From Talentless Musician To Bitter Booking Agent

It's been thirty eight years in this ever devolving music business.  Corruption has taken over our country in just about every way, affecting all of us in more ways than one.  I guess it's the human condition - always has been - where inept people aspire to positions of power, in order to stroke their own ego, and in order to get some sort of cheap thrill by making life difficult for as many people as possible.  Sadly, this has been the case in the music business over no less than the past thirty years.  Pre 1980, there were a few record companies who actually looked for true talent, bands and/or artists who would sell records on their merit, their talent, their integrity, their hard work.  Here in the 2000s, what I've observed is that many of the musicians who were never able to make a connection with their listeners, who never achieved what they set out to - which was to find a way to make people adore and admire them, have gotten into positions of power in an already corrupt business.  They spent 10, 20, 30 years playing to people who simply didn't care about their mediocre and mostly unlistenable music.  These talentless, charisma-less, lazy people have now taken over just about every aspect of the music business.  Most are booking agents, in control of everything from restaurant/bars, to casinos, to 500 seater venues, right up to the big record companies, FM radio, and likely most streaming sites.  These guys are bitter and angry, and will take revenge on any artist or band that has talent, and has obviously worked at their craft.  They will taken upon themselves to dictate to these talented people to play whatever it is that they're not playing.  This is in stark contrast to the days when there was plenty of good music to go around, where venue owners and management didn't care a wit about what the band or artist played, as long as they made the customers happy, and as long as they put money in their till, they were just fine and dandy.  Back in those days, listeners, customers, were not afraid to speak up about whether a band or artist was good or not.  I SO miss those days.

I'll go so far as to mention a few names of such bitter agent types, mostly because I think that these people should be removed from their positions and left to find jobs that suit their lack of integrity.  I can think back as far as 1983, when I had a little country band that was based out of San Diego, we did traditional country, no pop country, no rock and roll, no disco, just good old fashioned country music.  Besides the normal guitar army band, we had a good girl singer (who was also the bass player, and looked like a super model), we had fiddle, banjo, harmonica, and two decent male singers.  I can't remember the name of the agent, but I do remember he was somewhere in Idaho.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  "Hi, this is Lee Jones, I was referred to you by a friend, he said you might be able to book us in a few venues in the general area of California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and a few others."'

Agent:  "Yes, I book many of the rooms in that area, what kind of music do you play?"

Me:  We play traditional country music, no pop, no rock and roll, just traditional country music."

Agent:  "Straight ahead Traditional Country?  WHY?"

Me:  "Because that's what people like."

Agent:  "Well, I don't know what to tell ya, we have only ONE band who does that stuff, and they've built such a monster following that they can get away with it."

Me:  "It doesn't sound to me like they're "getting away" with anything, it sounds like they're playing what people like".  Also, besides the normal, my band has a good girl singer, a fiddle, a banjo, and a harmonica".

Agent:  "Well, I don't think I can help you, my clients want what's on the radio."

Me:  "Ok, thank you for your time."

So you see, these guys have this cockamamie way of thinking, even when the proof blows their flimsy belief system out of the water, and nobody can convince them otherwise.

Then there was Jim Mitchell, booking agent of everything country in Hawaii during the late 70s and early 80s.  Forced his wife's band down every venue's throat by lying, twisting, and manipulating every person and situation in his path.  After he used every trick in the book in order to squash me, elevate his wife's band, and make every situation work for him at everybody else's expense.  He finally BS'd his way right out of the business.  His tactics included booking me at a Marine base on a Sunday afternoon, knowing it was a rock and roll crowd - a bunch of rowdy Marines (we were a straight ahead country band).  As it turns out, the Marines had a blast with us, especially once the heard the fiddle.  Jim Mitchell's line of shit when I went in to see him the following Monday, in a whiny, "You son of a bitch" tone of voice, "So, you whipped the fiddle out on 'em, huh?".  He once booked his wife's band at Hickam Air Force Base CPO club, and advertised my band - figuring his wife's band would have somebody to play to.  Backfired once again - they started wetting and wadding up napkins and throwing them at the stage, then booing, then every person in the place walked out - all of this by a half out into their first set.  There's a lot more, but you get the picture.  A few months later, Jim Mitchell moved to Arkansas and took a job at his 23 year old wife's (he was 63 at the time) parents' tire shop - selling tires.  Now THAT is justice.

