[Dixielandjazz] Turning off the young

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Hi Elazar:

Not at all, but it should serve as a fair warning to get EVERY date in 
Writing and a 50% deposit or simply don't take the gig, treat it like a 
business and it will indeed treat you like one.   You do not need or 
even want to work for folks like that.  As you just learned the hard 
way, they are not worth the effort and certainly do not have your 
interest at heart.   I also charge most corporate clients far more than 
a normal gig because they are going to write it off anyway and most 
have no clue what a band makes for any given  situation anyway.

IN words of proverbial Chinese band leader:  "No tickee No Laundry "   
No deposit no gig,  I will of course refund anybody's deposit if they 
have to legitimately cancel at least thirty days in front of the gig, 
anytime after that I have little or no chance of replacing the date, so 
they have to forfeit the deposit.   Most dates I require 50% in advance 
and the balance thirty day prior to the date.

Paying three months after the date is total BS and should never be 
tolerated, You cannot run a business or make a livable wage financing 
other corporations businesses.   Tell them to play for themselves.  You 
have to unfortunately educate these buyers, do they wait three months 
for their pay checks  I think not.

Another reason to not let your new partners book the gigs if they don't 
know these things.   Better to have one guys who is savvy to do all the 
bookings, and the other guys should simply refer any prospective buyer 
to you so you can make an educated and experienced decision on whether 
or not to contract all of you to the gig.

Life and our careers are far to short to deal with Dumb shits, unless 
of course they have very deep pockets and long arms to reach down into 
them.   Does not happen every time but after awhile more often than not.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: jazzmin at actcom.net.il
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 3:02 PM
Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Turning off the young

    Turn-off is right, Dave. I'm not that young, but I'm not that old 
either,
and I have put together a band of 5 players, all of whom, except for 
me, are
25 to 40 years old. I'm 54, still a relative youngster in the OKOM 
world.
Our Doctor Jazz Band was booked to play last night at a large mall just
outside of Jerusalem, a 90 minute show that was to be open to the public
free of charge. The gig was arranged by the CEO of a non-profit 
organization
who has hired us a couple times to play for handicapped children. His
organization was going to split the cost of the show with the mall. 
Total
bill about $100 per player for 5 players, so not enough to break the 
bank of
either of them.

It would have been a great show. Many of our gigs are only for 3 
players. We
had already mapped out the show -- song list, patter, gags, props, etc. 
We
advertised it, and even had people coming to hear us who were 
considering
hiring us for a wedding. My partner called the other day to ask a simple
question about the gig, and was informed that the mall decided to cancel
their current roster of musical programs, including us only 3 days in
advance. We had held the date and had 5 players booked for nearly 2 
months.
The non-profit guy was furious with them. We demanded a 25% cancellation
fee, but since we took no deposit and had no contract, we are unlikely 
to
ever see it.

Now in glorious hindsight, we began to realize that this was the 3rd 
time
we've been screwed by corporate customers, and we've been shafted twice 
by
another company that arranges events for the City of Jerusalem. We have
tried to work without contracts and advance deposits, and our wonderful
private customers have never done this to us. Some even offer to pay 
half or
all of the fee up front, even when we don't ask for it. On the basis of 
this
grand revelation, we have decided to begin requiring a 50% 
non-refundable
deposit from corporate customers to close the booking. Not that we're 
likely
to get it, but we will at least require a contract that includes a
cancellation fee. Corporations here tend to pay 1 to 3 months after the 
gig,
while I try to pay my players cash on the day of the gig. I'm still out 
a
couple hundred bucks from a gig 1 1/2 years ago that we did and were 
never
paid for it, but I paid my crew out of my pocket. What really irks me is
that these soul-less corporate tightwads don't even see the problem with
last minute cancellations. I've told them we've advertised, that some 
of my
players cancelled other bookings to do these jobs, that we've turned 
down
other jobs for the same date, etc., and they can't even manage to say
they're sorry. It's just too bad. they decided not to do the gig. I 
wonder
what would happen if we cancelled on one of these yahoos 3 days before a
show!

Now my young partner, who has listened to me squawk for several years 
about
the extra time and money a bandleader invests in the band, and why he
deserves more money than the side men, has learned a good lesson. This 
time
the customer called him, and he's the one who spent hours arranging the
players and making the preparations, and now he's crying in his beer 
with
the rest of us. I only hope this kind of treatment doesn't kill my young
players' enthusiasm for performing and gigging for fun and profit.

Elazar Brandt
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537


Talk about turning off the young.

-----Original Message-----

David Richoux <tubaman at tubatoast.com> wrote (polite snip)

> While we are on this topic, something that happened recently to a
> local youngish "sorta-dixie" band is disturbing. Without naming any
> names, a trad jazz society had hired them to play a monthly session,
> then the music director was replaced for unknown reasons. When the
> band leader called the new music director to get a bit more
> information on the gig he was told there was no contract, no gig, and
> goodbye.


_______________________________________________
Dixielandjazz mailing list
Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz


________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and 
security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from 
across the web, free AOL Mail and more.