Ever have a disaster of a gig?

Subject: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: jimmyt
Date: 04 Feb 08 - 09:23 PM

Well, I had been asked to bring a blues band for a Friday night gig at a local winebar. They pay well and have a great crowd first Friday of every month. I know most all of the folks attending and everyone was excited to hear us as my main man, guitar and singer who is as good a blues man as I have ever known, was going to perform. I got the equipment all set up, returned at the appointed time for a sound check. No one. Well, a great crowd, but no musicians! A while later he showed ukp, drunker than a bicycle. Incoherent drunk, unable to enunciate drunk. I tried valiantly to get him sobered, but he is a late stage alcoholic and unable sober for many hours. Luckily another friend happened by and filled in and did a great job of saving the evening, but I suffered for about an hour trying to salvage some kind of music with my inebriated friend. Tell me your nightmare stories.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 04 Feb 08 - 10:04 PM

Nothing that bad. Even on gigs from hell, my singing partners and I can at least play for each other and salvage something from the performance. Private party things can be a real challenge. We had a 60th birthday bash we were supposed to play at as "strolling minstrels" (never take those gigs by the way). The guests were perfectly happy talking amongst themselves and viewed us as an annoyance. The person planning everything balked on paying us. These days I ask if music is really something they might want at these sorts of things. We did get paid, but I seriously considered redeeming the guarantee in pennies and sending it back.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,Texas Guest
Date: 04 Feb 08 - 10:50 PM

Well, let's see - after thirty years kicking around as a drummer and
now 10 years as a folkie - yeah, I've got a few.

When I first came to Texas I got a gig drumming for a lady who put a band together with hopes of conquering Nashville; it was never going to happen, but hey, it was a gig I needed. As so many of them are, she had an agent who was a slimy dog, greedy a__hole of a human being and he stuck it to us big time.

The lady was an "o.k" singer but didn't know much about the business,
booking, running a band, etc. At any rate the SOB agent booked us in a popular country bar out in Lubbock - not bad, huh? Well, I had
misgivings at the outset about going to play a country bar out in
Lubbock. Why? Well, we were from Dallas and it was a hefty drive
for a pretty slim fee; and - we were not a country band - period.

I was assured by our lovely leader that we would be fine because the
"agent" told her that the club owner told him that they wanted a mix
of country music and disco-pop and we would be just perfect! I had
had my voicing of objections but was obligated to make the trip out
to Lubbock.

What happened you ask? Well, we played two sets and the owner came
up and said we were through; yes, through, because we were most
"perfectly" unsuited for the job. This was simply a red-neck bar in Lubbock, Texas in 1977 and they wanted Merle Haggard (I love Merle, by the way)with an occassional "pop" or disco song thrown in for variation. Well we were a "pop-disco" band whose entire country repertoire was two or three Kenny Rogers songs, one Dolly Parton
song and a Patsy Cline thrown in for good measure. I could have
killed the agent - and maybe her too for being so nieve.

Needless to say, we lost money on the gig, but the nice part was
the freezing dog I met on the trip back to the motel room. He was
shivering (it was February and very cold) so I invited him into my
room to get out of the cold. He slept under the bed and in the morning I went to the motel restaurant to get a take-out breakfast
with extra bacon and toast for the dog. Well, he got the extra
bacon and toast along with my bacon and toast, my eggs and my hash
browns, too. About twenty minutes later two band members called me
to meet them for breakfast at the restaurant. When the waitress
took my order she shook her head and said, "Eat much?" Cheers.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 04 Feb 08 - 11:15 PM

Well a friend of mine had a bar gig with a pool table directly in front of the small stage. Some ignorant bastards kept playing pool as he was singing. Another time he got an outdoor county fair gig with a chainsaw competition beside the stage.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,Black Hawk
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 03:18 AM

Guest Texas

How did she think she was going to conquer Nashville if she wasn't country?

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 03:45 AM

Sometimes it depends which side of the mic you're on. I was at a gig some years ago when a sean-nós singer performed absolutely beautifully, despite strong competition from a banjo player outside the window.

