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[Milt Hathaway]

Not the same direction as the others, but...

I just sat through 14 hours of "artists" and failed-artists-who-write-about-art talking about the writings of a long deceased "artist" this past weekend.

The type of artworks? One example is a 1'x1'x1' copper cube, sitting in the middle of an otherwise empty room. His writing was at least slightly interesting, but unfortunately no one was actually reading that to us.

There are times when the idea of a room-clearing brawl begins to sound attractive.

[Charlie Zureki]

 I've had plenty of gigs from Hell, actually one in Hell... Hell, Michigan for their Halloween "festival", it wasn't bad a bad gig, kind of like the Burning Man festival with a cross section of people.

My gig from Hell was in D.C. for the opening of the Roosevelt Monument in 1997.President Clinton, Senators, Congressmen, Foreign Diplomats, Princess Margarete, etc... Broadcast throughout the World.

Wednesday, "Big Bill" Collins, Keith Jex, and I get to the Monument to find that we can't set up the System until the following day, because they're bringing in sod to cover approx. 20 acres. We go to the hotel.

Thursday, We get to the Monument and there's no local hands to help with the setup. No Forklifts, New sod,wet and we're tearing it up dragging gear like cable boxes, amp racks and speakers across it. Keith gets sick and spends most of the day in the truck cab. So it's Bill and I. We work Thursday through the night setting up delay clusters and pulling speaker cable, snakes in trenches, Sound Craft Europa up onto riser,etc..
We finish setup approx. 6am, Friday, we're kicked out by Secret Service so they can do their "thing". Show's in less than 3 hours, we hadn't slept or ate since Wednesday night. Still NO Runners. Show went fine, oh forgot more than 30 audio feeds for Broadcast, all last minute.
 We did load out immediately after show, rain was reported.
We worked way too hard that weekend.

 Hammer

[Marshall Short]

Your gig from hell....hmmm the $3,600 check bounces.
Marshall

[Dave Rickard]

My sympathies, Brian.

As I read your title I was thinking of when I lost 2 HF drivers, or when I had nagging low-level feedback that took *2 whole songs* to pin down.  Or when I couldn't get a good piano sound from a really crappy piano.

After reading your post I thought, "Never mind, I don't have a gig from hell."

I hope all turns out well after this.  Be sure to post the story as it unfolds, many can benefit from your experience.

[Marshall Short]

My partner had a show like that. He was hiding in a hall way with some other girl while everyone was shooting at each other. No one was shot luckly and amazinly.  And that is why he carries a gun to every gig we do now.

[Kristian Johnsen]

Yes, adding more bullets that are flying around a room full of patrons is really going to solve the situation.....

[Charlie Zureki]

 Combing effect?  

Hammer

[Scott MacAuley]

You had a real piece of crap dumped in your lap. Typical.
I am personally very appreciative you made it out unscathed.
There's a piece of guidance at the end.

I don't do rap shows because I've seen enough dead bodies and it's illegal in most places to carry a firearm in a club.
It has to do with a Fear based respect vs earned respect encouraged by the popular for of rap today. The original rappers
were much more positive and carved a path for the style. They were great to work with before the scammers got involved. Now
I refer ALL Rap and Reggae shows to the guys who are already respected in the scene. It's a problem. Trust your gut and bail.
The client will realize you were right or you will realize the client does not care what happens to staff as long as they make money.

The Latino clubs are only a little safer. There's at least one major fight every night, sometimes many. machetes and guns in the parking lot. They are less likely to actually shoot each other unless warranted. Unlike the Rap clubs where it's a status issue. I only work in three Latino places that have strict anti-drug and anti-weapon policies as well as good security. There was a Reggae club that opened a few doors down from the main club I work with. Within two weeks there was a major shooting and the place was closed down. A couple of weeks later they tried to open again and the cops closed them down three times in 2 days, and finally arrested the owner for the first shooting when he tried to open up on the third day. I've got a lot of these stories.

My worst gig from hell. When I got hired last second for a high end gig, and my main mixer had been stolen the week before.
I had to scramble (fix) up an old Soundtracs to meet the rider the night before. It was a $500.00 condo show. The artist went ballistic because they were expecting a Meyer system with Meyer monitors. The Agent charged them 2 grand for sound and hired us,
then blacklisted us because the artist freaked. Unfortunately it cost us a full seasons condo work due to a greedy agent.
Some promoters and agents really don't give a crap about anything but the money and will burn anyone to get it.

Believe it or not, If I had gotten stuck doing your show, the proper thing to do when the mc called you a lousy soundman, was to ANSWER!!!!. ON THE MICROPHONE RIGHT BACK AT HIM SO THE CROWD WILL HEAR. "Maybe if you had done your job and provided a DJ and the right CD's and a bigger system we wouldn't be having this problem." This would be the proper challenging response that would have earned you INSTANT RESPECT by the crowd. The odds are VERY high you would have also received protection from the crowd as well as you protected yourself and your staff and shifted the blame to it's proper place. It's not professional in normal shows, but mandatory in that type of environment. There is a certain automatic respect for the sound people that can easily be maintained if you know how. I've done it a few times
and gotten the respect and protection as I stated. You might not get fully paid, but I'd rather go home empty handed, my crew safe, and little or no damage to my gear than have a mob that
will lash out and possibly kill anyone and anything they think screwed them. If you keep doing these kind of shows, get radios.
Make up a couple of code words you can blast on the monitors or radio to alert your crew to prepare for the worst, or DUCK.
I use "code yellow" and "Incoming". If I shout FORE it means run like hell. "Code Blue" means police are on the scene.

Added: When I hear someone doesn't have enough budget, and I know there is no where enough PA or budget to even make it a passable event..., they wont budge, or I get that something is wrong here feeling...The alarm bells go off in my head. Trust your instincts. If the event is through someone else, make sure they know what's going on before you bail. Almost every show I have bailed on has turned into a complete disaster for bigger companies who have grabbed it or resulted in blown up or destroyed systems by the other guys. Lesson learned. Be Safe.

[Brian Harden]

Update- in the following days after this show, it turns out that this group has been blacklisted at most mid-sized venues in the area because of past trouble.  When the theater was pitched the show, it was very much portrayed as a family show/talent show as not to raise suspicions by the theater.  obviously, this group has now been blacklisted by our theater as well.

Also, I deposited my check right away.... and it cleared!

[Evan Kirkendall]

This about sums it up:



Not really a gig from "hell," but rather "shit from the past."




Evan