[Dixielandjazz] Gigs! phew!!!

[Martin Nichols]

ORIGINAL POST:From: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis"
 <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Another strange gig courtesy of the Sheik
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>, "Dick Baker"
 <box2 at twotonbaker.com>
Message-ID: <00ab01c6bb43$16c092c0$c7feb844 at COMPACSR1320NX>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
 reply-type=response

I enjoyed that one.  About 1985 I was working with a band called Group 
3. 
Basically a trio with a female vocalist.  We got a job at Lake of the 
Ozarks 
at a very posh resort.  If you have seen the movie "The Gig" you know 
exactly what we were doing.  It turns out that the owner who booked us 
through an agency had sold out.  The new bar manager had completely 
different ideas about music.

Again we had a contract and had to finish it out but the owner picked 
out 
about a dozen tunes from our list and that's all we could play.  When 
we 
finished the list we started at the beginning again.  His theory was a 
new 
crowd would come in every half hour or so.  The guests at the resort 
loved 
the band on the first night and hated us the rest of the week.  The 
people 
coming in on boats were looking for C & W and they hated us too.  The 
week 
was miserable and the resort staff must have been told they didn't have 
to 
do anything for us.  The first night was fun but we couldn't wait to 
get out 
of there after it all hit the fan.  The music we were playing at the 
time 
was a mix of contemporary jazz, pop tunes and some oldies.  At the end 
of 
this fiasco the guy complained to the agent that we couldn't hold a 
crowd. 
DUH!!!
Larry Walton
   
  I definitely have enhoyed all the "strange gig" stories. Having been an amateur
  trombone player all these years, except for one or two "steady gig" periods
  years ago, I now understand why I never have truly desired to be a "pro."
   
  Though funny and interesting, it must be a miserable life to play your music
  and then have some clowns say it was "corny, old, or whatever." I just wouldn't have the patience to deal with it.
  Marty Nichols
  http://myspace.com/freemarty
   
   
   
   
   
  


 		
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