rogue_drummer
Gold Member
Oh man, just came off the absolute worst gig ever. Get this:
A friend of my wife's from high school, many years ago, who I've come to know through her put up a request on FB for musicians to come to Austin play. He's saying his usual guys are all busy with other projects and he needs the entire fleet: bass, drums, piano, harp, etc.
Three years ago we drove down to his place in the country around Austin for a jam. It lasted the entire weekend and we just stayed at his place with a couple other friends. The entire weeked was great. He had an outdoor stage built and all kinds of Austin musicians came to jam. We mixed and mingled with quite a few people and made some new friends. It was an enjoyable weekend filled with great music.
Flash forward to last weekend. I answered his FB post and he told me to come on down and to bring my drums and congas. I thought COOL! I'll get to jam with some really great musicians around the Austin area and get paid and get free food and drinks. The gig was at a hip liittle restaurant in Blano, right outside of Ausitn and the deal was I'd get paid plus get my meal and drinks free. The wife, kid, and I wanted to get out of town anyway, so this was a good mini-vacation.
Had I known! To make a long story short, this guy, I'll call him Jerry, showed up 30 minutes late to set up, was stoned out of his mind, drunk, and cussing and yelling at everyone and everything. And this was just setting up! He was totally rude to the restaurant owner, his staff, me, etc. I should have left right then, but i wanted to see who else showed. No other musician came and I was told before I left to just bring my Congas.
Throughout the night, this d-bag kept telling me how to play, couldn't keep a beat to save his life, was loud, obnoxious, rude to everyone...cussing in front of women and children, etc. My boss even drove up from San Antonio to see me play. He has his own band and has been playing since he could walk just about, so he was interested in seeing us.
I know, I should have said "eff it" and started packing up and left. Thing is, I was trying to be professional and fullfil a commitment and smooth things over beteen Jerry and the restaurant owner, who was a fellow musician and seemed to be a real nice guy. He was giving me free food and drinks, so I felt a bit committed. Even HE was po'd at the guy but kept his cool and let this Jerry flake continue to play.
It gets worse, the gig is over, my wife, kid, and my boss are helping me pack up to make a quick exit because Jerry is off smoking weed and was too trashed to even confront about paying me. We just wanted to get the hell outta there. So Jerry becomes really angry because the restaurant owner isn't right there immediately with his gig money and he's threatening to kick his ass. He even barged in the restaurant and threatened to kick the owners ass if he didn't pay up right then and there. Two really big guys who were friends of the owner had to stand in between the two. The owner paid him off and told him never to come back.
I know this because I saw the owner the next day and he filled me in.
Anyway, Sunday the wife, kiddo and me had a great breakfast, my boss got home okay and we drove back the country roads and enjoyed the scenery and some decent shopping the these little mom and pop shops along the way.
Come to find out Jerry sends me a really nasty note on FB, so I replied back what I thought of him. He unfriended me. Awe.... shucks....gee......No love lost there. Haha.
Lesson learned.
A friend of my wife's from high school, many years ago, who I've come to know through her put up a request on FB for musicians to come to Austin play. He's saying his usual guys are all busy with other projects and he needs the entire fleet: bass, drums, piano, harp, etc.
Three years ago we drove down to his place in the country around Austin for a jam. It lasted the entire weekend and we just stayed at his place with a couple other friends. The entire weeked was great. He had an outdoor stage built and all kinds of Austin musicians came to jam. We mixed and mingled with quite a few people and made some new friends. It was an enjoyable weekend filled with great music.
Flash forward to last weekend. I answered his FB post and he told me to come on down and to bring my drums and congas. I thought COOL! I'll get to jam with some really great musicians around the Austin area and get paid and get free food and drinks. The gig was at a hip liittle restaurant in Blano, right outside of Ausitn and the deal was I'd get paid plus get my meal and drinks free. The wife, kid, and I wanted to get out of town anyway, so this was a good mini-vacation.
Had I known! To make a long story short, this guy, I'll call him Jerry, showed up 30 minutes late to set up, was stoned out of his mind, drunk, and cussing and yelling at everyone and everything. And this was just setting up! He was totally rude to the restaurant owner, his staff, me, etc. I should have left right then, but i wanted to see who else showed. No other musician came and I was told before I left to just bring my Congas.
Throughout the night, this d-bag kept telling me how to play, couldn't keep a beat to save his life, was loud, obnoxious, rude to everyone...cussing in front of women and children, etc. My boss even drove up from San Antonio to see me play. He has his own band and has been playing since he could walk just about, so he was interested in seeing us.
I know, I should have said "eff it" and started packing up and left. Thing is, I was trying to be professional and fullfil a commitment and smooth things over beteen Jerry and the restaurant owner, who was a fellow musician and seemed to be a real nice guy. He was giving me free food and drinks, so I felt a bit committed. Even HE was po'd at the guy but kept his cool and let this Jerry flake continue to play.
It gets worse, the gig is over, my wife, kid, and my boss are helping me pack up to make a quick exit because Jerry is off smoking weed and was too trashed to even confront about paying me. We just wanted to get the hell outta there. So Jerry becomes really angry because the restaurant owner isn't right there immediately with his gig money and he's threatening to kick his ass. He even barged in the restaurant and threatened to kick the owners ass if he didn't pay up right then and there. Two really big guys who were friends of the owner had to stand in between the two. The owner paid him off and told him never to come back.
I know this because I saw the owner the next day and he filled me in.
Anyway, Sunday the wife, kiddo and me had a great breakfast, my boss got home okay and we drove back the country roads and enjoyed the scenery and some decent shopping the these little mom and pop shops along the way.
Come to find out Jerry sends me a really nasty note on FB, so I replied back what I thought of him. He unfriended me. Awe.... shucks....gee......No love lost there. Haha.
Lesson learned.