Awful Carol Gig

[nclean]

Carol gig today was spectacularly awkward. At 8 mins to gig start time, I messaged all 3 other singers, asking them where the fuck they were. One texted back “Oh shit, it's at 5. Oh god, I'm still at home, sorry!”, and that he was 30-60 mins away. One other walked in the door a few minutes later, the last, when I called her, didn't think she was

Comments

[originaluddite]

You present two completely different kinds of frustration topic in this post. I cannot decide which one provokes my wish to support your venting more. I will simply say well done on your evident resilience and assumed composure in the face of these.

[foxe]

Argh. I hate gigs like that, and that feeling of 'oh shit, what do we do, nobody else is here, where ARE they all', and having to be apologetic to centre management all the while going 'damn you, unreliable choristers!' in your head... People need to realise that even though they're not being paid to do gigs, *U/OCs is, and that makes it a professional commitment. I mean, would you turn up to your rostered work shift an hour late? Attitudes like that don't help the constant struggle to get musicians and the work they do recognised as valid forms of employment.

Anyway, I'm glad you managed to salvage something and enjoy the singing for at least part of the gig. Carol gigs used to be one of my favourite activities because they were a then-rare chance to do small-group a cappella singing with, mostly, a reasonable bunch of singers.

And GAH for dipshit socialism. I almost laughed at your penultimate paragraph, until I remembered this was a real person/incident under discussion and not just a humorous story and went 'ohgodthestupid'

[nclean]

Except that the individual choristers WERE being paid to do this gig. $29 ea for two hours.

[foxe]

Wow. In that case, it's REALLY shit. I've learned (sometimes the hard way!) who the reliable and unreliable ones are amongst my musical associates; only the reliable ones get offered paid gigs.

[gabyvarius]

What group were you carolling with?
That's really poor form!

[tigerdenbodu]

:-(
Yes, that's why my SO doesn't like rallies.
And warned you about said bass.

[traeemery]

Hey, sounds really frustrating.

Tip if that happens again. Rather than forging on, you were probably best to front up to centre management or who ever booked the gig and say, "Sorry, two of our singers called in sick at the last minute. What do you want us to do? Carry on with less numbers and pay us a half fee or cancel the gig?"

By taking the decision on entirely yourself without negotiating with them, they now have the right to not pay at all. Also, charging them full price for services not fully realised, it may spoil the relationship for future gigs.

[nclean]

I would have negotiated with centre management, if I could have contacted any of the relevant people - they were running around doing more important things.

I was aware of the risk of continuing on, we will simply have to ask them in retrospect what to do about the situation (reduced payment?)