Re: Scary Situations

[Bill Fox <billyfox@soundscapes.us>]

Kevin wrote:

> Ah, what about the folks who ask to come up when you take your break 
> to play _while_ you're taking your break?   That's a subtler thing 
> that I've been running into lately.  I'm at the point where I don't 
> like having someone on stage unless I know them or someone I respect 
> vouches for them. 

Amen!  I tell them to take a hike.  "When you've spent thousands of 
dollars on a PA, spent a decade learning how to use it properly, and 
broke your back loading it in the car, unloading it, and setting it up, 
then you can do what you want with it."  When I go on break, the mics go 
dead and only the CD player is head... playing what *I* decide should be 
playing.

Who here hasn't spent a pile of money on gear and loads of time learning 
their craft?  How about the trials you've gone through learning the 
business in order to get the job?  These represent sizable investments.  
Why should we risk our investments on just any Joe Blow who thinks he's 
the next American Idol?  In my experience, strangers who ask such 
questions invariably think that what we do is easy, think they're god's 
gift to humanity/women/music/whatever, have zero sensitivity and even 
less talent.  People who do what we do, make friends with you first 
before asking to sit in or use your gear or take the stage and they do 
it with sensitivity, knowing when not to ask at all.

Cheers,

Bill