The Ranting Room

Sounds like a gig arranged by someone who hasn't got the first clue about the requirements of a live band (i.e. a decent PA to start with). There's no guarantee that the DJs PA will be okay for you, it doesn't sound very good for an event with multiple bands.

Can I rant here? Oh good.

I'm in a band that's just looking for some decent gigs.  We've been together about 8 years, mostly playing for free and for groups of friends, but in the last couple of years we've decided to up the ante and focus on original material and obtain some more substantial gigs.  One of our main sticky points recently has been to avoid lugging our entire PA system across town just to play for small (paying or non-paying) groups of people who probably aren't even listening and would rather hear a cover band play "Margaritaville".  In short, no more party gigs.  I've turned down two this year already.  Instead, we'd like to try and get shows booked at music clubs - where people come there to hear music, and you're encouraged to play your own stuff, and most importantly, there's a PA system and sound man already there.

Despite some uncertainty, we decided to accept a gig for a "Relay for Life" event sponsored by the American Cancer Society.  It seemed like a good opportunity for local exposure in the ATL scene.  This is a big all-night outdoor event with multiple bands.  Naturally, being a charity event, we would expect no pay for such a gig.  However, I have been trying for the last month to get some answers as to what equipment will be there, and what we would have to bring.  I had been led to believe they had a PA system at the event, but no one could really confirm this with certainty, and I got bounced around to numerous friendly people with good intentions who were unable to answer my questions.  The event is in three days.

Bottom line, I finally got some answers.

- There's a DJ with a PA system, but there will be no microphones nor stage monitors for the band.  Meaning we will pretty much have to bring most of our rig on Friday.

- No sound man, which means erratic and unbalanced stage sound, relying on annoyed patrons to help us adjust our levels as we go.

- Sparked by an offhand comment I made in a very early email saying our bass player would need to shuffle his work schedule in order to be able to play at the agreed 8 pm slot, the event coordinators took it upon themselves to move us to 11 pm without asking us, thinking they were doing us a favor.

- A 30-40 minute set (we had planned for at least an hour) which means by the time we get the sound figured out, our set will be over.

We're having band rehearsal tonight to decide how to handle this.  I'm tempted to just bag the whole thing, but it is a charity event, and doesn't seem to be in the spirit of giving to cancel on an event like this - even though if I had known all of this weeks ago like I should have, we probably would have declined the gig in the first place.

I get the impression that most people believe that live music works in real life like it does on TV shows like "Glee".  Just give some guys some instruments, and presto!  You've got a concert.   But there are a lot of wires, speakers, amplifiers and microphones involved, and getting them all set the right way is necessary for a band sounding good.  You don't just show up with a guitar and suddenly you're Guns n' Roses.

OK, thanks for allowing me to rant.


Edited by HolyMoly - April 30 2013 at 09:11

Dean wrote: Finnforest wrote: I'm a honda guy..... i had a bright red 95 integra that was a blast....no real power of course, but such damn fun in corners....i used to hit this really sharp curve area and you could just corner like crazy, huge fun The wife has a honda, it's a good little car and while it didn't exactly win in an argument with a 18-wheeler, it didn't lose either - remarkably after being spun off the road and shoved into the central-reservation, it was back on the road within two weeks and is still going strong.   The VW Scirocco (in the picture) was dreadful at cornering ... when cornering hard if the front wheel touched the painted white-line if felt like you were going to fall off (in much the same way falling off a motorcycle feels when you're just about to fall off). Since the UK roads are more corners than straights I seriously considered dumping it for a honda or nissan that could go round corners, but I liked everything else about the vw skyrocket and didn't really want to part with it so I spent £1000 on sports suspension and shocks, lowering it no more than about half an inch in the process. After that it cornered like it was on rails and while my current coupe is considerably more powerful and considerably quicker and faster, it cannot take really sharp corners as fast as the modified skyrocket could.

