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Posts: 146
Location: Japan | Took me a week to return the call from a guy who gave me his card at a place I was playing at in Tokyo and he had already found someone else since I didn't get back to him!
They liked both my voice and playing and I'm supposed to go have a beer when I get back to Tokyo. Only problem is, I don't like beer... :D
Like most of you I've had my fair share of BS from customers who had something great to offer and it turns out to be a waste of time, but I've also had a few which turned out to be really fundamental progress points for me.
If someone comes up to the stage and wants you to call them, even if it's a waste of time, it's usually only a little waste of time.
Actually the only time I ever lived in Anchorage was because we signed a contract with a drunk who owned a bar there!
He wasn't always a drunk, but he was the night he came up to the stage in Valdez during the oil spill and offered us 4-nights a week at the price of our choice at his bar in Anchorage and signed a contract during our break!
Even more misleading was that his completely drunk son had been at the edge of the stage the whole previous night going on about how his dad owned a really great bar in Anchorage and would book us when he showed up the next night.
Anyone else got any good or bad stories relating to phone numbers handed to them at the edge of the stage? |
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Posts: 3084
Location: Brisbane Australia | Hey AK, If they were genuine they would have offered you Saki :D :D
In my experience of the Japanese they are generally reasonably honorable.
Mate you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Good luck
AJ |
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Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | I give them my card and tell them to contact me. If they're serious, they will. If you call them you've taken one step back in the negotiations. |
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Location: Brisbane Australia | That depends on how hard you want to push you own barrow.
I think in promotion, self or otherwise, it is better to be proactive rather than reactive. |
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Posts: 5563
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Late 70's (76); playing a gig with my band in Tidewater, VA.; a guy wants to meet with us the next day; he's a successful entrepreneur, w/lots of money and little band knowledge but liked what he saw and heard; offered to "Buy" us, but the catch was we had to do everything as he wanted: I believe the price was a million dollars and studio recording if we would relocate to Kentucky where he was based in Louisville; we checked the guy out; he was legit as far as his money; his entourage (a business manager and secretary) took my bass player and keyboard player to Va. Beach in the company Cadillac to go to the beach late at night: they ended up drunk, parked on the beach in the incoming surf, fishing out of the convertible! they got arrested and our new "friend" had to go and bail everybody out...he got cold feet and went back to Louisville after we suggested that we wanted some artistic input into what we'd record...one of the strangest but true things in my life!
Later, as a duo playing in Dubuque, Iowa, a fellow came to the stage between sets: he turned out to be a scout for ACA (Artist Corporation of America): one of the biggest booking agencies in the country! They signed us on the spot and we spent three years in nonstop bookings from the upper-Midwest to California to the tune of about 55 grand per year. Not bad for two mid 20 something’s! We burned out from no life except the road and left them to return to the east coast and gigs in Myrtle Beach complete with a condo! I played Ovation 12’s and Les Paul’s the whole time! Looking back, it was a good time but I wouldn’t trade it for my family life now for anything! |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Sorry, but if you waited a WEEK t'get back to the guy, you deserved losing the gig.
As a rule of thumb, I generally return such calls the NEXT DAY (without fail), and generally do so in the afternoon while you're still (somewhat) "fresh" in their mind, and their hangover has (for the most part) worn off . . .
Weirdest thing I ever had was a guy who PHONED-IN a request WHILE we were playing . . .
Turned out t'be some assclown from VA. |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Inbreds... |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | <>. . . "Automatic Dialer" |
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Posts: 4413
| At least it was in the days before he could say "I'm calling from my iPhone....." |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | At least YOU got more than I did.
I usually get ". . I'm calling from my iPh(dead air) . . ." |
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| :D |
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| Or in his case dead hair. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | You both may Bite Me...
-Sent from my iPho |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | The BEST is when he has it on "speaker" . . . and you have to try to talk OVER the last two seconds of YOURSELF speaking . . .
I always like the gigs where it takes you six months to FINALLY get your "foot in the door", you play the gig, they LOVE you -want you back - blah,blahblah, and when you tell them that you're "booked-up" 6-8 months out . . they get PISSED at you . . . |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I've been fortunate enough to NEVER have a guy give me his number from the edge of the stage. |
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Posts: 4413
| You probably need to dress better. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | What IS it that Englishmen have about wearing dresses? |
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Location: NJ | Sense of Style. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Similar to the food? |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | the hope of bedding a Frenchman... |
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Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | Originally posted by AussieJames:
That depends on how hard you want to push you own barrow.
I think in promotion, self or otherwise, it is better to be proactive rather than reactive. I push the barrow to something I know. When some random drunk is Blah-Blah at a gig, the ball is in his court, not mine. |
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Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Now that we know the schedule for the 2mangroup's last gigs, Cliff's idea will give us something to do.
"We're right in the middle of a gig."
"I know, just leave the phone on. I wanted to listen. Will you do a reunion tour to Idaho, say in about January?' |
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January 2007
Posts: 146
Location: Japan | Originally posted by cliff:
Sorry, but if you waited a WEEK t'get back to the guy, you deserved losing the gig.
As a rule of thumb, I generally return such calls the NEXT DAY (without fail), and generally do so in the afternoon while you're still (somewhat) "fresh" in their mind, and their hangover has (for the most part) worn off . . . I don't have a rule of thumb about it much more than getting back within a couple of days but you're definitely right that it's best to contact them while things are fresh in their minds.
Anyway it's not the first or last time my negligence will cost me but it'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it down the road.
Nice stories from Mike and I'm sure there's more out there! :) |
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Posts: 5575
Location: big island | last month my wife's hula troupe was invited to go view a new production based on the legend of pele, hawaiian fire goddess. i was in the middle of filming the production when the director/producer, a man i had never met before, approached me and said in a very effeminate voice, "you are a good looking man, you should be performing somewhere. here's my card. i'll put you on stage. call me."
here it is, a month later and i still haven't called him... :rolleyes: and darn if i didn't "misplace" his card too. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Witko.
David Witko.
He's in the book . . . |
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Just got a job offer I couldn't take.
