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Repeating songs at a paying gig? Thoughts?

#101
They hired a JAZZ QUARTET to play at a FARMER'S MARKET! They did not hire DIRTY LIXX (sorry if I misspelled it) to ROCK their SOX OFF! Nobody will know the tunes. Farmer Brown don't listen to JAZZ!

As for playing to three drunks, they will have a blast. Cuz I will ask them their names. Then I will ask them what request I have never played before that they want me to BUTCHER NEXT. And we will all have a good laugh. But, no, I will not stand up there in front of three drunks and act like I am playing Wembley Stadium. Professional or not, that's just silly! If you take yourself that seriously then...... well........ (sigh)...... never mind. Not worth the hassle.

You guys just keep playing the best show ever for the farmers...... and the corn. Surely, the farmer's market deserves better than a jazz quartet that repeats songs. You guys are right.

OP, never mind. You should NOT take the gig. The corn deserves better! Or, better yet, you guys should practice EVERY WAKING HOUR between now and you BIG DEBUT and the FARMER'S MARKET! Forget the dollar to note ratio! Money is NOTHING when it comes to putting your best foot forward for the fine folks who are squeezing TOMATOES and buying APPLE PIES! Oy. What a bunch of crap.

Wait a second. My eyes just rolled out the back of my head. Let me find them......
 
#102
two fingers said:
They hired a JAZZ QUARTET to play at a FARMER'S MARKET! They did not hire DIRTY LIXX (sorry if I misspelled it) to ROCK their SOX OFF! Nobody will know the tunes. Farmer Brown don't listen to JAZZ!

As for playing to three drunks, they will have a blast. Cuz I will ask them their names. Then I will ask them what request I have never played before that they want me to BUTCHER NEXT. And we will all have a good laugh. But, no, I will not stand up there in front of three drunks and act like I am playing Wembley Stadium. Professional or not, that's just silly! If you take yourself that seriously then...... well........ (sigh)...... never mind. Not worth the hassle.

You guys just keep playing the best show ever for the farmers...... and the corn. Surely, the farmer's market deserves better than a jazz quartet that repeats songs. You guys are right.

OP, never mind. You should NOT take the gig. The corn deserves better! Or, better yet, you guys should practice EVERY WAKING HOUR between now and you BIG DEBUT and the FARMER'S MARKET! Forget the dollar to note ratio! Money is NOTHING when it comes to putting your best foot forward for the fine folks who are squeezing TOMATOES and buying APPLE PIES! Oy. What a bunch of crap.

Wait a second. My eyes just rolled out the back of my head. Let me find them......
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I hate to break it to you, but there are farmers who listen to jazz.

Oh yes, there are.

You know who rolls their eyes?

Teen age girls.
 
#103
OK, fine. Please advise the OP not to take the gig until they practice 4700 times and have 200 songs under their belt. Because every gig they play will be serious, and even farmers deserve the best jazz.

That's a healthy perspective.
 
#104
two fingers said:
OK, fine. Please advise the OP not to take the gig until they practice 4700 times and have 200 songs under their belt. Because every gig they play will be serious, and even farmers deserve the best jazz.

That's a healthy perspective.
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I advise the OP that playing six songs over and over for two hours is garbage.

Other than that, they are free to do what they wish.

THAT is a healthy perspective, because it's fairly realistic.

How about if they had 12 songs under their belt, and played them no more than twice, with some extended jams and improvisation?

How is that unreasonable?

I don't get the heavy sarcasm, dude.

Lighten up.

;)
 
#105
There's a band I sub for sometimes that has a pretty small song list. Like 45 songs. Last time I played with them we did Folsom Prison at least 3 times, Wagon Wheel twice, Dirt Road Anthem 3 times... Several others were repeated that I can't recall. I ended up singing about a dozen tunes, and I wasn't even supposed to sing that night. This was a regular 5 hour gig that they do.

Now granted, if a $20 goes in the tip jar I'll repeat any song you want. If it happens enough times you may get $40 from someone else NOT to play it again. But for a group of "pro" players (which I understand the OP is not) to just not have enough tunes to get through the gig, that's pretty Mickey Mouse to me.

Oh well. Not my band, I get my money and go home.
 
#108
This has been a rather enlightening thread to say the least. I will just add that regardless of anything else the OP is taking a chance of getting a bad reputation for his new band. He may or may not want to take that chance but at the least he should let whoever hired them know whats up. It might be Ok with them then you can relax and enjoy it. If not, you might lose the gig but you will still have your reputation and I'm sure your honesty will be appreciated.

Two more cents for ya!

Good luck bro.

MJW
 
#110
bassgod0dmw said:
+1.

As well as lots of people going to said farmers market. OP's profile says he's in Nanuet. That's right up the river from NYC, so there are a lot of non farmers in the area too (read: practically none).
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And these people tend to grab a chair and just hang out for more than 6 jazz tunes and possibly a couple of blues jams at the farmer's market? I didn't realize the live music was the draw at those things...... anywhere...... even NY.
 
#111
two fingers said:
Actually, no. But I did play in steady working bands for well over two decades. At points I did it for a living. The guys that were in those bands are still my best friends. And I still do fill-in work all the time. I get work from bands from Nashville, here locally, and all over the Eastern Seaboard.

