Great Private party\ Private gig stories

[Joedog]

Years back we played a BIG biker party. They were very nice. In between sets they held an advertised bikini contest (with prize money). Several "professionals" showed up, and the bikinis started hitting the floor. I didn't see anyone object! It was a long break between sets!!

 

[Mosfed]

Now who said bassists get no action?

the more people talk...the less....

 

[Adjectives]

Well, mine is a pretty tame telling but I am hoping some of you ol road warriors can deliver later in the the thread.

I got a rich friend that hired us for his Bday party in the middle of August a couple years back. Load in was pretty easy, living room was a bit of a echoey tile affair but we dailed it on alright. I always have something that impedes my singing perfection at this gig, right before we went on I had the strange craving to try a coke. Coated my throat with sugary syrup that took a whole set of warbly stretchs into highs to commence. Oh well you live and learn. Two of my guys showed up in hawaian shirts?!
Pretty good all around time -most people wanted to go the pool outside instead of having to deal with a loud rock band inside. We did get paid and I had a great time after drinking and partying in the pool with hot girls until all hours.
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I dig the pants. Got me a pair of em too.

 

[Hover-Rich]

I gotta say that this is one of the most entertaining threads I have seen here in quite a while. I haven't seen very many outstanding episodes while I was playing; mostly boring play-and-get-paid gigs. It's fun to read about "eventful" gigs.
"darkwasthenight" made several references to a "notorious berk". Pardon my ignorance, but what is a berk?

Thanks again for the fun read!

 

[RileyGoodenough]

I politely declined and went back to work.

.

You have far more self control than myself sir. I applaud that lol

 

[bbh]

Played in the woods a couple hundred yards from the house upstate very rural NY near Mt Marcy? It was going great, lots of guests and then of course out of nowhere, downpour at night. We lost all lighting and had to get everything indoors. People were running back and forth sliding on the muddy dirt trail. Some in socks, some in shoes, some 1/2 naked. Some wiped out but usually went down on their back to protect the gear. That was very nice of them.
Once everything and everyone were jammed inside his now very muddy house, it was so crowded and dirty, we couldn't setup to continue. It was still a great event.

 

[LVPABass]

I played one once where the Host didn't realize we needed electricity. We were supposed to set up on the patio in the backyard. Ended up in the garage (where the power was) and played to the front yard when the guests were in the backyard. Everyone seemed happy except us, but we got paid (happy at the end anyway).
(Don't ask me why no extension cords, I don't remember the details)

 

[wintremute]

I play a private party on the 11th. Hopefully I'll have a story to add.

 

[Laidback1]

Played a private party last July 4th. The hosts own an A/C company so they held it in a nice air conditioned barn since it was well over 100deg outside. They requested some old Country and we kicked into an old Johnny Rodriguez tune "Ridin' My Thumb to Mexico". The host got all excited and jumped up and acted like he stuck his Thumb up his ass and started bucking like he was riding a horse. We looked at each other like WTH and then before we knew it most of the other men joined him hopping around of the floor with their thumbs poking their ass....

The place broke into laughter (including us) but we were able to finish the song.

Amazing what happens when free booze is readily flowing....... Crazy!

 

[Flamingo21]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a berk?

I don't know either, and Google couldn't help me.

 

[Adjectives]

I love playing private parties. 4 years ago, my 3 piece band put an ad on CL for weddings/parties etc. We were booked by a very wealthy guy on a local island to play his wife's birthday. Catered to the wall, free booze etc. The last half of our set was essentially providing a karaoke session for all the wasted attendees. Me holding up my tablet with lyrics, and my guitarist looking up chord charts on the fly. 3 hour gig and we got $400. The next year...$600, and last year $700.

Nothing like having the host drunkenly tell you how great the set was while peeling off hundred dollar bills and asking if it's enough XD.

 

[Ronzo]

I don't know either, and Google couldn't help me.

berk - Wiktionary

 

[Flamingo21]

Is "berk" really nothing more than "fool, prat, twit"? I got the distinct impression that it's a profession or something.

 

[McG]

(I posted this story a few years ago but it belongs here so re-post time.)

It was NYE 1975, a private party for the Licorice Pizza record store chain. Our lead guitarist managed one of the stores so that connection got us the gig. All we knew was it was at a "big house" in Bel Aire. (If you aren't familiar with Bel Aire it's a small community west of Los Angeles, next to Beverly Hills.) Knowing the area we figured it would be pretty upscale. But man, when we got to the house after driving down a long tree lined driveway our jaws dropped. It was a HUGE mansion along the lines of the Beverly Hillbillies. Apparently Licorice Pizza's owner was good friends with a record producer who's house it was. (I didn't recognize the name then and can't remember it now.)

We carted the gear in the front door and our jaws dropped again. The place was insanely opulent. We were told to set up along one wall of the living room where they had a full PA and lights already set up. Once we were set up and sound checked we were given a tour of the house. It was seriously like being in a movie set. Twin winding staircases, giant chandeliers, multiple party rooms. Every room was dripping with luxury. In the kitchen a staff of several people was busily preparing a massive amount of food. It was one of the biggest kitchens I'd ever seen.

