Karaoke Forums

Grumbling?

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Imagine!

Here ya go Barry *passing you my ciggy* this will make it all better! Pass it to Brian when your done!

Because I Got High

Because I Got High

Because I got High

lalalalalalalaalalalaaaa

High Ho Silver! *pointing at Brian and laughing* your hat looks funny!

Looks like we finally put this thread to rest! Leave it to me to bring an abrupt halt to a conversation!

Wild Horses ~ Rolling Stones
Oops , Wrong Forum

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Gotta' Sing , Gotta' Sing !!!

Oh Lawdy!! Hey ... I think the Song Chain is broken ... I can't click onto it! :(

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[glow=blue]Tequila & A Song
KKid[/glow]

Ya know....
Ron and I had an interesting Friday night..

I didn't really wanna write about this unless I had to but Sorry folks KKid you really reminded me that I needed to..

I mean this was a headache from hedes..

I beat Ron to his friday night show, i was done in my studio early and i was really stressed out ..
I have alot of projects to do but i really enjoy Ron's show because he makes it so fun.. and Ron is an all around great guy! and I mean that!
Ron may not have the high dollar equipment but he knows to have fun with what he has and he has the talent and Business smarts.

Now this place that he does on friday nights is not so financially sound and they do require a membership to get in. as in a "Private Club"
and they just turned over the management.

Now they know I'm a KJ and I know how to do many things AV wise, and asked if i would help Wire the tv's up so they all could get the "SuperBowl" on all 3 tv's which is not a problem.. it's minor.. no biggie right? i can do it in a hour and a half .. providing they have all the materials.. and it's done.

well here's where it get's interesting...

Then i'm told that the karaoke nights are not making enough to justify Ron's salary.. (Wrong thing to tell me) I'm not Ron's employee nor do I consult his shows. Nor will bid for his shows. and they wanna go live in the place.. the place won't handle a live band in the room with out being too loud for the patrons .. and according to Ron bands have failed there before. well they told me how much the bar was taking in a night and how much Ron's salary was, which I already knew. and I just couldn't believe my ears!!!

I told Ron When It arrived then the train wrecks began.. it's Ron's perogative to tell ya the rest.. but i just couldn't believe the rest of the night .. and he had a great singer count too..

I personally thinkon those Nights the "Working Barstaff" should Have to Pay the KJ a "cover charge" for the BS.. man that was a bad ordeal.. Ron I felt for ya.. Let me know if there is another show there.. I'll get the music ready... !

Joe, the owner, mentioned that he wasn't making squat Sat night... due to the water drinkers and the ONE drink nursing soda sharks! ! Soooo, I had to mention to the patrons Sat night that yes indeed, karaoke was a paid entertainment form, and to PLEASE support the bar.

"Water - while it's life supporting, and our world is currently 3/4 covered with the stuff, it doesn't mean that's all you have to drink! (lol) For those of you that are supporting the bar by either drinking soda or booze, and for those of you that have purchased some of the tasty food... Joe the manager thanks you. However, for those of you that haven't yet decided what you want to drink or eat..."

and I left it at that. Surprise surprise when suddenly, the TABLE of non-drinkers decided to buy a round of drinks. Yes they nursed it most of the night, but they did at least buy something!

OK we gotta follow up on Brian's post. As the management recently changed they have some problems. It begins with hiring a new manager whose mother-in-law is the Fri night bartender (when karaoke is) and father-in-law is just a member of the organization (but thinks he runs the place). That's a bad scene to begin with. Its a veterans club (VFW), largest post in the state of New Mexico. The commander supports karaoke and always has a good time.

Well, the new club manager started it by leaving the Friday karaokes off the Jan calendar. Post commander wasn't very happy about that when brought to his attention. Then I told the commander the club manager had mentioned we'd have to take a look at it after the first of the year and would maybe drop back to karaoke every other week or some other type of change. When discussing with the Post commander, I advised him that was a hozzed up idea for two reasons. The place has never supported bands on a regular basis. Secondly, if you are going to go with a live band, do it on a different night than karaoke or you'll confuse people. If people come down this week expecting karaoke and get a live band, more than likely they'll leave and go find another place that does have karaoke going, in which case you'll lose them. Same applies if they come down expecting live band and get karaoke. Just not a good idea - make them different nights of the week. Post commander agreed.