After singing a few songs, he plunged out the door, practically in tears of rage, feeling that he'd spoiled every song. But the listeners agreed when he was gone that it was the best performance of these songs they'd ever heard.

Did you keep the dog, Texas Guest?

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 04:29 AM

No, but I've seen a few!!!

One where the singer in a 3 piece was so drunk she sang three quarter tones flat; another where the guitarist was closest to the sound equipment and kept turning his own mikes up until he drowned out both the accordionist AND the drummer; a soloist who in a 20 minute spot took 15 of those tuning his guitar - and it WASN'T Martin Carthy; the list is endless!

LTS

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 04:40 AM

Hemingway said if you go to war often enough, you'll get killed. You do enough paying gigs - sometimes you'll die on your arse. It goes with the territory.

The only people who've NEVER had a bad gig are those (and there plenty) who are so pumped up with ego that they don't realise they are in a room full of people who hate them. Either that or they're semi pros and they don't have to take the gigs that come in to put food on the table.

If you can't handle rejection, you really can't handle this as a profession.

Bottomline is that this is what you've decided to do with your life. Don't be deflected by a few gangs of assholes.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: redsnapper
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 04:41 AM

Yes...several!

- playing in an Irish traditional group in the early 80s and booked to play at Wandsworth Prison for the inmates. Only to find that they were expecting C&W

- another well-paid gig in a rough pub in Battersea. The singer was "drunk as a bicycle" as mentioned above and we were thrown out on our ear with the instruments and gear following shortly behind. The singer, now mildly awake, tried to go back in to get the money.

- a city festival in The Hague. Nice open-air stage, acoustic set. But the stage was set up right adjacent to the busy main bus station. To cap it all the criminal promoter made off with all the fees, including those of a band in from Galicia.

- open air village festival in the Ardennes. The local "impresario" responsible for all the bookings (a him) took a great fancy to the whistle/flute player (a firmly heterosexual him) and spent the whole evening chasing him round the stage and village.

Ah! Those were the days!

RS

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Bert
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 04:47 AM

I was booked to call a square dance for a private party. When I got there it turned out that it was a 21st. birthday party for his son who was a student at Cambridge and all of his friends.

Needless to say they only wanted the latest pop stuff and they really didn't want to get up and dance.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 06:30 AM

The Chorus I sing with had a vaguely distasterous gig in Italy 2 years ago... the Choir outnumbered the audience 2-1 (and that included those the chorus had brought with them), but ironically, it was the best performance of the tour.

Apparently the priest gave the usual congregation a right telling off the next Sunday...

LTS

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: The Sandman
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 07:10 AM

no.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: kendall
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 08:17 AM

One New Year's eve some years ago, I got talked into performing bluegrass with my two brothers and a couple of friends. This was in the town hall in a small town in Maine. I had misgivings, bluegrass on New Years eve?
Well, I was right. They wanted to dance. One guy started running his mouth and my brother Erlon, was and still is, like Russian toilet paper...he takes no shit off nobody!
They got into it, and I thought sure this was going to be a serious punchup. The guy came down to the stage and kept running his mouth, brother says "You know what they say about opinions, they are like assholes. We all have one."
And, "We are doing this for one of your neighbors, Bob Carter, and for free after 10 pm, so if you don't like it beat it you SOB"!
I knew that would tear the rag off the bush, but he slinked back to his seat and not another word.

Afterwards, a number of the towns folk came around and thanked brother for putting the resident asshole in his place. It seems he does that all the time and they were sick of it.

I once did a performance at the Union League Club on Park Ave. in New York City. An exclusive club for the filthy rich. It soon became clear that they didn't want Maine humor, they wanted dirty jokes and REAL sea songs. I don't do dirty jokes, but I did give them some earthy sea songs.
It was a very uncomfortable evening, but the man paid my fee, which was the highest I ever charged anyone. They have never invited me back, and that's good because they couldn't afford me after that!

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,The black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 08:36 AM

I may be adding to this thread this Thursday coming. We have a gig as a new trio on Wednesday. It is now Tuesday and we haven't had a practice yet!

