[Dixielandjazz] Turning off the young

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Good advice Dave:

I would just like to add to it a bit,   Do not wait at all when you get 
a call for the gig  book it and contract it immediately and get the 
deposit as soon as possible otherwise some body will  no doubt undercut 
you and steal the gig many times, sometimes even friends of yours who 
do not know they are dealing  with the same buyer.   And even some who 
do.

Take no gig for granted and no one at their word unless you really 
really know them and know that they will pay you anyway if they cancel. 
   Even so you should still put it in writing so there are no 
misunderstandings about it and you do not also lose a good friend over 
a bad situation.   If you do anyway , chances are they were not all 
that good a friend anyway, and would have hated you if the situation 
had been reversed.

Nice to see us agree on something for a change Dave :))


Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: jazzdude39 at comcast.net
To: jazzmin at actcom.net.il
Cc: Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Turning off the young

   Elazar,

I've been in the music business for 50 years and I started off with 
others that
often didn't have a contract. We got stiffed plenty until we decided to 
ask for
a deposit and contract about a month before the job. If they don't pay 
a deposit
and return the contract within a reasonable time, then you can assume 
the gig is
off.
I like to trust people as you do, but so many people think that 
musicians just
play music for the love of it, but don't consider we have kids in 
college, car
and house payments, health insurance and so forth. They need a wake up 
call, so
I won't consider a job until MY terms are met, even though I might not 
get the
gig, where I might not get paid anyway. It's a win, win and it doesn't 
take long
for the word to get out that a particular venue won't pay, so they can 
simply
hire a band that will work for free ! I think the key is to not hold 
the gig so
long that you can't rebook the date.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Dave Hanson
Trombone
Atlanta
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Ministry of Jazz
  To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
  Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 6:02 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.


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