News Item: Another Day In Paradise
(Category: Music News)
Posted by RadicalRed
2018
I have told you about the insanity of a day in the life of a booking agent, now I am going to give you the meat and potatoes of what really occurs. I had a Bart Crow show set in Premont, Texas for Saturday January 29th. What THAT means is that this show was set almost three months prior to the event, all negotiations have taken place, contracts signed and deposits sent. Additionally, the opening band has been approved by Mr. Crow’s “people†and all production issues have been addressed. It is an intricate little dance that is done for every show and that train can run off the tracks at any given moment as you will soon see!
Saturday morning, I checked with the venue to make certain everything was on “go†mode. It was, there had been several hundred presales and the venue owner was happy as a pig in the sunshine. Little did I know that was all about to change. At noon, I received a freaked out call from Bart’s management…Bart’s bride had gone into labor and they were on their way to the hospital. I am a MOM so I understood immediately that Mr. Crow would NOT be making his show that night, at least not if he valued his life OR his half of the community property in Texas. However, that being said, it meant that I had to go into overdrive to cover my ass and the venue’s ass for that night. Yep, another day in paradise has just commenced!
I call the venue owner and he and I both begin damage control. He is having to return funds to people that had already purchased tickets, the Phillip Thomas Band was already in place to open for Bart so now a band had to be found to open for them instead. The venue owner is NOT happy because he has spent advertising dollars predicated on a BART CROW performance which means he pissed away that money and this is when the serious renegotiations begin…
Talk BACK with Bart’s management to find out WHEN he would be able to substitute a date in and get them to rebate back the advertising dollars lost, which they did without question. In the interim, I am looking at the very last minute for a headliner that could fill in. Before I say anything else, I will tell you that the odds of that happening are the equivalent of an “ice cube’s chance in hell.“ Call Deryl Dodds, he is off but is out of town…darn it! Call management back asking if they found anyone who was off that night…no such luck. Venue owner is freaking out threatening to call off the entire show…err NO, you cannot do that either…contracts exist for everyone concerned, including YOU! Pull panties out of venue owner’s behind and get him calmed down. Tell him that he would STILL make money, got the bands discounted and he was still getting a Bart Crow show at a reduced rate on a future date. Call management one more time to make certain that all negotiations are confirmed and that I had given the venue owner exact details about what will transpire, whew!!!
Take two calls from my opening band because venue owner had called them trying to back out of show, assure them that this will NOT be happening and I will get it handled. Call venue owner one more time to tell him he cannot do that and to prop him up through the course of this debacle. Call opening band back to tell them its going to be all right, call me if there are ANY issues and I would be the one to deal with them and they are to keep their mouths shut, please. In the course of the day, I made over twenty five phone calls addressing this one show…and I am literally praying that the band does NOT have to call me late at night with problems, but that is just part of the job.
Finally, four hours after this begins everything has settled down and people are starting to smile again. In those four hours I managed to develop a better working relationship with management (always a tenuous relationship at best), let a band step up and take Bart’s slot for the night (where I understand from the text I received at 3 am that the show went very well), keep a venue owner from losing his mind AND I had something happen that reminded me once again exactly WHY I love some of the guys in this business. Bart actually took the time to call me and apologize for being unable to attend the show. Yes, I know Bart but it still showed the measure of the man as far as I was concerned. He has “people†for that, but he takes his job seriously enough that he personally called to acknowledge it. I just thought I would share the fact that Bart Crow really is a class act and handles his business in a way that I wish other artists would emulate! BTW, Congrats to Bart and Brooke on their new “baby bird!â€
[Submitted by Radical Red]
This news item is from Red Sea Rising
( http://redsearising.net/news.php?extend.146 )
(Category: Music News)
Posted by RadicalRed
2018
I have told you about the insanity of a day in the life of a booking agent, now I am going to give you the meat and potatoes of what really occurs. I had a Bart Crow show set in Premont, Texas for Saturday January 29th. What THAT means is that this show was set almost three months prior to the event, all negotiations have taken place, contracts signed and deposits sent. Additionally, the opening band has been approved by Mr. Crow’s “people†and all production issues have been addressed. It is an intricate little dance that is done for every show and that train can run off the tracks at any given moment as you will soon see!
Saturday morning, I checked with the venue to make certain everything was on “go†mode. It was, there had been several hundred presales and the venue owner was happy as a pig in the sunshine. Little did I know that was all about to change. At noon, I received a freaked out call from Bart’s management…Bart’s bride had gone into labor and they were on their way to the hospital. I am a MOM so I understood immediately that Mr. Crow would NOT be making his show that night, at least not if he valued his life OR his half of the community property in Texas. However, that being said, it meant that I had to go into overdrive to cover my ass and the venue’s ass for that night. Yep, another day in paradise has just commenced!
I call the venue owner and he and I both begin damage control. He is having to return funds to people that had already purchased tickets, the Phillip Thomas Band was already in place to open for Bart so now a band had to be found to open for them instead. The venue owner is NOT happy because he has spent advertising dollars predicated on a BART CROW performance which means he pissed away that money and this is when the serious renegotiations begin…
Talk BACK with Bart’s management to find out WHEN he would be able to substitute a date in and get them to rebate back the advertising dollars lost, which they did without question. In the interim, I am looking at the very last minute for a headliner that could fill in. Before I say anything else, I will tell you that the odds of that happening are the equivalent of an “ice cube’s chance in hell.“ Call Deryl Dodds, he is off but is out of town…darn it! Call management back asking if they found anyone who was off that night…no such luck. Venue owner is freaking out threatening to call off the entire show…err NO, you cannot do that either…contracts exist for everyone concerned, including YOU! Pull panties out of venue owner’s behind and get him calmed down. Tell him that he would STILL make money, got the bands discounted and he was still getting a Bart Crow show at a reduced rate on a future date. Call management one more time to make certain that all negotiations are confirmed and that I had given the venue owner exact details about what will transpire, whew!!!
Take two calls from my opening band because venue owner had called them trying to back out of show, assure them that this will NOT be happening and I will get it handled. Call venue owner one more time to tell him he cannot do that and to prop him up through the course of this debacle. Call opening band back to tell them its going to be all right, call me if there are ANY issues and I would be the one to deal with them and they are to keep their mouths shut, please. In the course of the day, I made over twenty five phone calls addressing this one show…and I am literally praying that the band does NOT have to call me late at night with problems, but that is just part of the job.
Finally, four hours after this begins everything has settled down and people are starting to smile again. In those four hours I managed to develop a better working relationship with management (always a tenuous relationship at best), let a band step up and take Bart’s slot for the night (where I understand from the text I received at 3 am that the show went very well), keep a venue owner from losing his mind AND I had something happen that reminded me once again exactly WHY I love some of the guys in this business. Bart actually took the time to call me and apologize for being unable to attend the show. Yes, I know Bart but it still showed the measure of the man as far as I was concerned. He has “people†for that, but he takes his job seriously enough that he personally called to acknowledge it. I just thought I would share the fact that Bart Crow really is a class act and handles his business in a way that I wish other artists would emulate! BTW, Congrats to Bart and Brooke on their new “baby bird!â€
[Submitted by Radical Red]
This news item is from Red Sea Rising
( http://redsearising.net/news.php?extend.146 )