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[Stephen Kirby]

Places that are restaurants by evening and dance bars by night are always a pain.  Even loading in can be a hassle if a large group has moved tables around for themselves and blocks access to the stage.  I always go to the staff, doorman, maitre'd or manager if I can find them and explain that the band needs access or that tables X are where the band needs to set up.  And that the music will be delayed until the area is clear.  Leaving it up to them to relocate things or make the music late, at their option.  Sometimes they get people to move, sometimes they wait until the folks leave and scramble to move the tables.  At that point I can start, and will make every obvious effort to get set up quickly but making it clear that it was management's choice to delay the 2nd half of the evening because of the 1st half.  Which part makes them more money is their bailiwick, mine is just the entertainment part they hired.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Places that are restaurants by evening and dance bars by night are always a pain.  Even loading in can be a hassle if a large group has moved tables around for themselves and blocks access to the stage.  I always go to the staff, doorman, maitre'd or manager if I can find them and explain that the band needs access or that tables X are where the band needs to set up.  And that the music will be delayed until the area is clear.  Leaving it up to them to relocate things or make the music late, at their option.  Sometimes they get people to move, sometimes they wait until the folks leave and scramble to move the tables.  At that point I can start, and will make every obvious effort to get set up quickly but making it clear that it was management's choice to delay the 2nd half of the evening because of the 1st half.  Which part makes them more money is their bailiwick, mine is just the entertainment part they hired.

Yup.  There were a few instances when the best way was to load in between the lunch rush and the dinner hour.  This meant sometime between 2 and 4 in the afternoon and avoided having to truck everything through the dining area...which was necessary because there was no other access to the stage other than the area where the staff was serving customers.

I still have the black scrim material I used to cover the PA gear piled on the stage.  The worst of all were the places that used the "stage" to get a few extra tables set up.  I have seldom been more relieved than the day I quit that end of the business as JNWTT...just not worth the trouble.

[Scott Holtzman]

I still have the black scrim material I used to cover the PA gear piled on the stage.  The worst of all were the places that used the "stage" to get a few extra tables set up.  I have seldom been more relieved than the day I quit that end of the business as JNWTT...just not worth the trouble.

Since we got our start in those mixed use venues it's hard to let go of it all as many of our clients still play those rooms but we have grown with them to the private events and larger shows.


There is no doubt that the amount of hassle to do a restaurant or a bar gig is disproportionate.  Professionalism goes out the window, you are looked at as a whack job if you complain about power as "nobody else has a problem", safety and of course there is no money to staff it right so I either pay a helper or kill myself setting up and running the gig.


I already have been given the "getting too big for my britches" talk and told to remember where we came from so for now we still work in the clubs.

[ProSoundWeb Community]