[Dixielandjazz] Showing Up

[David W. Littlefield]

At 09:21 AM 10/2/2004 -0400, Steve barbone wrote:
>... I
>noticed in the "Headliner" thread that some folks were afraid to hire an
>expensive headline act because if nobody shows up at the festival, they (the
>headliner) still expect to get paid.
>
>Well, um, yeah. I know that if our band shows up, we expect to get paid for
>the gig. On outdoor gigs, subject to rain outs, if we are not notified
>before we leave home base (about 3 hours max) we expect to get paid, if we
>are there and it starts to rain. We put that into our contract. How about
>the other bands out there?

When I'm booking a gig, I get a non-refundable 50% deposit with a 6-week
advance cancellation clause, and an "Acts of God" provision that we have to
be notified before we leave home, and anyone who shows up is paid in full.
When booked by an agency I don't have much control, except that, with one
exception, I don't take rain dates.

If the client/prospect asks, I just tell 'em "If the pay isn't guaranteed,
we can't guarantee to show up."

I booked a wedding this year through the groom's father, got the deposit
check from the bride's folks, who then cancelled several months in advance.
The FOG notified me of the cancellation, I had no contact from the FOB, so
I ended up with $700 free and clear...

On another occasion, a bride wanted to cancel several months in advance, so
I kept $200 and refunded the rest of the deposit. Another time, we arrived
at the gig only to be told that much of the wedding party was in the
hospital after a wreck the night before (it was in the paper the next day);
the Agency wanted to return the deposit, and I and my guys were OK with it;
unfortunately they didn't rebook us...

(The exception is a major country club that first booked us this year for
their last weekend in June Fourth-of-July bash; the raindate was the next
day; we'd be paid in full whatever happened. It was one of those gigs where
it didn't matter who's in the band as long as they're good players, so I
just lined up substitutes as necessary. I hope they'll use us regularly,
'cause I get paid for my extra trouble...)

--Sheik