Welcome To My World

Have you ever played a gig somewhere, where you just didn't get treated well? Not by the crowd, but by the venue and/or its staff. Whether it's the cost to rent the venue, the friendliness (or lack thereof) of the people who work there, safety issues, etc., there are places out there that take advantage of you and your band, screw you over, treat you like shit...... you know the deal.

Well, here's a place to talk about it, point out those who take advantage of us, expolit and abuse us, and to stand up to the bastards and eventually either get them to change their ways, or run them out of business.

And since my gripe is the germinating seed of this blog, I'll fire the first salvo right now. This is cross-posted from my MySpace blog:

"I stand before you, accused of being myself. Of being a drummer. Of not being willing to suck up to a low-IQ'd AV tech who seems to have it in for me, why I have no idea. Allow me to elaborate.

As you may or may not know, the Atlantis in Reno purchased a Roland TD-20 V-Drum kit about a year and a half ago, because of noise concerns about us noisy, obnoxious drummers, never mind that we had a screen up on the stage for just that reason. About eight motnths ago or so, a drummer of limited brain capacity set up his bass pedal so far-off center that it actually caused damage to the head of the kit's bass-drum pad (NOTE: with V-Kits, you have to be careful to set the beaters of your bass pedals dead center, because that's where the actual contact pad is located). A series of temporary patches has come and gone, with the most recent being a section cut from an old acoustic bass drumhead, taped into place with gaffer tape.

Last week was the first time I'd played there in over two months. And I noticed a small tear in the patch. It was under the right-hand pedal of my double-bass pedal, but after careful analysis, I determined that I couldn't have done it, because the actual point of initial impact of that beater was not on the tear. But I was accused of having done da dirty deed, and then accused of having caused the original damage to the head in the first place by AV tech Steven, who then bragged about how he was going to get me kicked out of the Atlantis, by my 'brother-in-law' no less.

Author's Note: I have only one brother-in-law, and he's a tugboatman in Port Angeles, WA. I think Steven meant my stepdaughter's fiancee Bill, who works in Atlantis' Security department.

Oh, I got pissed off. Who wouldn't, when they're falsely accused? Especially by a person who is utterly clueless when it comes to music, and especially drums and percussion! I debunked every accusation with ease, and then Calvin told me not to worry about it. Tuesday night I was informed that the Atlantis had decided that all the damage was my fault, that it was solely because I hit too hard, and because I use a double-pedal, which I was now barred from using. I chose to punch a wall rather than an AV tech. Calvin chose not to stand up for me, even though I'd showed him how I was right, and they were wrong. I can also name two or three players who are there as often as I am, who play a whole fuck of a lot harder than I do. To be totally honest, that kit is getting close to falling apart, and it's not because of any individual that plays it. It's a group effort, dozens of drummers playing a total of eight hours a night, six nights a week, fifty-two weeks a year. Do the math. That's 2,496 man-hours a year (2,504 if New Year's Eve falls on the regular off-night of Monday), far more than it's designed for, and I'm responsible for about twelve percent of that at best. And I've been made the scapegoat.

I am nobody's fucking scapegoat, now or ever."

Now here's the disclaimer. I have no beef with Atlantis Casino Resort & Spa, or the family that owns the place. They and their employees have been led astray a craven little bastard of an AV tech who wouldn't know a paradiddle from a paddle. I work hard for my pay, and I want justice, pure and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. And I've decided that this week will be my last appearance there until the offending AV tech is fired. Nothing violent, because I know that if I lose my temper someone's going to the hospital, and I'll be going to jail.

What do you think? Do you have a venue, or a person, that's on your shit list? Let me know!