YESTERDAY'S PARTY EBENSBURG'S BIGGEST JOKE

[bassist_25]

I'd like to state that the issue isn't so much with having a date cancelled - I've been on both sides of the coin in that I've been the band that got cancelled for a bigger drawing act and I've been in the bigger drawing act that an owner bumped someone for (for the record, we never ask club owners to bump other bands; we just tell them what dates we have open). The issue is in the way Frank does this. That is he leaves a message a couple days before a show saying he has to cancel and expects bands to bend over and kiss his ass by accomodating him. Once Rob busted his ass moving a bunch of other dates around because Frank wanted to push one of our bookings back. After Rob finally got everything situation, Frank cancelled the new date. Eff that!

[Ron]

I've seen this before with certain club owners/managers. Some of them seem to think that their bar is a business, but bands are just someone's hobby. Effin' effers.

[BDR]

I've seen this before with certain club owners/managers. Some of them seem to think that their bar is a business, but bands are just someone's hobby. Effin' effers.

If we get canceled last minute, at least six people are out of work that night.

r:>)

[VENTGtr]

I've seen this before with certain club owners/managers.
Some of them seem to think that their bar is a business, but bands are
just someone's hobby. Effin' effers.

Unfortunately, some bands/band members have this same concept.

[DirtySanchez]

I've seen this before with certain club owners/managers.
Some of them seem to think that their bar is a business, but bands are
just someone's hobby. Effin' effers.

Unfortunately, some bands/band members have this same concept.

Yes they do. Although, even if it is "just a hobby" I bet they'd still be pissed for getting dicked over.

I like to flyfish for a hobby. I'd be pretty jacked if I showed up to my fave spot on the little J and the fish warden said "we cancelled fishing season for today".

Sounds like that stupid fuckin bar in bedford. Used to be called "The Warehouse". I think it's called Knight Club or something equally retarded and unwitty. Fuck those clowns. Those owners switch ownership every few years to avoid paying taxes because they're immigrants. They need a one way ticket back to that shithole we call the middle-East or pay taxes just like every other broke ass American. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, fuck these clubs that do this.

[BDR]

Yes they do. Although, even if it is "just a hobby" I bet they'd still be pissed for getting dicked over.

I like to flyfish for a hobby. I'd be pretty jacked if I showed up to my fave spot on the little J and the fish warden said "we cancelled fishing season for today".

100 percent agree.

Sounds like that stupid fuckin bar in bedford. Used to be called "The Warehouse". I think it's called Knight Club or something equally retarded and unwitty.

I think it's less witty than that, like "Knight Bar" or something, because I can remember asking myself, "why didn't they at least go with "Knight Club?"

Either way, the antics at the former Warehouse have been well documented on Rockpage over the past several years.

r:>)

[metalchurch]

The Knight Club! jumpin' jesus, that's funny! LOL

[BDR]

jumpin' jesus, that's funny! LOL

r:>)

[metalchurch]

ROTF!!! damn in the Flesh!! where'd you find that?!!

[Drum-Wolf]

Cancellations happen for whatever reason. Obviously not a pleasant experience, it's just part of the business that must be dealt with from time to time. Back in 2001, I was in an established band that played YP for years on a regular basis. The lead singer was then leaving us to pursue his solo career exclusively. We were to play our farewell gig at YP. It was going to be a special night. But then, I got the call that Frank cancelled us because he heard a "rumour" that the band was breaking up. Frank neglected to call the bands point of contact to "confirm" this rumour. But why cancel us anyway even if it was true? He just took it that we were already broken up & would not fulfill the gig - not professional on his part. It may have been a huge night for his venue. But Frank put the screws to it & it was lost forever. No filled coffers, No memories. More recently in 2007, I attempted to book a band that I was in at YP. I talked to Frank & he knew of us, that we were a decent band that played quite a bit. He knew that I used to gig there regularly, he know our lead singer/bassist, our style of music, ect. I only got the run-around from him - no return call, no gig. Good luck with this guy, you'll need it.

[VENTGtr]

Just (As in a coupl'a hours ago...Can't sleep...Why isn't Graham Norton on
BBC this late anymore?....Anyway...) played at...forget Paul's term for this
particular venue. All can say....WTF? Never again.

Have always made sure not to knock a place, certainly publicly. even if it's
somewhere that things just didn't work out for whatever reason...Sometimes
it happens, but come on. Dang.

I'd be less critically thinking if he'd double-booked again. You know when
patrons are telling you things about what an owner's goin' to try...and they
all turn out to be prophetic...a place has issues.

Wow.

Oh...and ya. Figured it'd be easier, more clear to do a search for this thread
than start a new one for something that already existed.

