I once had to talk a friend into continuing the concert series she ran in her bookstore. She booked traditional music acts and told that to a singer-songwriter who immediately started heaping lots of foul abuse on her. She just wanted to quit so she'd never have to go through that again. I've also noticed the booking people at venues being obviously unwilling to give me bad news. I'm sure they've been trained by jerk musicians to be wary. What is it that makes some musicians think the world owes them a stage? Don't they know they are a salesman making a cold call when they apply to a venue?

I've spent many years performing, running the sound board, and organizing concerts, so I've seen it from all sides. Most musicians are pleasant and professional, but there are an astonishing number of assholes out there. Of course, the same could be said for sound engineers (fortunately few assholes) and venue managers (unfortunately, lots).

In the venue category, there are the assholes who try to screw you over, either on the terms of the gig or the pay. And then there are the folk club bookers who expect the musicians to act completely professionally while excusing lots of problems with the venue by saying it's all run by volunteers. I don't expect volunteers to be perfect, but I do expect them to try real hard to deal with issues as they come up, and to not expect a greater level of finesse than they are willing to offer.

And musicians that want the venue to supply them with special microphones or other equipment! Complete idiots, especially in the folk music world where lots of venues ARE operated by volunteers and no venue is rich enough to rent microphones, or even to have the staff to spend the time trying.