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Written by DavidP
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Jan 08, 2009 at 06:54 AM |
On The Road With DP
Notes From a Banjoist’s Journal
Friday, 21 December, 2008 Mental Home - Leytonstone, East London.
My agent rang with this job with just one day’s notice and I was unable to play 4.00-6.00pm as requested. The client accepted 2.00-4.00pm instead so I duly arrived at the nastiest job of the year. One woman, who must have weighed around 40 stone, stared at me while I was setting up. She sang along a little but continued to stare throughout the performance. The venue was dark, dreary, dirty and smelly. I was given a cup of tea in a stained cup and began the show to less than half a dozen inmates. One man became violent at regular intervals, shouting and screaming abuse to all and sundry. White coated staff appeared each time to take him to the garden for ‘settling’. As there was virtually no audience and nil response, I set the backing tracks to auto pilot, performed the show as if I was at the Palladium, packed up and left just a food was arriving and a party was commencing. I guess they really did want a 6.00 pm start so they must have had their party and missed the entertainment. Well, I got paid and was glad to leave and find fresh air - such is the musician’s life!
Friday, 11th January, 2008. Keep-Fit Society. Dance, Wanstead, London.
To this cavernous hall I took just clarinet and sousaphone and small P.A. system. There was a sigh of relief on our arrival as it seems someone on the Keep-fit committee had given us the incorrect start time and we should have begun earlier. Boy, did we work that night as the very fit audience was in the mood to dance for the full three hours of our performance. I always find that a little friendly patter and vocals with most numbers, makes a connection with the punters. It certainly helps to relive any tension, and makes them feel relaxed about taking to the floor. Fortunately, I had booked a bass player who was happy to work with me in laying down a strong, uncomplicated rhythm. Banjo players should remember this and work with the rhythm section to produce a solid, swinging grove, easily identified by dancers. We learnt at the end of the evening that the dancers had preferred our trio to the eight-piece band plus female vocaliste hired to play at their last function. And it seems we were more expensive - well I guess you get what you pay for!
Friday, 29th February, 2008 Epping Green, Essex. A telephone call from my local public house alerted me to the fact that several regulars had requested a live jazz evening in the pub and that my website had been the first to pop up for local jazz. I arranged a reduction in the fee seeing as I had a mere 150 yards to travel and booked a clarinettist and double-bass player. Of course, when we arrived, the publican who booked us was long gone but the new incumbent was honouring the contract.
I told several acquaintances about the event and many came to eat a meal in its restaurant and see how banjoist and superstar does it! Well, we worked hard and played our hearts out putting on a good professional show with well known tunes and lots of vocals. However, all we heard from the punters was, “Don’t know nuffin’ about this sort o’ stuff. I like Zed Leplin” The manager was a characterless, faceless man who neither thanked us nor gave us and orange juice. “’ave you got an invoice?”, he blurted out. “No”, I said, “but I can write you one here and now and send a typed invoice tomorrow” He reluctantly agreed before handing over the bundle of cash, all still with an expressionless face. No wonder pubs don’t thrive with dummies like that at the helm. During the next week, someone from the pub rang to ask for the invoice...some hope!
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Last Updated ( Apr 01, 2009 at 01:20 PM )
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On The Road With DP