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Miguel de Maria -> Agencies and Stretch Hummers (95% OT) (Mar. 29 2005 23:16:35)
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I played a gig at the Silverleaf Club, in North Scottsdale, this weekend. I have played a lot of beautiful, upper class places, but this took the cake. Although it was only about a year old, it was made of rock quarried from the site! The hulking doors were antiques, hundreds of years of years old, as were the barrel tiles on the roofs, imported from old Italian and French casas. It is a spectaular place, half Sonoran desert, half Andalucia.
It was a birthday party for a very rich fellow, only 12 people, and me. The gig went fine...
Now..after the gig, I talked to the head of an entertainment agency. Now, I'm not really hot on the agencies, as they are seniority/relationship based and I am not in the loop. I get my gigs through referrals and through beating down doors. The gig at the Silverleaf, I got because I directly called the concierge, sent her my demo CD, and then months later she books me. But this was slightly interesting because the head of the entertainment agency I happened to be talking about had once tried to place me as their regular lounge musician.
I actually was calling the agent so that he would remember who I was and maybe keep me in mind for future dates. I happened to mention that I played at the Silverleaf Club...big mistake. He said, "Well, I have been working with them since before they even built that place. I'll have to talk to them about going through me next time they want to use you!" I was like--excuse me!!? I got this contact myself, thank you, and you have only booked me twice this year. This shark was upset that he was getting cut out of some action that he didn't deserve in the first place! This is the kind of thing that happens to poor working musicians.
Well...it so happened that I had to call my contact athe club, Laurie, due to some circumstances about the invoice. We got that cleared up, and then I said... "Oh, by the way," this is the way I start most important conversations, and proceeded to let her know what the head of the agency had told me. I said, "I don't know if you guys have some kind of arrangement, but I wanted to let you know that I don't have any sort of contract or agreement with him, and actually I contacted you personally long before he talked to you about me!"
Laurie was cool. She said, "We don't have any kind of contractual agreement with him...however... we do do a lot of business with him so..."
"So...dont' bring it up," I said.
"Exactly!" Great! I was happy...with this conversation, I felt I had alleviated being screwed over by the agent, and thus losing about 40% of my income for any gig at the Silverleaf.
Then, two days later, I get a call from Laurie again. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Turns out she had another event going on, called "Ladies Night Out." What's this all about, now? I have to meet her there at 5:00 pm, where I will board a stretch Hummer (like a stretch limo, but a stretch HumVee--one of those American tank/jeep thingies), with 14 women....and we will then proceed to drive to several locations and partake of champagne and caviar, etc... Well, I don't know if I will get any champagne, as I am just there as a hired musician. I said, "What, do I have to wear one of those tuxedos with no shirt underneath!?" She thought that was funny! Well, maybe I will get some champagne!
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