Well, Next week will be my 13th week playing the Sunday gig at the Gravity Bar in Galveston. We are kind of taking it week by week to see how it goes but it has lasted longer than I originally expected.
Today was kind of wierd though. I was out in front of the Gravity Bar putting up a "Live Blues" sign and a dude walked up and told me that it was a violation of the Sign Ordinance & I could't put it up. I asked him in what capacity he was telling me that & he said he owned two businesses on the Strand & one of them is a club down the street. He said a group of business owners had complained to the city and I was going to get cited. I told him that since he was the only one talking to me about it that it looked like he was the only one that had complained. He said that the sign didn't fit in and looked bad, etc. I wasn't feeling like really getting into it with him so I didn't confront him with the fact that his bar also features live music at the same time as my gig.
Wierd thing #2: There was another bar down the street (going east) that was having some kind of Bike Run. Not Motorcycles but actual bicycles. They got a group of people togeather and rode from bar to bar along the strand and surrounding area and stayed at each place for a little bit and then moved on. They had very loud whistles that they were blowing as they rode down the streeet. The Gravity Bar wias the last stop and when they got there they were pretty well liquored up & were very loud and were also blowing the whistles inside the bar. The whistles were peircingly loud table by table everybody else (all the paying customers) that was there before they came in, basically exited the bar. Several of the people in the bicycle group were wearing T-Shirts from the bar down the street & It almost seemed like a scene from Cheers where the poeple from Garys bar were visiting. There was this one guy in particular that was extremely rude. I remember thinking that he was the single rudest customer I had ever seen at a bar since I started playing live music. He was coming up by the stage and holding his hands over his ears and making a face and saying something about how my harmonica was too loud. The wierd thing about that was that it was about a tenth as loud as the whistles they had. After they cleared out the bar & were leaving, the one rude dude came right up to me and yelled a derogatory comment at me at the top of his lungs. He had been drinking but I had really had enough of his crap & I just looked right at him & I think he picked up that I wasn't going to take any more shit & he turned and walked out the door. I later found out that this dude was the owner of the bar sponsoring the bike run thing. His bar is called Poor Michaels. What an Asshole. I don't know what he was pissed about. Maybe it is becuase I was playing blues music & his club is supposed to be a blues bar. There is no possible way that a guy who owns a blues bar could possibly be a cool guy if he is out harrassing blues musicians just because they are playing at a bar down the street.
I really am amazed that on the same day, the actual owners of the two closest bars on strand street that feature live music both gave me shit & in such a direct way.
I guess it is thier way of letting me know that they have noticed that my gig has gone well. Thanks Guys.
Still, The whole thing seemed very strange. People are funny animals.
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2 comments:
Not that I have anything to do with those guys actions...but I am sorry they were such shit heads! I for one will not step foot in a business if I know the owners have demonstrated such delinquent and juvenile behavior.
I don't want to in any small way facilitate some one's lack of professionalism/integrity by spending my money there!
I hope you don't have to encounter any more of that garbage!
I would threaten to boycott these businesses also but I am not a big enough spender to make a huge difference. I had stopped over at Poor Michaels a couple of times for the Sunday Night Blues jam. I would take a little break after playing my gig but I normally just ordered a diet coke. I do need to cut down on diet Cokes anyway.
I had actually sent a few customers over there this summer though. The Blue jam over there starts right whem my show ends.
I personally think it is a good thing for everybody involved if there is more live music on the strand instead of less. It fits in with all the street performers, artists, & such to creat a more festive atmosphere overall and better strand street experience.
I have learned that the Business end of the Music Business can be tough on a small timer but at the same time I have also learned that if you deal with good people it doesn't happen that often.
This will probably be an isolated type thing and was just some wierd Karma or a bad horoscope day or something like that.
Maybe the regular Horoscope writer needed a day off or something.
I think I should boycott Horoscopes by doing Crossword Puzzles instead. That will show em. They obviously don't know who they are dealing with here.
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