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Grab
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 09:42 AM

First two gigs my band played, I got laryngitis the week before. As the one doing the high notes, this was not good timing...

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Bernard
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 11:49 AM

Erm... BBCW... practice? Wot's that, then?! ;o)

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: ClaireBear
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 12:20 PM

OK, to set the scene properly, it was the night before the 1984 Super Bowl (49ers v. Dolphins), which was held for some reason at the SF peninsula's Stanford stadium. Thirty or so miles away in a Walnut Creek bar (in a hotel where, as it happened, many screaming Miami Dolphins fans were staying that night...but of course we didn't know any of this when we accepted the gig), the '50s rock 'n' roll band that was booked to play (and would have been perfect for the crowd) had to cancel due to illness, so the leader of that band called in his regular fill-in band, which happened to be an Arran-sweatered Clancy clone Irish band. That probably still would've been okay, though it would have been rather an odd evening -- but unfortunately that band had double-booked, and their regular fill-in band was mine: a three-piece acoustic trio that sang English traditional hunting, drinking, and seasonal folklore-oriented songs and played morris and Englsh country dance tunes.

You can perhaps imagine how thrilled the rowdy, hostile football crowd were at hearing Candlemas Eve, Old Molly Oxford and The Innocent Hare. I believe we were invited to desist after one set, the jukebox being vastly preferable. I have never been so thrilled to leave a venue.

Claire

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: kendall
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 12:48 PM

This is one from hell that turned out ok.

Some years ago I was hiored to perform at the River festival in Bangor Maine. When I arrived, I was appalled to see that my spot was in the open under a blazing sun.
On top of that, I was scheduled to perform right next to the expo building where RAY CHARLES was due to perform at the same time!

While wondering how I got into such a mess, two of the Irish Rovers walked by. Jimmy Furguson and the bass player. I recognized them and they stopped to chat. I told them what the organizer had done to me and Furgerson said, " Bummer, let's hope you don't hurt him too badly"!

Turns out there were many people who wouldn't pay the extra for a ticket to see Ray Charles, so I got a large group at my site.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Big Mick
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 01:36 PM

Some years ago, my Irish band was asked to play a gig in late march in East Lansing, Michigan. For those not from the area, this is the home of Michigan State University. It is also during a sporting event known as "March Madness" which is the NCAA national basketball tournament. But when we booked the gig, it was the previous fall and we never gave all this a thought. Sure as hell, we end up in a sports pub, with a TV monitor literally over our heads, while the Michigan State Spartans are playing in the quarterfinals. Every eye was locked on that TV screen. That was the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life. You would have to hear us to know that it is hard to ignore us. We are a high energy band, with a solid dose of interpretive ballads thrown in to mix things up, and are used to drawing the crowd into our performances. It was like the gauntlet had been thrown, and we played our arses off. But in the end, the basketball match was too much for us. The only consolation we had was that their fingers and toes were tapping as they sat with eyes fixed firmly on that friggin' match.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 01:43 PM

ClaireBear, how delighted I am to hear that someone still does what you do!

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Mooh
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 01:56 PM

Our 7 piece folk group played a celtic festival in a pasture 2+ hours away that was not advertised and we outnumbered the audience, in perfect weather, in decent time slots, and we played well. We got paid, sold no product, and drank too much alone in the beer tent. It was supposed to have been an improvement over the previous year's festival which was held in a downtown parking lot. When the pavement sticks to your feet you know it's hot. What a stupid !@#%ing idea that was!