That being said, here's the thing. I don't rank every gig the same. Many of you do. If I am playing a wedding and the band is getting $7500 I take it very seriously. I do customer service like nobody's business. I do all the MC stuff and make sure EVERYBODY is having a great time. I don't take breaks. I go check to make sure the bride and her parents are satisfied.

However, if I am playing a farmer's market, for a few hundred bucks, with a brand new band of up-and-comers, I take it with a grain of salt. I go, play my 6 songs, throw in a couple 12 bar blues jams, and don't give two happy craps what the ears of corn think about my repeating songs.

Now, if your life is so empty that you have to treat a jam at a local farmer's market as another "really important gig" and sweat the details, and have fifteen rehearsals, I am really sorry for you. If I were to somehow piss off Farmer Fred and Hilda, the secretary who booked a jazz band for a farmer's market, I'll be OK. If they decide not to have me back because I played April in Paris twice, then I will still be able to put food on the table.

Lighten up sugar boobies. Some gigs are just laid back jams. And, quite often nobody cares how seriously you take your playing, the gig, or music in general. I assure you that having a jazz band at a farmer's market is probably not an awesome idea to begin with. You reckon Farmer Brown is gonna know if the bass player is doing Summertime in Q flat while the sax man is doing it in Z sharp? Uh..... nope.


OP, go play the stinking gig and be done with it. Nobody will care if you do OK or knock it out of the park. Use it as a dress rehearsal, get your money, and go learn some more songs for the next one.

Taking a farmer's market jam seriously...... my big old BUTT.
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Snort. So serious!!! I love this place already.

If you do have the experience you claim, you know big gigs can come from the oddest places. I've gotten offers for big gigs by people who saw my band at some low-dollar affair. If I had gone into those "lesser" gigs with your attitude, I wouldn't have received those offers.

Look at it like this: Let's say you mow lawns for a living. You have two customers, one with 1/4 acre lot and another with a 1/2 acre lot. Do you do a crappy job on the smaller lot, just because you make less money? You don't if you have any business sense, because the guy with the 1/4 acre likely knows just as many people as the other guy with the larger property, and you lose out on business when he tells his friends and neighbors what a crappy job you do. Whether you're getting $200 or $7500, when you're set up your gear and play in public you're representing your brand. It's silly to intentionally go out and represent it poorly.

If I'm getting paid for a job, I'm going to put forth my best effort. If I can't do that, I won't take the job. It's pretty simple, and certainly not as dramatic as you seem to think. It's just good business sense. Music is a business, remember?

For the record, you're the only one who seems to be getting worked up in here. And if you really want to get under my skin, you're going to have to do a lot better than sugar boobies. :D My six year old niece can muster up a better insult. :p
 
#112
two fingers said:
And these people tend to grab a chair and just hang out for more than 6 jazz tunes and possibly a couple of blues jams at the farmer's market? I didn't realize the live music was the draw at those things...... anywhere...... even NY.
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I honestly don't know the answer to that question, but lots of people do go to them and spend a good portion of their day at them. I suppose its possible that if people knew there was live music they may make a day picnic sort of thing out of it. Even if it's just background music I would think some people would notice if the same bunch of songs were being played over and over and over and over. I've noticed that kind of thing when a place just has an iPod playing over a PA and the same song comes up twice.

Like you, I don't take myself all that seriously on most gigs unless it's a high pressure situation. Even then, I need to have fun to keep things interesting.
 
#113
Farmers Market and Jazz? Wow!!! Go for it. If your playing standards most folks won't know one song from the next anyway.
 
#114
two fingers said:
And these people tend to grab a chair and just hang out for more than 6 jazz tunes and possibly a couple of blues jams at the farmer's market? I didn't realize the live music was the draw at those things...... anywhere...... even NY.
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Farmers markets, food fairs and harvest festivals are among the top venues to gig this time of year between westchester and upstate NY. We have two coming up and many bands I know also have gigs booked at various similar events. It was an annual treat to see the Levon Helm Band at Gill's farmers market in Hurley up until he died. Farmers markets are as legitimate a venue as any nightclub.
 
#115
two fingers said:
And these people tend to grab a chair and just hang out for more than 6 jazz tunes and possibly a couple of blues jams at the farmer's market? I didn't realize the live music was the draw at those things...... anywhere...... even NY.
Click to expand...


Six tunes may fill what.....20-30 minutes? You can't comprehend the possibility that a significant portion of the crowd may be there at least that long? What about the owners and farmers who will certainly be there all day ?
 
#116
You never know who's watching. Making a great first impression is important. Small gig, large gig, you should try to give your all. I've lost count of the times we have earned another larger gig just from how professional we were on some of the smaller gigs we have had the opportunity to play. We only repeat a song if it's a request.
 
#118
two fingers said:
Farmers market will be high turnover crowds. Nobody will even hear all six songs. Go do the gig and have fun with it. The best place to practice is on stage!
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Perfect answer. Sweet, sweet revenge for all of us who've practiced our butts off for those things. Do the people that hired you know that you only have six songs down ?

I once quit a band because the bandleader liked to play The Breakup Song by Greg Khin more than once in an evening. No requests, just his favorite song. It wasn't just that but it stands out as a main reason, anyway.
 

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