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We filled in at a local bar for one of our friends who's wife was sick... so Fri. afternoon we were asked to run the show Fri. night and Sat. night.  We scrambled and pulled off fri. night just fine, rotation was extrememly long, but wasn't too short either.

Sat. however was DEAD as could be!  Around 11:30pm, we had 11 customers (some playing pool, some just sitting at the bar drinking and chatting - NONE singing!)  So we're just playing DJ music since noone wanted to sing.  My guess is that everyone was partying it up all day Sat. and drinkin it up while watching the Seattle Seahawks loose in the playoffs... then everyone was so depressed that there was nothing to go out and celebrate about.  So as if that wasn't bad enough, then the owner walked in to check the mail and whatever else.  Let me tell ya, he was NOT happy about the number of people in the bar, and for some reason he seamed to think that it was all my fault that there was noone in the bar, and that those who were in the bar weren't singing.  He also talked to me about a $200 megatouch machine that one of his employees broke by moving it too much so that we could set up our equipment on the end of the bar where there was NO activities (so that we weren't taking up a table).  I think he was one of the people who were pissed that the Hawks lost.  Oh, there was also some kind of infraction from the gambling commision or who ever... something to do with the pull tabs.  All of that crap and of course I'm only filling in.  He asked me about "the other guy who does Karaoke here," (no joke, he didn't even know his own KJ's name, he just kept calling him the other guy,) and I kept telling him that his wife was sick and he was home taking care of her... he asked me to send the message to him that he wanted to talk to him next week.  So I text my friend and he wound up just coming down right then to talk to him.  He assured me that everything was fine, but I was till on edge and a little nervous since he was just sitting at the bar staring at us for the rest of the night.

Finally about 1am some regulars came in and started singing a bunch... so much so that time got away from us (even the 1 bar tender) untill she came up and asked us to announce that they were closing in 10 min.  No last call, just drink em up and get out.

Glad that night's over.  And at least next week will be better.  We have known that we're running the show next Fri. for a couple weeks and have been able to invite a bunch of our friends to come hang out at the show.

Thanks for letting me vent!

Oh man, nothing worse than that "what the heck is gonna happen NOW" feeling. Filling in for someone is always testy. Sad that the owner didn't even know the KJ's name - kind of gives one an indication of his impression of karaoke and how important it is to the survival of his business (or NOT).  Owners are all different though - my husband has done a show at the same place for 2-1/2 years now, and it was at least a year before we even MET the owner! We took over the show for someone, owner never heard any complaints, and even apologized when we finally DID meet him, said he was sorry he hadn't been in but that with everything going well, he didn't see a REASON to meet us.

My new gig on Friday went VERY, very well - owner is ecstatic, all the singers were ecstatic, and he said to me, "I'm looking forward to having a very long and great relationship with you and Joe."  When we asked him when he'd like us to stop the show for the night, he said, "Oh, you'll know when to stop. You decide" Wow....actually trusts us to do what we promised. I wish all owners were like this guy.

Hopefully things will get better for you next week.  :oh yeah:

K

Keep in mind that now is when the Xmas credit card bills start coming in- sticker shock time. Also, judging from the owner's tone, they have probably been slow straight thru the week- same reason...

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DJ Tuck, sorry you went through such a tough night dude!
Shake it off, don't let it affect your future performances, and remember to B-R-E-A-T-H-E during stressful times. works for me!  LOL

A business owner with that attitude does not attract crowds I dont like small bars but the main reason we are still in one is because of the working relationship we have with the owner and staff. The owner comes in cooks and waits tables like anybody else. He also listens to the regulars and generally follows their advice. I flat will not work for people like that and tell them from the start. I was doing an interview for a big club and the owner said he was going to tell me what music to play. I laughed stood up and said BYE.

I blew up at the mngr one night  LMAO He got all concerned 5 minutes later we were laughing about it. The problem was solved. In the more fighting thread you can get an idea how well this combination is working. Our 2 big problems now... We need more room and we are not charging enough money. That was our main discussion while tearing down. My goal for years in small bars was a till of a grand  The mngr wont tell me but I bet it's twice that and more. And we are still at $150/night?

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I hate it when the home team loses.  Because everyone takes it way too personal.  Then they get mad & depressed & stay home.  Take your meds and get over it.  It's just a game.  You make no money from the team if they win or lose.

I personally pray for the home team to miss getting in the playoffs.  It means no more games interfering with the karaoke.

If you look at it from a business standpoint in my case, all it does it hurt the bar business.  No team has a winning season year after year.  So that means a lot of sad fans, too depressed to go out and have a good time.  Means a lower bottom line for the bars and restaurants.

Go team, lose another one.  :dancin:

Thanks everyone for your comments, support and stories of experience!  I'm sure that next week will be better since we actually have time to promote that we'll be there.  Last weekend like I said, we got the call/text message Fri. afternoon and had absolutely NO time to promote the show.  Of course it didn't help that the guy I filled in for didn't promote it on the bars myspace profile (which he maintains) like he does if he's running the show.  But like I said as well, we've got a lot of friends coming out to enjoy the show on this Fri.  We're just going to go in and rock the joint like we usually do (providing there's singers there.)

Thanks again guys.