During the house tour I noticed one thing. Now remember, this was 1975 and record industry connected. Every party room had table with a bowl of cocaine next to a big mirror and ivory "straws". There were also bowls full of joints everywhere, along with two fully stocked bars with bartenders. Yeah, this place was set up for a major 1970s party.

Guests started arriving around 8 and by the time we started playing at 9 the place was packed with at least a couple of hundred people, even more as the evening went on. It was one of those nights where the crowd loves everything you play. Of course, being NYE, and with amount of intoxicants being consumed it was a pretty primed group. We played until 1 AM and during tear down numerous people came up gushing about how great we were. We did play well but considering the altered states of the partiers I took the over-the-top "you're the best band I ever heard man" compliments with a grain of salt.

We even got lucky weather wise. Rain had been forecast for earlier in the evening but it held off until we were loaded out and driving home.

It was one of the most fun gigs I've ever had.

 

[TreySonagras]

I gotta say that this is one of the most entertaining threads I have seen here in quite a while. I haven't seen very many outstanding episodes while I was playing; mostly boring play-and-get-paid gigs. It's fun to read about "eventful" gigs.
"darkwasthenight" made several references to a "notorious berk". Pardon my ignorance, but what is a berk?

Thanks again for the fun read!

A berk is a stupid person.

 

[darkwasthenight]

Is "berk" really nothing more than "fool, prat, twit"? I got the distinct impression that it's a profession or something.

It's rhyming slang. Shortened form of Berkeley Hunt and you can probably guess the euphemism from there. Up this end of the country it's usually just a shorthand for idiot though.

 

[kesslari]

The tale is way tame in terms of debaucher that I encountered, but I'll play. It would have been about 1991 or '92, I was playing Arab percussion for a Middle Eastern dance ensemble that did a lot of flashy folkloric dance and bellydance.
In the course of a couple of months we got tapped to play two VERY lavish private parties, both at the same (presumably rented) mansion (I think it was in the Hollywood Hills - it was a long time ago. Somewhere posh in the LA mishmosh.) The mansion was architected in a Persian sort of way - lots of tiles, arches, etc.
The first gig was some sort of party for the UC Regents. Each regent came into the party riding a camel. A real freakin' camel. I remember thinking "This is why UC tuitions are so dang expensive now..."
The second was the RHCP release party for Blood Sugar Sex Magic. That's right, I've never seen RHCP perform, but RHCP have seen me perform...
The melodic instrumentalist for the gig was John Bilezikjian - Wikipedia , a monster musician who performed on the Oud, an Arab (pan-Middle Eastern) stringed instrument that is the (fretless) predecessor of the Lute. Imagine French crusaders bringing back "le' Oud" and putting string frets on it, and "le' Oud" becoming "Lute". John was an amazing musician - classically trained violinist, virtuoso Oud player, with an encyclopedic repertoire of American pop, jazz, Arab, Armenian, Greek, Persian, Turkish, Ladino, and probably several other spheres of music. I was blessed to play a few dozen gigs with John and never saw him stumped by a request in any of those categories. Pretty sure no one at the party knew just what they had on their hands, in terms of the quality of the music. But everyone enjoyed the performance. I have one picture from that RHCP gig. That's me in the back, in glasses and Fez. Fez' are cool. Dr. Who said so. And yes, the dancer is balanced on the edge of a sword, having danced her way up the ladder of swords.

 

[Ooba Tooba]

No comment

 

[Jimmy4string]

WHOA!!

 

[awakefie]

In a previous band we got a call out of nowhere and the lady wanted to hire us at this super swanky hunting lodge. This is the kind of place not necessarily open to the public that is frequented by politicians, both local and national. It was a 4 hour drive but the $$$ were premium and free rooms for the band. Play for 2 hours, pocket the dough, that would be it.

When we arrived we were awestruck, the lodge owners owned an entire box-ended canyon. The lodge itself had a wine-room, an armory, gorgeous health club, etc. We were treated to their finest wines, food, the whole 9 yards. It turned out to be an employee appreciation party and the hostess said if they liked us we could be the house band for major events.

We played the show, we killed it, the place loved us. After securing my equipment I went back to the room and the guitar player comes in and says everyone is going on paddleboats in the pond. I declined as I'm not much of an after party guy. Instead I went over to the lodge and talked to the hostess. She said the owners were very impressed and would be adding us as the house band. Great night, right?

While we were talking we hear a scream from out front. We go to see what's going on and there is our lead singer and drummer flailing in the water next to an overturned paddle boat (I didn't know you could overturn a paddleboat). Guitar player jumps in and drags them both back to shore. The singer is kicking and screaming as he pulls her back to shore to "let go of me" and immediately jumps back int he water and starts swimming to the overturned boat. She reaches the boat and climbs on top, peering into the water. She jumps back into the water and comes up a few minutes later. She does this several times before we finally talk her into coming back. Apparently she had a bag of something they had been smoking that she lost when the boat tipped over. She stormed back into the lodge, soaking wet and proceeded to grab a bottle of whiskey and plop down in what looked to be a very expensive chair.

The hostess looked on in horror.

The next morning I did my best to smooth it over with the hostess but she was very upset. She had been put in the position of having to explain to the owners what had happened. The hostess paid us and thanked us for coming.

Needless to say, we did not get the very lucrative return gig. The singer is still in the band, I am not.