[bassist_25]

forget Paul's term for this
particular venue. Al

"The venue named after the celebratory event that happened the day before today."

Fuck Frank and his bullshit. That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter anymore as to not get on a tangent.

[Merge]

Just (As in a coupl'a hours ago...Can't sleep...Why isn't Graham Norton on
BBC this late anymore?....Anyway...) played at...forget Paul's term for this
particular venue. All can say....WTF? Never again.

Have always made sure not to knock a place, certainly publicly. even if it's
somewhere that things just didn't work out for whatever reason...Sometimes
it happens, but come on. Dang.

I'd be less critically thinking if he'd double-booked again. You know when
patrons are telling you things about what an owner's goin' to try...and they
all turn out to be prophetic...a place has issues.

Wow.

Oh...and ya. Figured it'd be easier, more clear to do a search for this thread
than start a new one for something that already existed.

What did the owner do to your band??

[sunsetbass]

Just (As in a coupl'a hours ago...Can't sleep...Why isn't Graham Norton on
BBC this late anymore?....Anyway...) played at...forget Paul's term for this
particular venue. All can say....WTF? Never again.

Have always made sure not to knock a place, certainly publicly. even if it's
somewhere that things just didn't work out for whatever reason...Sometimes
it happens, but come on. Dang.

I'd be less critically thinking if he'd double-booked again. You know when
patrons are telling you things about what an owner's goin' to try...and they
all turn out to be prophetic...a place has issues.

Wow.

Oh...and ya. Figured it'd be easier, more clear to do a search for this thread
than start a new one for something that already existed.

What did the owner do to your band??

i was wondering the same thing. did he cancel???

[VENTGtr]

Nope, not this time (The previous we were booked and as we were heading
out found out, basically by accident, that someone else was booked there
on the same night. After several phone calls to find out what was going on
the girl who was having to be the go-between said if we wanted, we could
come there and talk to him. It's a 2 hour drive, so...).

ANYWAY, last night...sheesh. I don't want to bash the sound guy because
for all I know, he does a great job and was just fighting technical issues all
night. But, we got there early, set up, I turned the amp on...no power...
Went through this thing for a while, and at 9:50 the sound guy got there, got
the power on, started running cables, etc. I'm not even sure he was the one
who was supposed to be there, or what the whole story with that was, but
at one point Frank told me the sound guy now wasn't getting paid that night.

If that IS the case, and he told the s.g....would explain a lot.

Sound out front...well, there was a "bass-ish" sound that sounded like
subs had blown and were blowing in the wind, the guitar sounded like
it was fighting to come through a transistor radio, and the vocals, when
there, sounded like there was layers of wet cardboard soaking down
the speaker cone.

Thought maybe it would all pull together as things sometimes do. But,
went out front again later and it wasn't and was probably worse.

The mon closest to me was either feeding back, breaking up, sounded
like AM radio from South Korea at 4:30AM, OR was blasting so loud I
couldn't hear anything. Literally. There were times I couldn't hear the
drums because of this monitor.

There was also the smell of electrical fire in the air. I was so freakin'
glad I was wireless. Later, the s.g. hooked a big white house-type fan
to the back of the rack by the stage.

BUT, played through. If I were the average, non-playing person and
I was there and it sounded like that, I would've left.

Go to the end of the night, tore down, etc. Weren't thrilled, but things
happen. Spoke to a coupl'a few people who asked when we were there
again and I said we didn't have anything booked but told them were in
the area we would be. Got "Oh, if you want paid, don't let Frank know
that". Nice, eh? Got told a few things about the guy that, between on
here and what I'd seen of him just that night, sounded about right.

So, went to get things settled, and he was just an ass. After about a
minute of talking to him saw how it was going go. He said "You guys
misrepresent what you do. You said you do alternative and modern.
You were playing 80s all night". THIS was great. We do a few songs
from the 80s, a couple from the 70s, even a couple from the 60s...but
we do about 50 songs in a night and there's NO way ANYONE would say
we were doing 80s stuff all night.

I told him this and he said "Well, that's not what I heard" and I asked
if he'd like me to go get grab our setlist and I'd go through the release
dates with him. He said nothing. At this point, I decided that it's pretty
unlikely we're going to want to deal with this clown again so I'm getting
our pay and we're not going to do any little games, which is where he
was headed.

