[Dixielandjazz] Problem at wedding gig

[Gary Kiser]

Elazar,

I think you handled the situation quite well.  However, I would have 
held to a 60/40 split as you bent over backwards to get Mr. Keyboard and 
his stuff to the gig.  And, as you say, in four months, all will be 
forgotten.  I too suggest you scratch Mr. Keyboard from your playing roster.

On Sac à Pulses' 1998 West Coast Tour, we needed to replace Marc Verne, 
our super drummer for a handful of dates.  I followed the advise of 
several Californian colleagues and hired a drummer I have never heard 
of.  Aye!! What a mistake.  He just didn't work with us.  He didn't 
listen, he didn't know the repertoire, he didn't mix with us when we 
weren't on stage.  A very uncomfortable situation indeed.

Well, the cake was at the Pismo Festival when he informed me at 7pm that 
he wouldn't be on the 10pm set as he had another gig.  But, I was not to 
worry as he arranged a replacement.  One thing for the replacement to 
arrange his own replacement, but why didn't I know about it until the 
last minute.

In the end, everything went GREAT!!  His replacement was Vince Bartels.  
Vince was 63.4 times better than the replacement for whom he was 
replacing.   Anyway, we rocked.  Oh yeah, there was this curmudgeon Bob 
Ringwald that sat in on most of the set as well.

