I think I have to walk.

[Downunderwonder]

Let them take the Queen gig, scramble to pull together a band of pro's for the show the 11th, and say goodbye - they just told you they don't need you...
Yes, it's harsh.
Pull their admin/edit rights for whatever social media sites they may have, contact the ale house, and move forward.
Congratulations, you're a BL now.

Can you pull together a new band to play the 11/22 gig at the ale house?

Baboom with both barrels!

Now that's the question...

yup.

 

[DustyElmer]

Thank you all for your replies. You really gave me a lot of clarity on the situation. But there’s more!

They called a practice tonight, and as I’m leaving the main booker, who is also the upright bass player, tells me he can’t make the show this coming Friday. So I have to call the venue owner tomorrow and see if he even still wants us. It’d be an acoustic guitar/banjo duo. I’ve honestly never been more angry about a musical situation in my life.

It really solidified my resolution to be done with this once and for all.

 

[BrentD]

Thank you all for your replies. You really gave me a lot of clarity on the situation. But there’s more!

They called a practice tonight, and as I’m leaving the main booker, who is also the upright bass player, tells me he can’t make the show this coming Friday. So I have to call the venue owner tomorrow and see if he even still wants us. It’d be an acoustic guitar/banjo duo. I’ve honestly never been more angry about a musical situation in my life.

It really solidified my resolution to be done with this once and for all.

Where are you located?

 

[DustyElmer]

Where are you located?

Central NY state

 

[BrentD]

Ok. Good luck. If you were local I'd fill in and give my cut to a drummer to coax him along. Hope it works out for you.

 

[Slater]

Play the 10/11 gig, get paid, then say, “Good luck with your ‘Queen gig’. I’m out”…

I wouldn’t tolerate the disrespect and poor business decisions.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Thank you all for your replies. You really gave me a lot of clarity on the situation. But there’s more!

They called a practice tonight, and as I’m leaving the main booker, who is also the upright bass player, tells me he can’t make the show this coming Friday. So I have to call the venue owner tomorrow and see if he even still wants us. It’d be an acoustic guitar/banjo duo. I’ve honestly never been more angry about a musical situation in my life.

It really solidified my resolution to be done with this once and for all.

Sounds like you can book decent paying gigs. You have 5 weeks. Find some musicians who can play and want to get paid, and go from there.

 

[Slater]

They called a practice tonight, and as I’m leaving the main booker, who is also the upright bass player, tells me he can’t make the show this coming Friday.

It really solidified my resolution to be done with this once and for all.

I would definitely never work with the “main booker” guy again.

 

[LBS-bass]

Yeah, that's completely out of the question. Taking $200 out of everyone's pocket for some stupid tribute show is way wrong. I'd get the rest of the guys to do the shows you booked and kick out the guy who thought he could pull a fast one.

 

[HolmeBass]

I'll try to make this as concise as possible. Might be more of a vent than asking for advice, but I'm open to advice as well.

I play in a fairly successful local Americana band, and have been playing with them for 3 years. I'm 9 years older (35) than the youngest member, and have been around the block a couple times. Since the beginning I've noticed little things that made me scratch my head, things like a mysterious "band fund," delusions of grandeur, and almost always opting to play gigs that are farther away and for less money. That comes into play here.

A local ale house came to me in July to book us, and I checked with the guys and got the okay, gave the owner dates we're available, and we settled on 2 Fridays. The first one being this coming Friday 10/11 , the second one being a month away on 11/22. I confirmed these dates with the guys, and booked the shows. It's a nice little place, very nearby, we've not played there before, and it pays the going rate of $100+ per man.

A week or so ago I got a text from the main booker in the band, asking if I was available for this weird Queen cover show on 11/22, an hour and a half away, full band, with $200 to split between 5 guys. I told him we were booked at the ale house that night. He asked if I could reschedule, and I said no. The owner was good enough to give us 2 good paying dates, this is a good place to book through the winter when things dry up, and it's in my town where everyone knows me, so I don't want to flake out on this guy. Nothing else was said.

So I logged in to our shared band calendar and what do I see? He removed my booking for 11/22 and booked the Queen tribute show instead.

Am I wrong to feel that 1) that's a hugely disrespectful move on his part and 2) that's highly unprofessional? It just makes no sense to me to cancel a good paying job nearby for a low paying job far away, not to mention the fact that we're an Americana band with nowhere near the instrumentation or vocal skill required to play Queen. I don't know man. I think I have to walk.

Extremely disrespectful and unprofessional. I’d call him up and give a solid chewing out. If there was not an immediate reversal and honoring of the gigs you booked I’d walk and leave them in the lurch. Then try and put something together for those ale house gigs.

 

[SactoBass]

Play the 10/11 gig, get paid, then say, “Good luck with your ‘Queen gig’. I’m out”…

I wouldn’t tolerate the disrespect and poor business decisions.

+1

 

[SactoBass]

Yeah, that's completely out of the question. Taking $200 out of everyone's pocket for some stupid tribute show is way wrong. I'd get the rest of the guys to do the shows you booked and kick out the guy who thought he could pull a fast one.

+1

 

[ArtechnikA]

Central NY state

How 'central' ?
Like Finger Lakes ?
It'd be a scramble but I might could do it. If you could deal with a fretless electric or electric upright. Alas - no real URB - yet...
I'm in east-central PA - I'd guess / hope you can find someone closer.
PM me if you want to pursue it...

Update - Clinton NY is about 4 hrs. I could do that... I'm also perfectly OK if you can find someone more local ;-)

 

[crazyBassClown]

Try contacting the other guys in the band and see where they sit. Do they want the ale house gig or the queen one? You may find the booker has fired himself.

 

[JW56789]

All this BS and then 'Radio GaGa' with fiddle . . . . . . C-Ya !

 

[Aweiss96]

Central NY state

I know it's not entirely central but anywhere near Buffalo?

 

[Renaissance]

Maybe I missed it, but what do the other guys think?

 

[Renaissance]

BTW, I would almost never say leave someone in a lurch - but this is one time I would have no problem at all hanging this guy out to dry!

 

[LBS-bass]

Try contacting the other guys in the band and see where they sit. Do they want the ale house gig or the queen one? You may find the booker has fired himself.

The money itself should be enough to make that decision, if they have any sense. This guy just robbed them of close to $200 each.

 

[crazyBassClown]

The money itself should be enough to make that decision, if they have any sense. This guy just robbed them of close to $200 each.

Money isn't the be all and end all, especially as a local musician unlikely to ever be able to make a living at it. Friendship or playing with people there own age may be a bigger deciding factor. But you don't know if you don't ask.