The gig that never was…
(Warning: Includes profane language. Parental discretion advised.)
Normally it’s standard operating procedure for a band or artist to get screwed *after* performing at a venue, but this time yours truly got screwed before even setting foot in the establishment.
It all started in late March when we were booked for a show at Mai Tai Bar in Long Beach, CA slated for the month of April. Known for a lively, packed crowd, and a lucratively-paying situation, we thought it was the place to be, and worth coming out of our live performance hiatus for. We were tentatively (the operative word here) scheduled to play there on Saturday, April 14.
Sunday, April 15, the next day, would be the Long Beach Grand Prix, and thusly loads of people would be in town for the event. And thusly, people would want to do some partying the night before. SCORE!
Reality kicked in. We learned the management thought our music was a little too funky for the race car crowd, another band was booked and we were put on the backburner.
Of course, we had informed the 120+ people in our email list, as well as numerous friends and fans about this show, and had to inform them that such as show was not to happen.
Fine, things like that happen. So we willed ourselves to a second go. We had shows in June, July and August to choose from. June was when it had to happen, in spite of three band members not being able to make it, but substitute players were identified and notified of the show…tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 16 (again, the operative word again…)
CDs were handed out, rehearsals were carefully scheduled, long rehearsal hours were invested for this show.
But we needed confirmation, which we never really got for the April show. We held off on any email blasts and only quietly announced the show on our website and MySpace profile (no one visits those sites anyway… :P)
The band member who set this all up tried communicating with the club, only to be told by person A that person B was doing the booking now. But person B was gone on vacation…time passed and person B was still on vacation. When word came that person B was back in town, person B was contacted, but not to be reached. The said bandmember even visited the venue himself, only to learn person B was not there.
Tensions were mounting.
The venue’s website calendar was being vigilantly watched for the June calendar to come out, it still read the May calendar well into the 6th day of June…
When the calendar did com out, another band’s name was listed for the 16th, a band that plays there fairly regularly.
Though that band can’t be faulted, the idiots that run the place should be. To make matters worse, I was warned by a fellow singer who plays in another band that played at Mai Tai in the past, “Build your crowd and get out of there…FAST! Management will screw you over.”
“But you guys got paid, right?” I asked my fellow singer friend.
“Paid?” he said, quickly jerking his head back with a confused look on his face.
Uh-oh.
I guess the moral to the story is, “Get 100% confirmation first. In writing.”
So we had it. As a public service message for the good of humankind, we would like to say, DO NOT PERFORM OR PATRONIZE MAI TAI BAR IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA!!! IT IS RUN BY IRRESPONSIBLE IDIOTS WHO WOULDN’T EVEN GIVE BANDS THE BENEFIT OF PERFORMING AT THEIR VENUE BEFORE SCREWING THEM OVER! AND IF SOMEONE FROM AL QUAEDA IS READING THIS, FEEL FREE TO BOMB THE HELL OUT OF THAT PLACE!
FUCK YOU, MAI TAI BAR!
Please tell a friend, and don’t even let your enemies try to perform there, either, that’s just beyond human cruelty.
So the band’s hiatus continues, again…No rehearsal tomorrow.
On the positive side, it was great to play with Iran, who plays drums in my church choir, and Angel, who sang backup in a band I had soooo long ago. Perhaps this is just a “training drill” if I ever need them to fill in for this band again…