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Anne Lister
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 04:27 PM

I still think my favourite memory is when I was still working as half of Anonyma with Mary McLaughlin, and our repertoire was deep, heavy and full of angst at that particular stage in our career. We were booked to play a Sunday night club in Bognor Regis, in the Leisure Centre. Unbeknownst to the club organiser, this particular Sunday was the final day of a Clowns' Convention, so the entire Leisure Centre seemed full of rather tired and emotional (read: inebriated) clowns in full fig. The exact spot for the club was a long, thin room with the sound guys one end of the bar and us far away at the other, and there was no opportunity to sound check. The sound we were getting was tinny and horrid and we were trying to communicate with the sound guys to get it improved. Finally one of the sound guys came up in the middle of one of my songs to adjust the mic and the boom stand holding my vocal mic swung right away from me in mid-phrase. Which was when we started laughing hysterically, and when the clowns in the first two rows decided we were worth listening to (not sure if it was my sudden acoustic performance or the laughter). We finished up giving one clown a ride back to London, although he had to remove his oversized shoes to fit in the back seat of the car ....

I'll leave the story which involves a trans-sexual Tibetan nun for a further discussion on accommodation disasters.....

Anne

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,sandynewlap
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 05:02 PM

Last Fall, my daughter Elizabeth and I sang a freebee for the local "Settlers Museum" on their Heritage Day celebration. We were happy to help promote the place, and it was fun. We were out on the front porch of the old house, and the setting was very pretty, and we were doing fine, if a bit chilly. Then the tractor started up. It was parked right around the corner of the house, stationary, set up to grind something (I forget what). We couldn't hear each other think, let alone harmonize! But even then we laughed it off; we were having a good time, and lots of friends were visiting, and the crowd seemed to like the music. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that the "disaster" happened. A friend who had attended the event posted a recording of one of our songs on the Internet. Needless to say it was pretty bad singing. Horrible, in fact! So - the only YouTube that's out there with me singing on it is really very bad. I groan whenever I come across it. Once these things are posted, is there any way to get rid of them?

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: skarpi
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 05:11 PM

I never understand a pub owner , asking someone to play a gig
at the same time and there is a football game on tv ???

either you a gig or a football game , not both at the same time .

all the best Skarpi Iceland .

I always ask if they are going to have the tv on before i confirm a gig
in a pub.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: kendall
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 07:33 PM

Skarpi, too many of those types think of musicians as mere tradesmen who are just working at something.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 07:33 PM

jimmyt -- "he is a late stage alcoholic"

Huh? Sounds to me like you brought it on yourself through a serious case of bad judgment.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Midchuck
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 08:15 PM

Perhaps the best bad gig story ever was posted to the bgrass-l mailing list about 12 years ago.

Praise be to Google for acquiring all the good stuff the did from the infancy of the net and preserving it.

Peter

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 08:22 PM

Once John Allan Cameron and Stan Rogers went to Scotland to play a concert. When they arrived they found that the event had not been properly promoted and they had to go around town at the last moment putting up posters themselves.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 08:29 PM

Tabster-

I do read all the posts and am eagerly awaiting the follow-up on yours above.

Our band did survive a gig in a waterfront pub recently where a major football game was happening on the tube at the other end of the bar. Fortunately it was a loopsided game. The patrons actually began to listen to our sea songs for entertainment. We were amazed at their positive response, fully expecting the gig from hell.

Charley Noble
Roll & Go

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Mooh
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 08:46 PM

Skarpi...Yeah, I know. Way too many gigs in front of a big screen of Hockey Night In Canada...except, I am a fan...

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 05 Feb 08 - 10:32 PM

Margaret and I played a gig at a Milwaukee community college where they had us play at lunch time. The stage was in front of a large screen tv and the students would rather have watched the soap opearas than hear what we were doing.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 01:25 AM

My personal worst has got to be doing The Wild Rover etc, under a tv showing Princess Di's funeral to a packed but morose bar. Half way through, an Irish gypsy family came in - they 'd been drinking (conservative estimate) for a couple of weeks before hitting this particular pub out in the wilds of Lincolnshire. The patriarchal leader grabs the microphone off me and says - don't worry pal! I'll get 'em going for ye! D'y know d' Fields of Athenry....?

I was past caring by one o'clock and I had to leave the gear after dinner time, and do an evening gig in the same place.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 11:28 AM

For Roberts & Webb it was every month for nearly a year at a small pub/restaurant in the Cheshire countryside, which shall remain nameless.

Mr Webb and I were engaged to present a folk night on the first Monday of every month (other Mondays featured, Rock, Country and something else I can't recall).

