFF, in the most straight forward, "you are way over your head here, your name isn't on this contract, get out of my face you ridiculous fool, and before you try saying 'this is a small town word is going to get around about you' again, realize that I know exactly who you are, I know your friends, I know who your parents are, I know you don't own so much as a pillow case of this hotel, now STFU and get out and don't try talking again because I can and will continue this tirade until I see your back on the other side of that door" way you've ever heard. I'm not nearly doing it justice. It was extended and vicious and absolutely beautiful.
A woman comes in with some more money. Asks if we'll play now. We have to count it first. If it's all here, we'll go put on the best show you've ever seen.
While the money is being counted, we're getting people from the party and the hotel trying to get us to go and play. Not until the money is counted. Lots of small bills unfortunately. Apparently there was a collection taken up.
It's all there, we go and play an absolutely killer set. Very few people dance. Most people left right after dinner actually. Apparently GoodFellas took it upon himself to go to every table in the party to complain and say derogatory things about us. It ruined the vibe so a lot of people just left. The ones that stayed had a great time.
I ran into a party-goer and a hotel employee afterwards and found out that the client was actually the couple that owned the hotel. I gave them the rundown on GF. They knew who he was. I informed them that he really embarrassed himself and the owners. They made a cursory attempt at defending him. The were just being polite really.
There's the possibility that someone might try to slam us on social media, but the clients would really be smart to avoid this. A couple of guys had the forethought to record everything on their phones and what would be shown is that they tried to break the contract by sending a representative to try to physically intimidate our singer. This is a one party consent state, so we're fine.
There are a few morals to this story:
- A good signed contract can make all the difference between getting paid and getting stiffed.
- Don't be afraid to demand that the contract be adhered to.
- Do not mess with this singer.
- If you're going to try to act like a goon out of a movie, be prepared follow through all the way with it, else you just end up embarrassing yourself and everyone around you.
