Miguel de Maria -> RE: gig disasters (Sep. 18 2015 18:00:15)
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Think I've shared most of them here already. ... the first flamenco show, I was to play with my teacher. A buddy known to be a heavy-handed player saw my brand new Vicente Carrillo blanca and asked to play it for his number right before ours. Well, you can guess what happened. Broke a string. Someone else stuffed a guitar in my hands. It was cold and felt big and I had to try to tune it on stage very quickly. It was a good thing I was just doubling what my teacher was playing. ... playing for a birthday party in someone's big house. They failed to turn off the automatic sprinklers. I came back from a break to find my guitar filled with water. ... playing in a duo, I complained I couldn't hear myself, partner told me that I sounded great. After the set was over, noticed that I had failed to plug in. ... showed up to play at a wedding and observed, in the program, the client had programmed me to play an Elvis song in the ceremony that I had neither knew or agreed to play. Spent the next fifteen minutes making a quickie arrangement, by memory, and writing it on some hotel stationary so it wouldn't vanish from memory under pressure. ... had a lovely meal with my family the night before a gig, and drank only half a bottle of Cava. Woke up the next morning with a terrible headache and food poisoning. By noon, I realized I wasn't going to be able to make the gig as I was spending half the time in the bathroom and half lying in bed. Called up the wedding planner and she was an absolute bitch, saying if I sent a sub then I should also cut my fee. It didn't help that I had agreed to accompany two of the bride's cousins singing two separate songs, both obscure. My sub was also being an ass and insisting on the money up front. I decided it wasn't worth it, took a handful of Pepto-Bismo and staggered to the mansion where the wedding was being held. The wedding planner put me in a sunny spot with no shade, and the desert sun blasted me between trips to the bathroom. Managed to pull off the gig without medical dehydration or ruining my clothes with effluvia, the client never noticed or knew that I was sick; still, no tip was forthcoming. ...the worst of all, was hired to play for a guy's birthday party by his wife. He was a charismatic, likable fellow who had started his own business and was very successful. When I arrived, they had been blasting country on the stereo. I always hate that, because solo guitar just is a huge energetic let down after that. I played a set, then there was a movie commemorating him. It was such a good movie, it made me like the guy and want to please him. I started on my next set, and the birthday boy clapped me on the shoulder. "Miguel! We've got to kick this party up the notch. Gimme everything you've got!" Okay! I started playing my most energetic rumbas. Ten minutes later, he came back. "Miguel, thanks, but I've got to put on some tunes!" He sent me home early with a $200 tip. I was very embarrassed!
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