The general idea was 'after your meal, why not stay on and enjoy the entertainment?'

Fine in theory.

In practice people finished their meals and hightailed it out of the place at a high rate of knots, leaving us to perform to an almost empty restaurant and the pub's regulars, situated in the bar at the other side of the eating area.

It wasn't really a 'disaster'. as such but it was rather dispiriting. We took our own 'crowd' along and from time to time a diffident regular would cross the No Man's Land between us and the bar and ask for a song, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

But there was never a feeling of being 'part of' the place. We were getting paid reasonable money, so we just treated the whole thing as
a paid rehearsal and carried on going until we were told we were no longer needed.

This co-incided with a change of management, so we left with dignity and pride intact and transferred operations to The Blue Bell at Smallwood, where we've been ever since.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 12:05 PM

MY Disaster Gig HAS to be a Six month contract in a bar in Kowloon , Hong Kong ! The bar had been Jazz Orientated in the past , and the owners Mates ALL wanted the jazz back ,so I got the hook three days into my fourth month ! AND I was working for Filipino wages - HK$2000 less than any other European artist ! AND I had to pay my own fare back to England !

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 01:54 PM

It was the Tall Ships parade in Boston, we were at the Mass. State House, the gig was advertised as "The Welcoming of the Captains". So in attendance were all the Captains in the fleet, quite a few as you can imagine, with no crew only spouces or partners, dressed ready for a storm & the rest were well connected politicals dressed for a fashion show, probly a couple hundred of them, all rubbing elbows & networking. I don't remember about the pay or even if we finally got paid but we were gonna be well fed before hand so we held off eating expecting a feast. The guy setting up where we were supposed to perform had no idea about presentation or sound so he put us in the only place where we could be seen & NOT heard, we were assured that we wouldn't need a sound system, after all we were 'ShantyMen". There were 10 or 12 of us, all strong shanty singers each supposed to lead off one apiece. Well the party got started long before we got there & so from a balconey above we made our choreographed grand descent from 2 sides down this grand sweeping ballroom set of stairs that converged into one really wide platform mid way where we were then supposed to start singing. Well they all saw us making our grand entrance, this was supposed to be the crowning event for the Captains, we were looked at us as if we were the uninvited house trash & they all went right back to there partying. We had to move to the lower part of the stairs because thats where the really drunk captains were & they couldn't hear us singing above the din. This event was just an excuse for the revellers to throw themselves a high fashion party & we were the backgrounf elevator music, the cute & approate decour. Everyone of us knew that the louder we sang the louder they roared. No song leader could get above the crowd & even when the group joined in on the choruses we were drownded out but the captains were smiling & clapping so I guess it wasn't all for KNOT but they were being equally ignored too. So we ended our presentation & there was no call for an encore, that wasn't even an applause, not even from the captains, by then they were lucky if they could stand. So we all headed towards this huge fountain like structire that was decked out with loads of food, we could see the food while performing, scrumpious sorts of sea food, presented for royality, the aroma was to die for, it was killing us to smell & not partake, the only problem there was that only a bedding of lettuce was left, the bastards eat anything & everything worth eating by the time we were done. Who ever he was that the State House had on their staff that handled the fisco was, he at least appologized to us, in fear of a neck ringing. Unwanted, we left the party & hauled ass. The state in turn never reimbursed Boston for any expenses incured related to the Tall Ships Parade even though they collected very well though tax revenues & etc. Needless to say Boston will never host another such event while that Mayor who's still in office & it's council remians. We will never be invited back back either I'm sure, so no worry there.

Barry

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: jimmyt
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 03:30 PM

Michael, I didn't start this thread to whine about anything, but just to point out what happened. Of course it was bad judgment on my part. I have played many gigs with him, though when he has had a bit too much and he was still terrific. This time he wasn't. I am always amazed here when everyone seems to get a thread and someone comes along and thinks it is his place to explain why someone used bad judgment. Point taken.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 03:55 PM

How long have you got?