He said "I'll tell you what. How about I give you 50 each and we call it
done?". Not a CHANCE. I said we agreed to $xxx and whatever issues
he had, we came there, did our job, and dealt with all the stuff that was
going on throughout. We didn't gripe, scream, yell have some big thing
about the mess coming through the front and he said something about
they just put in a new system, etc. I said if I COULD have seen what
was going to happen we would've brought our gear. Our sound guy was
there anyway. Frank said "Well, that just would've cost me more". It
WOULDN'T have...but it might be an angle for someone else to use on
him...

He said "No, we agreed on $xxx". I said "No, but that's enough that this'll
end" (Was only $50 less than what we agreed on. It's here in the book
where all that stuff is noted. It's the same amount he said every time
we'd spoken).

He said "How about $xxx". I said "I'm not doing this.". He said fine, went
got our money.

I know. I've heard the stories about the guy, been warned, but, ya know,
sometimes you gotta give a place a chance. And, this stuff happens in
this line and we've all been through it repeatedly. But, did give the place
a chance, hoped it would go great, but not worth dealing with.

The thing is, honestly, if he would've said something like "I didn't do as
well as I'd hoped tonight. Can we work something out, and maybe set up
another date to see how things go?". Man, we're the easiest going group
of guys around until someone simply tries crap. We would've talked and
I'll guarantee would've worked with him (Oh. His one line was "Ya know
the trouble is no one wants to work with anyone anymore". Gosh...wonder.

Instead he tries something like we "misrepresented"? Anyone on here
ever gotten the idea that we do anything other than what we do?

Like I said. While we were less than thrilled with the FOH, I'm not goin'
to blast the s.g. He was by no means happy when he got there, I don't
know if he and Frank had a row, etc. Things happen and we all have
bad nights and I'm not goin' to judge him on any level. Maybe there's
cause, but I can't say that. Our own sound guy has had less than stellar
nights.

But, the place...just seems like another in a long line of stories and even
episodes we've had.

Like I said in the earlier, I don't like to just bash a place in a public forum,
but I'm not feeling too bad about this.

The guys from Slacker Theory are there tonight. Hope you guys have a
great show and all the sound issues, etc. are worked out...just be careful
of that pair of vicegrips holding the ground and neutral together in the
box, stage left. Guess they did some rewiring recently as well. NOT quite
done and I don't see that being up to code.

[VENTGtr]

forget Paul's term for this
particular venue. Al

"The venue named after the celebratory event that happened the day before today."

Ah! Yes. I remembered it correctly.

[RobTheDrummer]

Thanks for the warning, we'll do our best! We've played there a couple times, seemed to go over well both times.

[slackin@dabass]

look... i'm probably going to be dick, even though i mean to be frank...

i hate playing yp. and tonight just hammered the last nail in the coffin.

that crowd just doesn't like us up there or something.





although i didn't SEE the vice grip wiring i could hear a bad outlet through gibson980's amp allllllllll night long.

[moxham123]

This guy has been pulling crap on bands for about 10 years or more. That is why most of the local bands won't work there. He pulled one on us one time back in 2002 and I won't go into all the details but he screwed us over at the end of the night for no reason. Interestingly, he was after us to play there. I have spoken to numerous bands that he did something bad to them with cutting pay, last minutes cancellations, and other things. As hard as it is to get local gigs, we would never work for him again.

[VENTGtr]

look... i'm probably going to be dick, even though i mean to be frank...

i hate playing yp. and tonight just hammered the last nail in the coffin.

Dang man. Sorry to hear. Too bad. It's a nice place and I'll bet the right
owner could do killer business there.

[bassist_25]

It's a shame, really. The place is a great room with a great crowd. The staff's great too. We always had a decent paycheck at the end of the night as well. It's just not worth the bullshit of dealing with Frank.

I remember our very first gig at YP - We had a very good crowd for our first time there, at least in my opinion. When Rob went to collect at the end of the night, he asked how the night went. Frank was in a pissy mood and said, "Not very good!" Whatever. I like the end of the night at Castle Pub because the management makes you feel appreciated. That goes a long way in my book. Again, I don't expect people to bow down and kiss my ass, but at least let me know that you appreciated the fact that I helped make you money that night. Don't act like you're doing me a favor by offering me a stage to play on.

[slackin@dabass]

Again, I don't expect people to bow down and kiss my ass, but at least let me know that you appreciated the fact that I helped make you money that night. Don't act like you're doing me a favor by offering me a stage to play on.

and that's how i feel about it, too. i like doing this. i love to play out, but i'm pretty sure that we could find another stage to play on that makes us feel appreciated.

[Merge]

Why don't all of the bands up there get together and boycott this place??

[metalchurch]

Why don't all of the bands up there get together and boycott this place??

Yeah for realsies

[Merge]

We have some places down here that are bad, but none that are as bad as the place you guys are talking about.