A few weeks ago, I stumbled into this bar, and via conversation it emerged that
I DJ a little, and that it would be a good idea, for them and us, for us to
play there. It’s a nice bar, spacious, good décor, nice sound system,
attractive bar staff – and it’s a music place. Everyone seemed happy with the
arrangement, including us.
We were booked to play on 15th February. All seemed good.
Then, a few days before, I get a phone call saying that they are having a singles night on the 15th, the same night.
What do I think? I think they were delighted that someone (in this case me) proposed bringing people to their bar. That’s normal. It’s a business. Businesses like that actually revolve around people turning up. BUT, they’d had a better idea, and I genuinely mean that, having a singles night the day after Valentine’s day is a better idea than having a soul and funk night. That’s not sarcasm. It really is a better idea. And the place was packed. Proof and pudding.
Anyway. They’d booked us to play, so now they had a problem – a double booking. They didn’t wanna piss us off, why would they? They don’t know us and as far as they know, we’re nice people. So they come up with the idea – “Let’s have those DJs DJ at the singles night”. What a great idea!
They call me up and tell me this over the phone.
Then a few days later – “actually, we wanna play our own stuff, can you play a little later?”
I’m getting the message. They don’t want us, really.
Anyway, I agreed to play at 10pm.
I turned up at 9.30 – a half hour early – and there was literally nowhere for a DJ to play. No tables, no anything. I offered to play/set-up behind the bar (2 or 3 times I offered this) but they flat out turned me down. I ended up having to drag a table that had people’s drinks on it (politely, I asked) across the room just to have somewhere to set up.
That done, I played for two whole hours without a single complaint (to me, anyway) and the place was packed the entire time. People vote with their feet – if they didn’t like it they would have left. Two hours in, they are still there. Then they asked me to stop because ‘we wanna hear some dubstep’, their words, not mine. That happened, and everyone left.
I got angry at this point and (can’t remember exactly what transpired but) essentially told them to go fuck themselves. Yes, I know, I was an asshole here. But I’d had enough. After dragging tables around, playing for two hours unrewarded, and then basically told ‘you’re done now’, I think I was justified in being a little pissed off. Yeah I was angry. Yeah I said some things I shouldn’t have.
I was paid absolutely nothing. It was a tremendous hassle from start to finish. I’ve had nothing but abuse since, including being threatened by some people at the bar, and frankly, overall, the whole thing was a complete nightmare – I wish I’d never done it.
All I’ve gotten from this are enemies.
I wish the bar all the luck in the world and the owner, Carmen, is, by all accounts, a lovely lady. Good luck to her.
We were booked to play on 15th February. All seemed good.
Then, a few days before, I get a phone call saying that they are having a singles night on the 15th, the same night.
What do I think? I think they were delighted that someone (in this case me) proposed bringing people to their bar. That’s normal. It’s a business. Businesses like that actually revolve around people turning up. BUT, they’d had a better idea, and I genuinely mean that, having a singles night the day after Valentine’s day is a better idea than having a soul and funk night. That’s not sarcasm. It really is a better idea. And the place was packed. Proof and pudding.
Anyway. They’d booked us to play, so now they had a problem – a double booking. They didn’t wanna piss us off, why would they? They don’t know us and as far as they know, we’re nice people. So they come up with the idea – “Let’s have those DJs DJ at the singles night”. What a great idea!
They call me up and tell me this over the phone.
Then a few days later – “actually, we wanna play our own stuff, can you play a little later?”
I’m getting the message. They don’t want us, really.
Anyway, I agreed to play at 10pm.
I turned up at 9.30 – a half hour early – and there was literally nowhere for a DJ to play. No tables, no anything. I offered to play/set-up behind the bar (2 or 3 times I offered this) but they flat out turned me down. I ended up having to drag a table that had people’s drinks on it (politely, I asked) across the room just to have somewhere to set up.
That done, I played for two whole hours without a single complaint (to me, anyway) and the place was packed the entire time. People vote with their feet – if they didn’t like it they would have left. Two hours in, they are still there. Then they asked me to stop because ‘we wanna hear some dubstep’, their words, not mine. That happened, and everyone left.
I got angry at this point and (can’t remember exactly what transpired but) essentially told them to go fuck themselves. Yes, I know, I was an asshole here. But I’d had enough. After dragging tables around, playing for two hours unrewarded, and then basically told ‘you’re done now’, I think I was justified in being a little pissed off. Yeah I was angry. Yeah I said some things I shouldn’t have.
I was paid absolutely nothing. It was a tremendous hassle from start to finish. I’ve had nothing but abuse since, including being threatened by some people at the bar, and frankly, overall, the whole thing was a complete nightmare – I wish I’d never done it.
All I’ve gotten from this are enemies.
I wish the bar all the luck in the world and the owner, Carmen, is, by all accounts, a lovely lady. Good luck to her.
But as sure as my feet are size nine, I wish I’d never done that gig. Nothing, and I mean nothing, but hassle.
I’m hurt. Devastated. Offended. I wish it had never happened.
Thank God that there’s always a next week.
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