Re: Traveling with a head, or Nobody gives a *** about my rider

On what basis can you impose a fine? You gonna pay a lawyer to chase
$50 'cause the venue gave you a rig that was OK but not what you
"ordered"? Good luck.

On the basis that it's in your contract/rider they agreed to and signed? You
can put whatever you want into a contract.

As they say, *** rolls downhill. If the sound company realizes there's a
penalty involved, they'll be more worried about pissing off the venue and
losing the gig than they will be about you trying to collect $50 from them.

Can't hurt to try.



"BW" <barrybassist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:412eb6b3-a676-4752-80b3-57563d28ed9c@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jan 24, 1:13 am, "js" <nothing AT nothing DOT com> wrote:
I'm sure you'll get all sorts of legal advice on this one, but I'll boil
it
down:

They didn't give you what you wanted because they either gave you what
they
HAD, or what was easiest for them to get.

They figured that since you were not the star, you would risk your own
job
by throwing a hissy fit and refusing to play until your rider was
perfect.
They've done the same thing 100 times before.

...And they were right this time too. That's not an insult, just a fact
of
life. I'd have done the same thing in your shoes.

The only way around it is to get enough clout to throw your weight
around.
Or bring your own gear.

Or - I don't know if you could get away with this, but it's worth a
shot -
you could impose a $50-100 FINE per infraction if certain conditions
(brand,
wattage, etc) are not met. Who knows?

"JimmyM" <m...@xxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:l8jfp3h57vvl45e6rach0uujurltbnp6dm@xxxxxxxxxx

Brought my Markbass Little Mark II with me to the Mohegan Sun for
Bowzer's Doo Wop Party, and I discovered that bass amps have to be
treated the same as laptops, meaning you have to pull them out of
their bag and put in a bin. It got swabbed for explosives every time.

But I have to tell you that bringng your own amp as carry-on is the
way to go. I expect that in the future, all bassists who fly will be
bringing their own heads because it's one less thing in the chain that
the cheap-asses in charge of renting backline will cheap out on.

I recently changed my rider from an Ampeg SVT to two cabinets of any
kind, except I specified that I don't want aluminum cone speakers or
Behringer products. Naturally, what's up onstage waiting for me? A
Hartke 15"-4x10" XL stack. Actually there were two XL stacks, one
with a GK 800RB on top for Little Anthony's bassist. He loved it. I
hated it. Even that Markbass head couldn't make those Hartkes sound
good. I took a DI from the LM II and didn't even bother with micing.

I don't understand the problem here. Why can't they bring me what I
want? I don't need a head anymore so I'm saving them money on the
head. And it's not like I'm looking for $1000 Accugrooves or
Epifanis. All I asked was no aluminum speakers. Sorry, I don't like
them. Why is that so hard to understand?

But hey, I'm nothing if not semi-professional, so I did the show
without complaining, saving my complaints for you guys. Whatever.


On what basis can you impose a fine? You gonna pay a lawyer to chase
$50 'cause the venue gave you a rig that was OK but not what you
"ordered"? Good luck.
I've found that when I do a "plug-'n-play" (my wife's terminology -
very descriptive), if I nicely ask the artist I'm working for to give
me the name and phone number for the sound company I usually get it.
Further, when I politely call the contact person and explain that I'd
like to discuss the available equipment, they're almost always happy
to do so. This generally takes very little time or effort.
Once I flew in to CA to do a concert and didn't want to bring one of
my basses (not important why). I called the sound people and (albeit
with a few days of telephone tag) got a verbal LIST of basses they
could supply. I chose one, it was waiting for me, and the gig went
fine.
What really pissed me off, though, was that although I'd stipulated
that there be NO yellow M&Ms in the green room, there they were. The
nerve!


.

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