Some of the other angry ex-musicians I've had the misfortune of crossing paths with, somewhat more recently are, Rob Brooks, who has control of most of the casinos in the Reno/Carson City/Lake Tahoe area.  I emailed him every week for about a year and a half, and never got one single reply.  I have a pretty decent website, complete with live videos, and all the pertinent information you would ever need.  There was Eric Dale, in Baldini's Casino in Reno.  I auditioned, while the guy did everything possible to stifle what I was doing.  He originally said he would pipe my music into the rests of the casino, and then get feedback from his customers - who by the way, were mostly older, obviously country music listeners - didn't pipe anything - he was going to make sure as few people heard me as possible.  I had a few of them in the bar dancing, including the 300 lb. Indian bartender who was grinning ear to ear the whole time.  One of the waitresses, after I got done playing, came by, also grinning, asked, "So, when do you start?"  My reply was, "I don't, Eric doesn't like the fiddle, and he said, through his girl Friday, that "Your country music won't go over in here."  Sure, it wouldn't, but you see, anything I was doing was going to be wrong - because I got just a little too much attention from the people - which once again, put a strain on his dysfunctional body parts.  There was a "Ted", who worked at the Scott Dean Agency in Reno, same, I emailed and emailed and emailed, and when I finally got him on the phone, he gave me excuse after excuse after excuse.  There was Robyn Henderson, the entertainment director at Boomtown Casino in Reno, which contained the Guitar Bar.  I auditioned, she came up to me and said, "We're gonna get you in here, give me your email address, I'll send you the tax papers, then I'll send you the open dates, you let me know which ones you can do, and we'll take it from there.".  I followed all her directions to the letter, and after I received the tax papers, and returned her email, I never heard from her - until a full YEAR later.  I replied, saying I thought she'd made a mistake in emailing me, because it had been a year since I'd auditioned and been in contact.  Her reply was, "It's not a mistake, do you want to play here or not?"  I said ok, and she sent me the "Open dates".  I replied, noting all the dates I would be able to do, never heard back.  The following month, same, sent me the "Open dates", I replied, no answer from her.  After that, I said the hell with it, I'm not going to play this game, and that was the end of that.

There's Ted Kennedy, a relative newcomer to the Lake Tahoe area.  He apparently had a little money, enough to invest a few thousand bucks in a few venues - I understand through an organization called "The Tahoe Stewardship".  Their thing is, you can invest $5000 and own a small piece of the business - any of the businesses that are affiliated with this organization.  So, he bought his way in, and got the owners to allow him to book his horrid music acts.  This guy is a wannabe musician, plays barely enough guitar to get by, sings a few songs, and tries to be Mr. Funny Man when he gets on stage, because he knows he can't play or sing.  In all fairness, he's not that bad a singer, but he's dishonest, so he goes up on the stages and BS's people.  His cheap tactics have not worked for him, I've heard the comments, and I've seen the faces in the audience.  Some of the comments were from his own managers and workers.  He has what I call the "Nick Masters Syndrome", where a guy will hire the worst musicians he can find, so that (in his mind) when he walks up onto the stage, he can look good.  It doesn't work that way, but when you are the type of person who has never worked at anything in his life, does everything the shortest, most convenient way possible, and have no talent for whatever it is you're trying to do, and then try to BS your way through, your mind gravitates toward the delusional, and the deceitful.  You wouldn't believe some of the horrid noise that comes off of the stages that this guy books; there's bad, and there's BAD - his acts are beyond even that.  This is the same guy who, when booking music at Basecamp Pizza - in the center of Heavenly Village - didn't have the proper liquor license to have live music.  The hotel guests were constantly complaining not only about the bad music, but about the unbelievably LOUD noise that was coming from the restaurant.  I experienced the LOUD, because I play at the restaurant/bar right across the breezeway three, four, and five days a week.  These guys took "If you can't play good, play loud" to a whole new universe.  - beyond bad and horribly loud.  So, after all the complaints, somebody learned that he didn't have the proper liquor license, and reported him to the ABC (the Liquor Commission in Nevada).  So, being the "What can I get away with" type of person that he is, he still has his no talents play there, just without the sound system.  I'm amazed that ABC hasn't gotten wind of what he's doing - he's been getting away with his charade fore something like four months.  I'm not going to be the one to turn him in, but I'm sure eventually somebody will.  Oh yeah, this guy has also locked me out of playing at any of his venues.  He hired me at first, until enough people said nice things about me - enough to shrink his body parts, at which time he abruptly stopped booking me.  After a few months, he texts me to say, "Hey, if you're not going to do the shows I book you for, I need you to put them up on Schedule Fly (the app he used to book acts at his places)".  I said, "You haven't booked me in six months, so I signed out of Schedule Fly".  He claimed there was a glitch, but BS.  So, I agreed to do Tuesdays at The Beer Garden (in the Basecamp Hotel - different location from Basecamp Pizza), and Thursdays at California Burger - where, according to the main manager and some of the waitresses, I was one of the favorites.  I did one Tuesday and one Thursday, at which time he again, abruptly quit booking me.  As it turns out, it worked out for the best, as the folks at Gunbarrel Tavern have treated me with a high level of respect for the four years I've been playing there.  There's also that Ted pays his acts $10 and hour - which comes out to less than minimum wage when you consider set up and tear down time.  So, the result is that the ten dollar an hour acts play at the ten dollar an hour venues - which is the way it should be.  The funny thing is, four years ago, when I first arrived in Lake Tahoe, Basecamp Pizza was always the first to fill up, then Gunbarrel and Fire And Ice (right across the way from us at Gunbarrel) would get customers.  For whatever reason, over the past year or so, Gunbarrel has been the first to fill up with customers, and then Basecamp Pizza.  This is especially noticeable when there are not a lot of people in the Village.  When Heavenly Village is packed, every restaurant/bar is packed, but when things are slower, we fill up first - consistently.  What I can't figure out is, how is it that the actual owners of Basecamp Pizza don't hear about what goes on in their places of business.  I tell you, if I were a customer going into any of the restaurants he has his fingers in, and was subjected to listening to the horrid acts that play in them, I would be irate, and would without hesitation, go to the management and scream bloody murder.  I know I can't be the only person who thinks that way.  I do know, from first hand experience, though, that while bullshit will open many doors, more often than not, it does catch up to a person - usually way too slowly, but does catch up eventually.  To be clear, I will not play in any of Ted's places.  The few other live music venues in Lake Tahoe - the managements have refused to talk to me - sending down their elves to run me off - nothing new to me.

