Had fun, but not worth it...

So the cover band just played a private party last night, for a motorcycle club our drummer is in. A week or so ago, I asked via email what the pay was going to be (since no one ever thought to mention it...) and found out it would be "pass the hat." Oh great. But I've heard of some of these events where there's lots of people present and they're really generous to the entertainment, so here's hoping...

For the past couple weeks everyone's been preoccupied with the weather, our big heat wave, and word is that it would break - guess when? - yesterday evening, with popup thunderstorms as the cold front passes through. Get to the house and we're playing outside on a deck, no cover of any kind. The singer says "pray it doesn't rain," and apparently it's only a 40% chance any given place will get one.

So we set up, still dry ... start playing a song for sound check and the drops start coming down... and then coming down HARD. Everybody grabs gear and starts ripping out cords and hauling it into the house, we all get soaked. It passes pretty quickly and the sun comes out, so we wipe everything dry and start setting up again.

Everything's pretty good once we start playing - a little rough, considering all the distraction, but folks seem to enjoy us, there are some girls dancing, not too bad.

The place is an hour from home. Setup was supposed to around 4 and 5, start playing around 6, since we normally go 3 hours I figured we'd wind up and strike about 9 and I'd be home between 10 and 11. Between the weather, chitchat between songs, and taking some requests, I don't leave the party till midnight, home at 1 am. Wifey no happy...

And the bottom line - not a big bash with hundreds of people, this was a little event with maybe 30 guests. Tips bucket goes around and our total take is.... Eighty bucks. To split five ways. I get home with $16.00 in my pocket.

Time for a talk with the band...

 

Yes and no here. It's like this; if I had been asked up front, Can we play for the drummer's friends for free on x date, I would have said sure, we'll do it for him and that's cool. But what I was asked was if I was available for a gig opportunity on x date, and only told after what it was. If I had been told this was not a paying thing before committing, then 16 bucks would have been a bonus.

You're definitely right that (thankfully) it was indeed low pressure and an appreciative audience. So that was good. In and of itself, it wasn't a bad time. But I don't eat or drink very much, and unfortunately having plenty of free alcohol available to the guitarist doesn't go down in my book as a plus.

But the time away from the family also counts. It doesn't play real well to say I'm going to go take off and party with some folks while leaving her on her own with the four kids and come back with no pay.

Yeah. We may have won a few new fans, and we gave out some t-shirts. But it wasn't a big crowd for exposure, and being undersold is an issue in this group. I posted a thread last fall about the BL booking a party for $300 while he was on the opposite coast and then asking the band to help cover his airfare home...

I hired my own band to play my daughter's graduation party a few weeks ago, and made a point of paying everyone rather than asking them to do it as a favor. If we say we're a real working band, then we should treat ourselves that way. Feeling like the message didn't get across...

 

Not telling...