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TODDLER 
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: August 28 2009
Location: Vineland, N.J.
Status: Offline
Points: 3126
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 Posted: November 23 2009 at 10:42 |
In 1980 I was booked to play a club at the South Jersey shore area. We were your basic top 40 cover band combined with some jazz instrumentals and blues. We played 4 fourty minute sets and received an encore. The club owner approached me and said that he wanted us to leave asap. He said to me: You have a female singer who is black. We do not want black people in our venue he said. I was really pissed! I turned to this guy and said: What? Are you completely nuts? She just tore the house down! We received 2 encores and the people loved her and you are holding a grudge about the color of her skin? I really went off on this guy and in the end he did not pay us.
In the late 80's I played a gig and while on stage, this large crowd was shifting from left to right. A sea of people went into a rage war. Many cops arrived and still could not get things under control until almost every police officer on duty was called to the scene. We hid under the stage.
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halabalushindigus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 05 2009
Location: San Diego
Status: Offline
Points: 1438
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Posted: November 23 2009 at 19:21 |
I'm touring L.A. doing a nursing home circuit and my ol lady books a show at Chino State Prison. So she has this wooden rifle she uses during the song "Soldier Of Love". I never liked it, it looks real. So the gaurds at the gate miss it when they check all our performance gear and while we are settin up, the director(Guy who hired us) says "hey! you can't have that rifle in here" so he takes it and puts it in his locker
Then we're leaving and Honor says to the gate man "Oh-we left our rifle inside" Well, the director had already gone home to Rialto and had to drive all the way back, open up his locker and get massively chewed out by the gaurds at the gate. Stupid rifle!! ................. During the show an inmate reminded me that if he and I were on the street right now all my gear would be his
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assume the power 1586/14.3
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halabalushindigus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 05 2009
Location: San Diego
Status: Offline
Points: 1438
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 03:30 |
How about playing outside in the sun where your new strings melt and you can't see the LED readout on the drum-machine or the keyboard patch (hey, we did the MIDI thing,ok) anyway i remember seeing GENESIS in Los Angeles at the Forum back in the mid-seventies and my buddy says, "look!"
There was a guy who, while phil was down front singing, climbed onto Phil's vacant drumset and started playing. The Roadies jerked him off the set and threw him to the ground and started kicking him hard just as a security dude closed the curtains for privacy. That was COOL
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assume the power 1586/14.3
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Negoba
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 24 2008
Location: Big Muddy
Status: Offline
Points: 5208
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Posted: November 24 2009 at 12:46 |
In 1991, we were at a talent show and the band in front of us does an atrocious version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The song is brand new, and of course we do it too, and think to ourselves, "We're going to kick total rear." This was before we had electronic tuners and before I realized how hot a room with 100+ people gets and what that does to your tuning. So we got up there and sucked worse.
Great lesson on A) Never try to show another musician up. and B) Bad tuning is the fastest way to suck it up no matter how well you're prepared. (I'm addicted to headstock tuners now)
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You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.
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paganinio
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 07 2008
Status: Offline
Points: 1327
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Posted: November 25 2009 at 03:13 |
I sang offkey, off tempo, and forget the lines, at the same time. But my fans cheered so f**king loud they barely even notice. 
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ExittheLemming
Forum Senior Member
Joined: October 19 2007
Location: Penal Colony
Status: Offline
Points: 11415
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Posted: November 25 2009 at 07:33 |
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We played at a famous venue in Glasgow called the 'Burns Howff' and a friend of the band offered to project his art school slides over us a la the Velvet Underground/Pink Floyd. Cool ! we thought as this guy's paintings were suitably weird and abstract. Unfortunately he mistakenly brought along a roll of slides that were of his parents last holiday in Scarborough. The audience thought we were a comedy act. Even now when I pick up my guitar for a noodle, I still see the reflection of a white haired septuagenarian staring back dissaprovingly at my artistic efforts.
Edited by ExittheLemming - November 25 2009 at 07:51
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TODDLER
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: August 28 2009
Location: Vineland, N.J.
Status: Offline
Points: 3126
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Posted: December 03 2009 at 21:40 |
Back in the late 70's I traveled with a band who claimed to be witches. One gig in particular was at a wicca gathering or should I say celebration. It was outdoors on a private farm area. The stage was a flat bed. We played about 5 sets while wiccans got intoxicated and danced nude around open bonfires. Nothing went wrong, it just scared the crap out of me.