All the best, Gary



Robert S. Ringwald wrote:
> Dear Elazar,
>
> Shi* happens.  After reading through your lengthy description rather 
> quickly, it sounds as if you handled the situation very nicely.
>
> I cannot believe that this so-called friend complained about the money 
> after what you did to get him and his equipment there.  And then to 
> have his equipment be faulty.
>
> If it were me, I would probably never use him again.
>
> The main thing as you say, is to do what you can to make the bride and 
> groom's special day, as special as you can.
>
> You certainly have the right attitude there.
>
> However, if it were me, I might stay friends with this musician, but 
> I'd never use him on a gig again.
>
> --Bob ringwald
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ministry of Jazz" 
> <jazzmin at actcom.net.il>
> To: "Bob Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>
> Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
> Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 3:43 PM
> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Problem at wedding gig
>
>
>> Shalom list-mates,
>>
>> I have a question. [Delete now if you don't have the patience for a soap
>> opera story.] Actually I need some help to feel better about a 
>> problem that
>> happened at a wedding gig this evening. Here's the story:
>>
>> About 2 months ago, I was hired by the groom to bring my usual Doctor 
>> Jazz
>> Duo to play for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours at the cocktail hour of his 
>> wedding.
>> He had heard us on the street, took a card, and wanted what he heard 
>> to be
>> at his wedding as his guests arrived. Turns out, my partner would be 
>> out of
>> the country the week of the wedding. So I offered the job to an old 
>> friend
>> who plays keyboard. He and I have performed together many times. I 
>> expected
>> he would play piano, and I'd be the rest of the band, bone, trumpet, 
>> banjo,
>> and we'd both do vocals. The money was OK, not a lot, not a little. I 
>> ran
>> the change by the groom and assured him that the musical style would be
>> quite similar to what he heard, and he consented with no problem.
>>
>> Now the plot thickens. Mr. Keyboard, who no longer lives full time in
>> Israel, but is here for a couple months at a time, would be staying 
>> in Tel
>> Aviv and not Jerusalem, and his keyboard and amp and equipment are in
>> storage in Tel Aviv. He has no car. So I need to drive from Jerusalem 
>> to Tel
>> Aviv (about an hour), get him and his equipment, and drive to the 
>> site of
>> the wedding, about 1/3 of the way back to Jerusalem. And traffic in that
>> area is horrendous in the hours before the time of the gig. Therefore we
>> decide to meet earlier, get out of Tel Aviv, and go hang out near the
>> wedding site for the afternoon, then set up early and relax before 
>> the gig.
>> Of course, he and equipment must get returned to Tel Aviv after the 
>> gig, and
>> then I need to head back to Jerusalem. And gas here is $6 per gallon.
>>
>> I make a day of it in Tel Aviv, visiting another friend first, then 
>> get Mr.
>> Keyboard and equipment, and we escape from Tel Aviv before the 
>> traffic. So
>> far so good. We arrive to set up for the wedding over an hour early, and
>> begin setting up outdoors in sweltering heat and humidity. I get out 
>> all my
>> horns, we fight with the staff to get electricity turned on where we are
>> setting up, he unpacks, and neither the keyboard nor the amp are 
>> working.
>> The keyboard is missing the converter/power supply, and the amp has a 
>> faulty
>> plug. So 45 minutes before the gig, we appear to have no piano, and 
>> possibly
>> no amp, and what was supposed to be a Dixieland duo was now going to 
>> be solo
>> banjo and 2 vocals. Groom and family are not there yet. No wedding 
>> planner
>> to deal with. Only the bride all decked out and ready to go. So do I 
>> tell
>> the bride that the band for her cocktail hour is minus a piano and 
>> therefore
>> also the horns? Wait for the groom? or just go with what we've got 
>> and hope
>> they don't notice? (right! like that'll happen.)
>>
>> I talk to the bride, now less than half an hour before show time. 
>> We're in
>> the middle of nowhere, no place to run for replacement equipment, and no
>> time to run anyway. I told her not to worry, that we'll go with the 
>> banjo
>> and vocals. (The amp could be fixed in time so I didn't mention that 
>> one to
>> her.) And I told her we'd offer a reduction in our price because of the
>> missing piano. She, her parents, and later the groom as well, all 
>> seemed OK
>> with this.
>>
>> We did the gig, played almost 1 1/2 hours with only one short break for
>> drinks, and received numerous compliments, including from other 
>> musicians.
>> The amp worked, thankfully. So I was just starting to breathe a bit 
>> easier
>> thinking we got through it alright. Then before the main party began, 
>> I get
>> to deal with the groom's mother. She seems OK, but doesn't comment 
>> one way
>> or the other on our performance. She said she was going to pay us, 
>> and asked
>> what discount I would offer because the piano didn't work. I offered 
>> a 1/3
>> reduction, and she accepted gracefully and paid me. So I think we 
>> left the
>> customer relatively satisfied.
>>
>> Now for the real problem. I tell Mr. Keyboard that I gave them a 
>> reduction
>> in the price, and he hits the roof. He throws everything in the book 
>> at me.
>> He never works for so little pay, especially at a wedding. He had to 
>> work
>> harder to sing to try to make up for the absence of the piano. He wasn't
>> planning to sing, but only to play the piano for the money I offered him
>> originally. The voice is also an instrument, and so he did perform 
>> and is
>> therefore entitled to the promised amount. I didn't consult him before
>> offering the discount. I didn't give him the opportunity to decline, 
>> and to
>> opt not to perform (leaving the whole thing on me), and to not take any
>> money, rather than performing for less than the agreed price. Yada, 
>> yada,
>> yada.
>>
>> So aside from the fact that I was ready to kill him, he is a long term
>> friend and colleague, and I don't want to ruin our friendship over 
>> less than
>> $50 difference one way or the other. I was actually prepared to take the
>> bigger loss, and split the reduced amount with him 50/50, rather than 
>> the
>> approximately 60/40 that I had originally planned on to cover my gas and
>> extra transport time. But I can't believe that he is making such a 
>> big deal
>> out of it either, and I am really irked that he makes me feel like 
>> the bad
>> guy when he showed up with his instrument not in working order.
>>
>> My first priority is always to leave the customer happy, even if I 
>> have to
>> sacrifice my payment altogether. I also do my best to keep my players 
>> happy,
>> because otherwise it's hard to make happy music. But no way am I 
>> going to
>> take all the loss on this one, pay him the original amount when it 
>> was his
>> instrument that didn't work, leaving the whole burden on me to make a 
>> banjo
>> and vocals sound like a band, and leaving me with just about enough 
>> money to
>> cover my gas for the day. And no way would I stand for him 
>> negotiating with
>> my customer and causing any hard feelings in the process.
>>
>> Maybe something is wrong with me, but I refuse to get into any 
>> argument or
>> unpleasantness with a customer at their wedding over money or 
>> anything else.
>> I refuse to be the bad memory lingering over someone's once in a 
>> lifetime
>> event. No amount of money is worth having that credit attached to my 
>> name.
>>
>> So Mr. Keyboard/friend is leaving for Asia tomorrow for 4 months, and 
>> by the
>> time he gets back this will be forgotten, hopefully, but I still feel
>> terrible about not delivering what I promised the customer, and what 
>> I was
>> hired for, even though I don't think the customer was terribly 
>> disappointed
>> with what we gave them, and it was pretty much beyond my control.
>>
>> If anyone is still reading, any comments on what I could have or 
>> should have
>> done either to prevent the problem from happening at all, or in my 
>> handling
>> of the customer or the side man? This is the only part of the 
>> business that
>> really scares me. I imagine band leaders get sued for this sort of 
>> thing. I
>> doubt if that will happen in this case.  But anything I can learn to 
>> avoid
>> such a thing happening again would be helpful.
>>
>> Thanks for listening.
>>
>> Elazar
>> Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band
>> Tekiya Brass Ensemble
>> Jerusalem, Israel
>> www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
>> +972-2-679-2537