I was in a band at school that had one disastrous gig after another. It started out well, our first gig was at the Xmas party at a girls school, as a result we booked for someone's 18th birthday party at the Gladstone club. That gig ended in snowballs and ashtrays being thrown at the stage. Memorable also for the fact that someone, during the interval, tuned my guitar a semitone sharp, which I only noticed after I started the first song of the second set and the rest of the band came in a semitone lower..

The gig that sticks in mind was our ill-fated residency at the Happy Prospect. Our lead guitarist was so pleased to get us a regular gig for £10 each and as much beer as we could drink. It all seemed too good to be true...
As it was, the drummer couldn't make the gig, neither could the bassist, leaving me and the other guitarist to share bass duties. By way of consolation the bassist got a friend of his to stand in on drums. We met him in the car park. His first words were
"Don't know about you, but the gig's the last thing I'm worrying about
My mate got a brick through his car window here last weekend"

Thankfully that kind of trouble didn't come out way that night (it stayed in the other bar judging by the sounds of breaking glass and shouting). Being 2 members down and never having played with the drummer our set could have been better. As could our PA system. It was only as it broke down for the 4th time (just as I launched into my least favourite cover) that I noticed a bloke at the back who looked a bit like my boss.

It wasn't my boss, though, it was his brother. My boss was sitting next to him. I never heard the last of it.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Roughyed
Date: 06 Feb 08 - 08:42 PM

Ooh let me think, outnumbering the audience by two to one (we were a four piece), going into the pub and noticing the poster advertising us as a Country and Western Band (we knew two C & W songs between us), moving a table to put a speaker up and the whole wedding buffet hitting the floor, no can't think of any to speak of....

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: ClaireBear
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 12:24 AM

You just reminded me of a long-ago night when the Battlefield Band were playing the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, California. Then-member (and casual friend) Brian MacNeil was idly wondering why so few people were in the audience. I had to break it to him that the local paper had advertised them as the Battlefield Blues Band.

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Dan Keding
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 12:50 AM

Well, like anyone who's been in the business for a bit I've had my share of drunks, forgetful promoters (they forgot to advertise the show), and just plain horrible incidents.

The strangest happened at a club in Chicago so many years ago I'm not sure it was even me. I had a horrible case of the flu - fever, runny nose, bleary eyes - the whole nine yards. I called the club to cancel but within thirty minutes they called back and said they couldn't find a replacement. Too short on the notice part of this whole thing. They said just come in for one set and we'll call it even, pay you and you can go home. Like a complete fool I did it. I went on stage and did something that I never did back then, I sat down on a low chair. I was half way through a fairly long ballad when all of a sudden I just fell asleep, slumped over the guitar and fell asleep right there on stage. After a while I opened my eyes and I was looking at the floor of the stage, right past my guitar and I thought, "How strange, I'm on stage somewhere." Then I remembered where and slowly raised my head. There was the audience, quiet as could be, just watching me. I sang some quick song, thanked them and got off the stage as quickly as I could in my bizarre condition. I sat next to a friend at the back of the room and asked how long I'd been out. He said, "About ten minutes."

"Ten Minutes? Why didn't someone wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful no one had the heart to disturb you."

I went home and went to bed and didn't get up for about twelve hours. And they say that audiences are heartless, not mine.

Dan

Subject: RE: Ever have a disaster of a gig?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 01:04 AM

Dan, that one reminds me. Peter Johnson, an old friend & a great premotor of folk music back in the 60', 70's & 80's used to put on this hoot night at Passium's (the old Club 47) in Harvard Sq, Cambridge. Peter intro'd each act then sat towards the the back at stage left until each act finished got up to intro the next. He just finished with introducing Paul Jermia & went bach to sit down. Paul talked about the song for a short bit & then started. In the middle of the song Paul had to stop, Peter was snoring louder than Paul was singing. So Paul wakes up Peter with "only you would fall asleep on stage while I'm performing" but Paul did it in such a loving way that no offense was taken by anyone one, espically Paul. Talk about loving audiences

This is getting off the disasters a bit, sorry

Barry