For a while I played a place called Alexandra's. Nektar and Happy the Man played there too. We were scared to leave the club because biker gangs would battle it out in the parking lot. State troopers always raided the place when we were on stage. We would be in the middle of Watcher of the Skies or some Tull tune when the cops pulled the plug. It was always a big disappointment to perform there.
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Negoba
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 24 2008
Location: Big Muddy
Status: Offline
Points: 5208
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Posted: December 03 2009 at 21:50 |
 TODDLER wrote:
Back in the late 70's I traveled with a band who claimed to be witches. One gig in particular was at a wicca gathering or should I say celebration. It was outdoors on a private farm area. The stage was a flat bed. We played about 5 sets while wiccans got intoxicated and danced nude around open bonfires. Nothing went wrong, it just scared the crap out of me.
For a while I played a place called Alexandra's. Nektar and Happy the Man played there too. We were scared to leave the club because biker gangs would battle it out in the parking lot. State troopers always raided the place when we were on stage. We would be in the middle of Watcher of the Skies or some Tull tune when the cops pulled the plug. It was always a big disappointment to perform there.
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A) That sounds like fun. Did King Arthur mate with his sister while you played?
B) That sucks. Anyone who interrupts Watcher of the Skies has no soul.
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You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.
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Blacksword
Prog Reviewer
Joined: June 22 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 16130
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Posted: December 07 2009 at 11:28 |
I've had numerous bad playing experiences with bands. Among the worst was when I was playing drums for a blues/rock band called The Angel Trail. The name, itself should have been a bad omen! After an afternoons hard drinking, the whole band were pretty wasted. Our first track started with a guitar intro, and the point I was supposed to 'kick in' I fell off my drum stool into a pit at the back of the stage... 
At another gig with a different band, we were playing in a cellar bar at an arts centre. We'd hired a dry ice machine, which belched out clouds of the stuff, which billowed up the stairwell into the lobby of the venue. Next thing I knew, fire alarms were going off, and the building had to be evacuated. This included everyone in the small cinema, and the three bars in the complex. The cellar bar itself was thick with dry ice, and people started to panic in their rush to get out. Tables were going over, glasses were smashing and we were banned from playing there for a year. We did make the local paper though..for all the wrong reasons..
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Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
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TODDLER
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: August 28 2009
Location: Vineland, N.J.
Status: Offline
Points: 3126
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Posted: December 07 2009 at 11:56 |
New Years Eve 1983. I played with a cover band which consisted mostly female vocalists. We opened for some Jethro Tull cover band. Our manager was having an affair with our lead singer. Unfortunately that is how we got all the high paying gigs. We were in the dressing room tuning up when the door burst open and 3 young girls started beating up our singer. Little did we know that our managers family were tipped off on his evil doings by various musicians from other bands which he also managed. We played that night while our singers face was bleeding. Afterwards he offered to pay me a weekly sum of four hundred dollars to keep my eye on Sunshine. I just shook my head and walked away.
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mrcozdude
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 25 2007
Location: Devon,UK.
Status: Offline
Points: 2078
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Posted: December 08 2009 at 08:56 |
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wow that is a good story ^
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TODDLER
Forum Senior Member
VIP Member
Joined: August 28 2009
Location: Vineland, N.J.
Status: Offline
Points: 3126
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 10:49 |
In 1983 I was booked to play at a very large venue somewhere in the mountains of Northern P.A. The owner promised 2 grand for 2 nights. He put us in a 2 story house and just the top floor was available for sleeping. As we went to sleep, we heard nightmarish screams in the house. We turned on the lights and there was a huge parrot in a cage. This thing made me want to extinguish a cigarette in the flesh sockets above my head. On the second night we were hit with a massive snowstorm. As we were packing up. we witnessed our drummer going into a fit of anger with the owner. The owner had now went back on his word and was offering only thirteen hundred.
