We Dodged A Bullet!

[Wings]

We thought we had a great idea. There was going to be a very important fund raising event for a local non-profit and our Trio wanted to help. We thought, why don’t we donate a house concert to be auctioned off to the highest bidder? In addition, so that bidders would know what they’re bidding on, we volunteered to play for an hour or so at the event so that bidders would know what they were bidding on. So far, so good.

As we got closer to auction time I started thinking that maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. What would we do if the highest bid was $25? How would we save face if the bids were very low, or worse yet, what if there aren’t any bidders? Is this going to be another case of no good deed going unpunished?

Well, like I said, we dodged the bullet. We had 5 bidders and we raised $800 for the organization. I still think it was a good idea, but there were some tense moments.

 

[gregoire1]

Hmmm, I think that was actually a great idea, and I would have never considered it, but, like other donors, I guess you’d better be willing to work for very little, but at least you’d raise some money for your cause. (Sorry for the run-on sentence)

 

[DirtDog]

We thought we had a great idea. There was going to be a very important fund raising event for a local non-profit and our Trio wanted to help. We thought, why don’t we donate a house concert to be auctioned off to the highest bidder? In addition, so that bidders would know what they’re bidding on, we volunteered to play for an hour or so at the event so that bidders would know what they were bidding on. So far, so good.

As we got closer to auction time I started thinking that maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. What would we do if the highest bid was $25? How would we save face if the bids were very low, or worse yet, what if there aren’t any bidders? Is this going to be another case of no good deed going unpunished?

Well, like I said, we dodged the bullet. We had 5 bidders and we raised $800 for the organization. I still think it was a good idea, but there were some tense moments.

My last band did the same thing a few years back. We were playing a fundraiser and Kind of decided last minute to auction ourselves off and didn’t really think it through. In the end someone bid $500. The winning bid was one of my coworkers - a super nice guy but a super straight arrow, not known as a partier. PhD uber math geek. Kinda looks like Fred Savage. He bought us to play at his friend’s 40th bday.

Anyways, day of the gig, we roll up to the house, a massive faux-Tudor house, four car garage, beautiful inground pool, Beemers, Audis and Mercs parked everywhere. That kind of thing. Turns out the birthday boy is a surgeon and most of the party was made up of other doctors, etc.

Mostly youngish families with kids, most of them Francophone, so our set of country and southern rock was a great fit!

Found our stage in the “spa” area (covered three season porch with hot tub, BBQ) just off the pool deck. Full catering, played two sets and done! I do have pics, I’ll see if I can find one to post.

Was a fine gig - not great and not awful. I had forgotten the clip for my mic stand so had to improvise. I was only a couple of miles from home but would have had to crawl over a gridlocked bridge at rush hour to get it. Duct tape to the rescue!

Turned out my straight as an arrow coworker loves to dance!

Edit - here's a shot of the setup. There's a food shot for @dbase as well - bunch of grilled sausages, fresh baguette and 18 different types of mustards! There were also pulled pork sandwiches and the perennial Quebec favourite, Pogos!

 

[Wings]

I've had similar experiences. It often surprises me as to how little we end up knowing about the people we play with unless we ask. It seems like for the first year or two, all I need to know is how well they play. I played for years with a beginning harp player at house jams I held and then found out he was a leading pediatric endocrinologist. Go figure!?!? It turned out that he wanted to learn how to play the harp so that he had an instrument he could easily take with him when he guest lectured all over the world.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

We thought, why don’t we donate a house concert to be auctioned off to the highest bidder?

That is both a great and scary idea, no idea what the bids could be!

Excellent that it worked out. We were just thinking of a creative way to offer our services to raise $ for a coworker of mine that was hurt seriously on the job. I may run this past my bandmates.

 

[Ostie]

We did it when I was in a blues band about 15 years ago. It turned out ok, but the bidder got a bargain....

I don't mind doing benefits if it’s for a good cause. One time we did a Benny for the family of a little girl who needed a heart transplant. After the gig her mother thanked us. She was in tears. It was very touching. It as worth every penny that we didn’t make.