Bar tender happened to mention to Brian that the previous week, the bar only brought in $60 for Fri night. I immediately knew that was BS. The more I think about it, the more I think that may have been her tips. I personally have tended bar at that same house as a fill-in and got more tips than that. At any rate, the previous week she was talking about, the manager had cancelled the Fri night dinner and wanted to cancel karaoke. I talked him out of cancelling the karaoke as I had already announced the previous week that it would be happening, and I didn't want my regular followers to think maybe karaoke was gone, so he let us go ahead and do the karaoke. That night the bar had 3 people all night. The dining room, however, where we do the karaoke had 16-17 singers and 22 people all night. Looking out over the tables, everyone was drinking and having a good time. Couple Crown Royal drinkers, couple more mixed drink drinkers, lot of beer drinkers and couple of soda drinkers. They all had drinks in front of them all night, and kept a steady stream to the bar for refils. If it wasn't for the karaoke crowd the place would have been dead. I personally think maybe that's why they got miffed.

Fast forward back to the present: This past Fri night, Jan 2nd, between the bar tender and her husband, they made it miserable. Her starting out on Brian the way she did. Then just as the show started, He comes into the dining room checking the visitors sign in book (as its a private club, non-members must be signed in) and wanting to check membership cards etc. This normally wouldn't be any big deal, as its right after the first of the year when the new annual membership cards are required, except that if he'd taken a look around, there were actually only 3 members of the place in the whole room. Everybody else in the room were guests that had come down strictly for the karaoke and my wife had made sure all were signed in. So this clown is over at the guest book making a scene, even going to a couple tables asking if they had signed in. At any rate, I finally go over to him and get him out of there and to stop bugging the guests (its really not his responsibility anyway). Again, I ended up with 21 singers and probably about 28-30 people in there.

After getting through what's described above, I just couldn't help it, I pulled out old Merle Haggard's "Are The Good Times Really Over" and emphasized it through the doors to the bar where they'd hear it. And because that bar tender doesn't like loud stuff, I cranked it up and did "Courtesy Of The Red White And Blue" (that's always a good one for any veterans club), just to bug them.

I ain't normally an a*****e, but I ain't puttin up with that kinda c**p! For one of their employees, who really has nothing to say about it anyway, to start screwing with hired entertainment. Its like they're trying to sabatage the only decent form of entertainment they have. I do have a meeting scheduled with the commander prior to this Fri's karaoke. Worst case I'll still do this week, if for nothing else just to take care of my following, so they know what's going on - regardless of what happens, I wanna make sure they're taken care of, so that if I do change venues that night, they'll know where/when/etc.

Sorry to have rambled on like that, but its nice to get that off your chest too - It was probably the only night I've ever had that was like the Karaoke from He11! I love karaoke and usually have a ball doing it - but this was just one of those nights that no matter what you did, they had something to screw it up.

dude, find another bar!! ! Take your following with them. I've dealt with the Eagles group as well as the VFW, and they can be TERRIFIC, but they can also be your greatest enemy. Many times, the non-karaoke people just want it back the way it was...

and that can make your life a living hell.

They love the money, but don't want the garbage. Makes ya wanna go postal! !

My sincerest admiration for sticking to your guns. And at the very least, ask that you have time to notify your crowd. GET THEIR PHONE NUMBERS AND EMAIL ADDRESSES though, in case you have to have some way to keep in touch with them.

Matt

Get a website and put it on your business cards, hand them out regularly and give them personally to your patrons. Then on your site have a newsletter signup, get as much info from them as you can. Also, on the site put your schedule and all your venues This way they can always find you.

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I just had to throw that in...
Now back to the topic...

Folks,
Ron and I have discussed this with Ron while assisting him to strike his show. which doesn't take very long.. He has many accessable options to go elsewhere and I'll back his decision where ever he goes.

Ron has earned my respect as a KJ and a person and I have known him for the last 5 years.

I believe Ron will make the "right" choice. And I'll stand behind that choice.