In the late 80's, I was broke and joined a top 40 cover band. They offered between 5 to 6 hundred a week. to perform la-de-da 80's top 40 songs. The lead vocalist and keyboardist hired me, the bass player and drummer all in the same day, on the spot, at the audition. They played the Atlantic City Casino for 2 years. I wore a penguin suit and drove home with the sun in my face every morning. It was brought to my attention a few months down the road from band members that our 2 band leaders were gay. I really thought nothing of it in particular. I had already been in the entertainment business for 12 years at that time and understood that it was their preference. Many entertainers and musicians on the road just happened to be gay. I never entered into it. Various performers that I worked with had a preference to be gay and all of the musicians (for the most part), in those bands that were straight excepted it and kept a steady professional friendship going. After we left the casino gigs, we were booked at a rock club. Club owners were hiring DJ'S for the weekends instead of bands so money was tight. Our singer had a wide vocal range and covered many a difficult feat. The drummer, bass player and me were leaving the club that night and walking to our cars when we were approached by at least 20 guys yelling at us and saying that they were going to kick our ass because we were gay. I turned to the leader and said, we just finished our job here and we are now going home to our wives and children. He then screamed at me, But your singers are gay! I just couldn't reach this guy and so my bass player jumped in and handled the situation well. He somehow talked them out of it. I couldn't believe they wanted to harm us over such an issue. Talk about having your butt in a sling. We were lucky to get out of that mess. They had baseball bats and were ready to crack our teeth and bust our heads I should have quit then. I was in a terrible car accident on the way to a gig and suffered from extreme head injury. I asked them to cancel for a week so that I could recover and they threatened to fire me. I sat on a stool with a bad head injury playing 80's garbage rock just to make a fast buck and pay the bills. . .
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mystic fred
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: March 13 2006
Location: Londinium
Status: Offline
Points: 4252
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 10:58 |
Blacksword wrote:
I've had numerous bad playing experiences with bands. Among the worst was when I was playing drums for a blues/rock band called The Angel Trail. The name, itself should have been a bad omen! After an afternoons hard drinking, the whole band were pretty wasted. Our first track started with a guitar intro, and the point I was supposed to 'kick in' I fell off my drum stool into a pit at the back of the stage...
At another gig with a different band, we were playing in a cellar bar at an arts centre. We'd hired a dry ice machine, which belched out clouds of the stuff, which billowed up the stairwell into the lobby of the venue. Next thing I knew, fire alarms were going off, and the building had to be evacuated. This included everyone in the small cinema, and the three bars in the complex. The cellar bar itself was thick with dry ice, and people started to panic in their rush to get out. Tables were going over, glasses were smashing and we were banned from playing there for a year. We did make the local paper though..for all the wrong reasons.. |
nothing like a bit of publicity Andy - but that was going a little too far 
I've never played a bad gig.
I've never played a good gig...
I've never played a gig at all 
Edited by mystic fred - December 10 2009 at 11:00
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 Prog Archives Tour Van 
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jampa17
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2009
Location: Guatemala
Status: Offline
Points: 6802
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 11:12 |
June 7, 2009... my band get the chance to play inside a Comercial Center, like a shopping center very big here in my country... so we were supose in the display cabinet, so people could see us playing through the glass and all that.... it was an interesting concept... people really stop in front of us seeing very interested from the "girly rock band" and I think we get seen by like 900 persons or something like that... but everything went wrong... the music didn't get out of the shopping, so people just see us, and then continue with their shopping without getting into the shop store, so they never get out name or something like that... nor even listen to the music... we spend a lot of money for the sound, we ruin a couple of cables and the mixer and all that and just nothing go OK... the guy of the shop didn't pay us a single thing... and well... I suffer by that experience a lot...  It was a good concept though...
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Change the program inside... Stay in silence is a crime.
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The Runaway
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 28 2009
Location: London
Status: Offline
Points: 3144
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 11:16 |
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I had to play a gig for my school with my band and a day before the gig our keyboardist gets a rash on his leg. I then start telling my bandmates about this "cool song" Rockin' in the Free World, and I just tell the bass player the chords and the drummer the tempo and we get going. That same day our drummer had played another gig and he had to learn to play the shuffle drum beat. Anyways, we started the song and then we start slowing down. With all the problems we have now, one of them is that I have realized that we are going to play the verse of the song the whole gig, I noticed that our drummer was slowing down the tempo. Only a few moments later did I found it why he did it. To practice a shuffle beat. We played Rockin in the Free World with no vocals, only the verse chords, and in shuffle.
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halabalushindigus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 05 2009
Location: San Diego
Status: Offline
Points: 1438
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 11:29 |
We had to bring our equipment across town to set up. When we got to the dance bar, the previous band left their equipment on stage. Our lead singer was so pissed, he refused to play. All that rehearsing, plus outfits and the drive to deliver the equipment for nothing. Turns out our female singer was fooling around with the bar manager. Anyway, we eventually played there a week later and as we were taking down our equipment we noticed certain stands missing, then a microphone. Just then our girl singer announced she was quiting. When we got home, then we realized she had also taken the power amps
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assume the power 1586/14.3
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Offline
Points: 65258
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 18:55 |
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1983, first gig ever at a dive in SF with a sound system that'd been around since the Truman administration. We sucked, half the 'audience' left and the nicest thing anyone could muster to say was "Well, at least you tried." Ouch. A few months later after practicing hard we returned and had a very good set.. for a bunch of pimply high school kids.