Your comments about stop lights somewhere below was right, they are like a cancer spreading to so many locations where not needed, to protect people from their own driving inabilities and their inattentiveness.  I could parlay that into another rant about sh*tty local govt and transportation policy, but I won't.    

What I really wanted to say was that a few miles north they put in the areas first Roundabouts and for me personally I think it was the first ones I'd driven on.  Initially disconcerting and strange....they were pretty fun once I got the hang.  Supposedly the are building many more.  But these ones are semi-rural, I wonder how well they will work in the more crowded areas with today's American driver who can't put away their damn phone and generally can't pay attention, because, as a teen I know so tellingly put it "driving is so boring, I can't......*just*......drive!"  

Dayvenkirq wrote: ^ Doesn't sound like you hate it. AEProgman wrote: My peave, I cannot stand the idiots who blast that supposed stuff called music, Rap or hip hop, so lound at stop lights that my vehicle is rattling and vibrating from their million watt car stereo system.  With that low frequency blasting in their ears, they should be deaf within a couple of years.  I think I will invest in hearing aides..... Well, who doesn't hate those cts? This is a big problem here in the Sparks/Reno area. They just don't give a st about the community. I must act. I must walk around with a carton of eggs and throw them at every single ddo on wheels! Rant over.

^ Doesn't sound like you hate it.

AEProgman wrote: My peave, I cannot stand the idiots who blast that supposed stuff called music, Rap or hip hop, so lound at stop lights that my vehicle is rattling and vibrating from their million watt car stereo system.  With that low frequency blasting in their ears, they should be deaf within a couple of years.  I think I will invest in hearing aides.....

Well, who doesn't hate those cts? This is a big problem here in the Sparks/Reno area. They just don't give a st about the community. I must act. I must walk around with a carton of eggs and throw them at every single ddo on wheels!

Rant over.

Edited by Dayvenkirq - April 13 2013 at 21:11

that was effin great man

Ok, since we were being too peaceful the other day I owe the thread a rant....and man will this feel good. 

I f**king hate people who drive slow on the freeways......now hold on......I'll give old people a pass, I'm not ripping Grandma.  I'm talking about middle aged people, usually in a piece of sh*t minivan, or some self absorbed buttmunch on a smart phone....  Hear me, if you don't want to drive at least the posted speed, then take the goddamn secondary roads and get the hell outta the way.

You're right guys.  That did feel good. 




Edited by Finnforest - April 13 2013 at 19:37

I guess this has been aired before in this very thread so dip me in sedatives and suffocate me in gaffer tape but that internet riposte of haters gonna hate really rips my rodent knitting big style. What does this smug 'shrug of the shoulders' really mean anyways?: those who express a heartfelt opinion contrary to my own that involves polemic or invective cannot be sincere but are merely driven by the hidden agenda of hate. I'm reminded of the definition provided by the FBI for satanism here i.e. it's every religion apart from your own.....

Ahhhh....that's better

Dean wrote: The Doctor wrote: Here everyone drives around as if they are stoned (which I'm guessing they often are - this is Austin after all) or are mentally in a dimension where there are no other cars around.  And whoever times the traffic lights here should be strung up by their ........... after being told they will be let down once the light changes to green.  And then it never changes to green.  The American love affair with traffic lights are the one reason why a manual gearbox would be pointless option on an American car - lights change to green, into 1st gear, pull away, about to shift into 2nd and ah, no, another set of lights and they're red, slow down to a dead stop, handbrake on, knock it into neutral and sit back watch your fingernails grow while waiting for them to change to green, and so on ad infinitum until you've traversed the 10 blocks from your hotel to Pappasito's Cantina in a demented game of traffic light leapfrog, bt which time you're no longer hungry because you've gnawed through most of the foam & plastic off the dashboard facia. What you guys need to do is invent the roundabout, however to avoid confusion I guess you'd need to call it the Trunk Road Automotive Gyaratory Interchange Carousel or somesuch.

I'm fairly certain that very few Americans would know half of the words in that phrase.