Most, if not all, of us have had the situation where while we are playing someone comes up to us and wants to hold a conversation ... well, a good friend of mine - he was the sax player in our band all those years ago - was recently hired to play the cocktail hour for a wedding in NY ... it was a 'Christmas theme' wedding and he was asked to play a lot of "Christmas music" ... on SOLO SAX ... He sent me an e-mail today saying the gig went very well, but as he said in his own words: "NOW......... as I'm playing a tune a woman
comes by and asks ME for a PEN. A PEN !!!
What the ??? I'm playing, doing tunes I
don't usually do, people pushing me, bending
my wireless mic on my horn and people
stepping on my feet. What the ????
Could you imagine how people are so unaware
of what we, as musicians, are doing. What it takes?
I don't get it. So I didn't say anything, AS USUAL, and took my money and went home. Going
home with money in my pocket was the best
part of the night."
So, fellas, it doesn't only happen to KB players but also to sax players while they have a mouthpiece in their mouth!!!
t.




[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 12-12-2010).]

She must have thought he was using one of those new Dj karaoke saxophone units.

She was hitting on him.

That's a riot! I thought I had heard it all until this one. I keep a half-dozen pens on my laptop console, along with a couple dozen business cards, just for advertising purposes. I couldn't count the number of times someone comes up in the middle of a song that I'm playing and singing and asks for a business card. One night, while playing in an upscale Italian Restaurant in Baltimore's Little Italy, an attractive 45-year-old lady came up while I was singing Unchained Melody, asked for a card and I nodded toward the stack of cards on the console. She picked up a card, then picked all 6 pens, put them in her purse, smiled and walked out the door. What a nut case!

The situation I love most is when someone comes up and tries to have a conversation with you while you're playing and singing. Some actually get upset when you don't answer their questions immediately. An old friend, who recently passed away put a sign on his mic stand that said "If you have a question, take a number and I'll get back to you." He had a little post-it-pad with numbers written on each page under the note and an arrow point down to the number pad. He finally took it down because the people ignored it and began asking questions anyway.

Thanks Tony,

Gary 8)

The lines between live performers and DJs is so blurred now that many in today's audiences don't know the difference. Last night three different people came and started talking to me while I was singing. One was so insistent that I had to fade the song out as I totally lost my concentration.

Another party this weekend paid by check and at the bottom they wrote "Christmas DJ". Arrrgh!

Every once in a great while someone will tell me it was nice to see someone actually playing an instrument and singing.

Eddie

Same thing happens on the highway..they have a cell phone glued to thie ear...their agenda is the only thing that matters and they are an accident looking for a place to happen. Mostly women, but some men too.

Her agenda was to get that damm pen no matter what....I'm surprised she didn't grab the Sax from you and say...Hey...I need a pen, arn't you listening!.

Lee S.

That about nails it, Eddie. People are so programmed to believe that music just appears out of the blue now, that nobody actually has to play it. Sad fact is that a lot of today's music is untouched by human hand in production, and subsequently untouched by human brain when being heard.

Usually it's some drunk who insists on chatting merrily away mid-song. Other times, there are those who don't need the excuse of alcohol, they're just plain stooooopid.

The best one I had was in a crowded pub, no stage and the crowd right up against the back of my keyboard. This one fella was swaying and on the backward swing got too close, so, keeping my left hand comping, stretched out my right hand and swayed him back the other way, and just kept right on singing. He never noticed, nor anyone else. I can't believe the coolness of my own actions in that situation. I laugh about it now, but it could have gone south pretty quick.

Can't blame them....there are ten x more Dj's then live musicians at affairs today.
Nobody cares...live with it it's gonna get worse for the unwary. "Mix it up" big time before the DJ Express passes you by..

I have to jump in on this one. Makes me laugh. Whenever I show up for a party someone always says "Oh your the DJ" and I reply no I'm a mjusician who also DJs. Then I look at the setup area and there is always a table set up across the front. I usually turn the table sideways and set my keyboard up facing the dance floor and use the table on the side for my DJ stuff, music , etc.
This week I show up for a party and NO Table! I ask the manager and he says "Oh I heard you were a keyboard player---YEA!!! I still needed a small table for my other stuff and he said I could find one outside -- gee thanks. As for people talking to me while I preform its happened a million times and I just give them the one minute finger (no not that one!) and they usually get the hint

Bill in NJ

I have to jump in here too.

When I'm singing and playing and a person comes up to me to talk I put my hand up indicating to them to way till I'm thru with this song and they usually wait and I talk to them after the song.
If a person is rude and they push themselves onto me or tries to do something else to distract me while I'm singing and playing, that's where it ends for me.

This has happened a few times to me.

I'm doing my thing and a women comes up and stands right in front of me and starts waving her hands like a crazy person....well, I never tollerate that. The dance floor is full, I press the Stop button and I say over the microphone nice and loud, "Lady what do you want that can't wait untill I'm thru with this song. I cannot sing and play and talk to you at the same time." And then I appologize to the audience for the interruption. I tell the people how rude this women is. The audience gives me a round of applause and the women literally crawls back to her table.

This above scenerio usually happens at a condo dance never at an assisted facility or private party.

I've been in this business too long. That's how I deal with a rude person.