As if this isn't enough, there's Las Vegas, went there last fall, just to see what it was like, didn't intend to stay there, just wanted to take a look.  Spending two months there was enough to choke a dinosaur.  There was "Frank Joseph" of the Steve Beyer Agency; the typical bitter and angry ex musician who wants revenge on any artist who might be any good at what he does.  Me playing the part of a musician looking for work, he did the usual, "Whatever you're doing, it's wrong, no matter what you do, it will be wrong, so I don't know what I can do for you."  I did manage to get in a few jabs, but once again, they are in control, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it even if I wanted to.

So, with these people having taken control over every aspect of the music business, any artist who may have the talent to actually sell on his or her own merit, will be mercilessly squashed.  Most any talented artist will have learned this a long time ago, and gotten out of the business, trading a life of frustration and disgust for a more conventional line of work.  As for me, the dream is gone, the thrill is gone, the challenge is gone, and it's just a matter of a few more weeks before I can get out once and for all.  It should have happened two months ago, but with today's ineptitude and lack of integrity and pride in work, my clothing line has taken twice as long to be manufactured as the factory CEO told me it would.  As I wait, I live in my car, so that I can have the money to pay for advertising when my shirts (the first installment of my clothing line) do finally arrive.  I knew I wouldn't be able to pay near a thousand bucks a month rent, AND pay for advertising, so, I chose to move into my car.  It's not so bad, the most difficult part is finding a place to sleep.  I seem to be ok, at least so far, in casino parking lots.  I'm not a nuisance, I only park there at night, to sleep for a few hours.  Whatever sleep I don't get at night, I go to Van Sickle park and sleep a couple hours in the morning.  During my days off, I hike up the mountain at Van Sickle, I lay in the sun whenever and wherever I can, and I either play my Martin or my banjo - I found a secluded place at Van Sickle, where nobody can see or hear me - and it's outdoors - my dream place to play music.  It's been the month of May, and now into June, where it's been mostly cold, windy, and rainy, so I haven' been able to do these things as much as I would have liked to, but I do them whenever possible.  Last night it got down to 30 degrees - ON THE FIRST OF JUNE.  If/when my clothing line generates an income that matches what I earn at Gunbarrel (which isn't get rich money, but enough to live on), I'll move back indoors - probably not in the Northern Nevada area, but somewhere warmer, somewhere where I can be outside in a t shirt for 8 or 9 months out of the years, as opposed to being bundled up 8 or 9 months out of the year - just to be outside.  The line in the Charley Pride song, "But I'd rather be fightin' the wind and rain, than what I've been fightin' back home", finds its way into my head a lot these days :D .

Well, as with any major life change, you first have to plan, put that plan into action, and wait for the result.  I live this as I speak.

Till next time.