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mrcozdude
Forum Senior Member
Joined: July 25 2007
Location: Devon,UK.
Status: Offline
Points: 2078
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Posted: December 10 2009 at 19:34 |
TODDLER wrote:
In 1983 I was booked to play at a very large venue somewhere in the mountains of Northern P.A. The owner promised 2 grand for 2 nights. He put us in a 2 story house and just the top floor was available for sleeping. As we went to sleep, we heard nightmarish screams in the house. We turned on the lights and there was a huge parrot in a cage. This thing made me want to extinguish a cigarette in the flesh sockets above my head. On the second night we were hit with a massive snowstorm. As we were packing up. we witnessed our drummer going into a fit of anger with the owner. The owner had now went back on his word and was offering only thirteen hundred.
In the late 80's, I was broke and joined a top 40 cover band. They offered between 5 to 6 hundred a week. to perform la-de-da 80's top 40 songs. The lead vocalist and keyboardist hired me, the bass player and drummer all in the same day, on the spot, at the audition. They played the Atlantic City Casino for 2 years. I wore a penguin suit and drove home with the sun in my face every morning. It was brought to my attention a few months down the road from band members that our 2 band leaders were gay. I really thought nothing of it in particular. I had already been in the entertainment business for 12 years at that time and understood that it was their preference. Many entertainers and musicians on the road just happened to be gay. I never entered into it. Various performers that I worked with had a preference to be gay and all of the musicians (for the most part), in those bands that were straight excepted it and kept a steady professional friendship going. After we left the casino gigs, we were booked at a rock club. Club owners were hiring DJ'S for the weekends instead of bands so money was tight. Our singer had a wide vocal range and covered many a difficult feat. The drummer, bass player and me were leaving the club that night and walking to our cars when we were approached by at least 20 guys yelling at us and saying that they were going to kick our ass because we were gay. I turned to the leader and said, we just finished our job here and we are now going home to our wives and children. He then screamed at me, But your singers are gay! I just couldn't reach this guy and so my bass player jumped in and handled the situation well. He somehow talked them out of it. I couldn't believe they wanted to harm us over such an issue. Talk about having your butt in a sling. We were lucky to get out of that mess. They had baseball bats and were ready to crack our teeth and bust our heads I should have quit then. I was in a terrible car accident on the way to a gig and suffered from extreme head injury. I asked them to cancel for a week so that I could recover and they threatened to fire me. I sat on a stool with a bad head injury playing 80's garbage rock just to make a fast buck and pay the bills. . .
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You need to write a book.  Has any of these events ever made anyone here reconsider music professionally?
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Stool Man
Forum Senior Member
Joined: January 30 2007
Location: Anti-Cool (anag
Status: Offline
Points: 2689
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Posted: December 11 2009 at 16:42 |
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One of my friends is a thereminist, the 2nd time I saw her perform was in a tiny basement venue in Soho. The stage area was maybe six feet by six feet, and the audience area was about the same. The band consisted of a bongo player, a keyboardist, a guitarist, and my theremin-playing friend (for those who don't know, a theremin works by proximity, and therefore requires space around it). There was also a very large and bosterous rock'n'roll singer, who stood with his back to my friend, and didn't realise that his movements kept rendering her theremin utterly silent.
And then there was the dancing audience.
My friend persevered, but for a thereminist conditions couldn't have been worse.
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rotten hound of the burnie crew
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halabalushindigus
Forum Senior Member
Joined: November 05 2009
Location: San Diego
Status: Offline
Points: 1438
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Posted: December 11 2009 at 17:47 |
I was doing this Christmas gig at a nursing home (don't laugh) and after the show the director said "we have no funds for you, we didn't even know you were coming" Turns out I went to the wrong place, so I called the other place and they said "yeah, we've been waiting all morning for you. Thanks alot" Or when I played this nursing home and only played top 40 (Eagles Fleetwood Mac Neil Diamond,etc.)and the director said "my patients don't know a single song you've played" So i started up with "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and was told to just go home. But that was O.K. for me cuz those older folks need some music from THIS CENTURY. Christmas Songs SUCK!!!
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assume the power 1586/14.3
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