Fake News

Today I did a gig which.... well I couldn't really call it a gig at all.

Another bass player contacted me to do it. He had double booked, and I didn’t have anything on. So I took the gig and the deposit too. I also spent it a few days ago due to bitcoin crashing again this week. It just looks too cheap to me I guess. I just couldn’t help but to buy some more.... The FOMO is still there....

The gig itself was more of a spectacle. 9 stringed musicians, a couple of flutes, clarinet and trombone playing to classical music tracks for the opening of some kind of real estate project. And it was the playing to tracks that I have a bit of a mental problem with.

I normally don’t do these anymore as I find it hard to ‘pretend’ or act the part, and then I get all negative and it effects the other musicians too. A downward spiral.

But if I look at it like I’m being paid to ‘act’, then that kind of makes it ok (even though I don't consider myself to be an actor).

Looking at it from the pther side, I would imagine for an event like this, it is quite a difficult task. Setting up all the sound gear and getting it right. Then having to tear it all down immediately after performing, so the dancers can to do their thing. And to keep the event running on schedule etc.

So to set up and tear down all the mics, get all the levels correct would be a lot more extra work, and honestly more risk for failure. I can understand that.

So generally I call these kind of events ‘monkey gigs’. They pay more, and it’s hardly ever about the music. It's more about having a foreign spectacle for the guests o look at.

I'm not sure but I'd guess they don’t hire actors because then they would need to hire instruments too. It must be cheaper to hire musicians and get them to act.

I also find that westerners like myself seem to have a harder time dealing with this kind of thing. Other cultures seem to just go along and are just happy to have work.

A while back I did take a vow never to do these events, but since I already spend the deposit... I had to go along.

It was pretty funny, cause all these guys are real musicians. Good ones too!

It was classical music, and I don’t really know how to play with the bow. I have started practicing a few times, but I always end up giving it up cause I think I have more important things to learn. The bigger problem was that I didn’t know the pieces either.

AND to top it all off, karma came to punish me...... I had the only upright bass, and after seeing it during “rehearsal” they decided that I would do a solo piece along with a storyteller!!! Even though the track that went with the story teller was actually a violin???

I felt very embarrassed! Shameful even... but that’s what happened so..... what are you going to do. I just hope someone filming it doesn’t turn me into a meme....

Admittedly I did have moments of just thinking this is so ridiculous, that it was funny. I just closed my eyes and pretended I was a kid again. And it was over soon enough.

Later we did 2 pieces with all the musicians. Some of them knew the songs, so they did a pretty convincing job of pretending to play. Not me though... haha. We did have a bit of a laugh and some jokes about the whole thing. These guys definately handled it better than I did anyway.

I guess I just think that they should have hired some of the same musicians, but have them play acoustic. They already know these songs! Violins are loud enough also, and it’s nice to hear acoustic music if everyone is listening (and not talking!). They don’t need to be blasted away by deafening backing tracks.

Anyway....

No excuses for myself, but it does seem to be a bit of a hidden thing in the music industry. There are some YouTube videos from bigger events with famous bands doing tv shows or live events “faking it”.

Here’s a funny compilation of some bands rebelling about this kind of situation. Things like really over the top rock moves, or blatantly not playing and switching up instruments during the performance. But just remember they are rock stars, meaning they can get away with that stuff.

This is my favorite though:

Charlie Parker’s laughing at Buddy Rich probably for how much fun he was having with it!

There is an argument on both sides. WWE is fake, but it is entertaining. And like with Mariah Carey on NYE, or Taylor Swift getting caught out playing the flute, most of their fans don’t care and still love them.

I guess what I don’t like about this situation is that they try to pass it off as real. And if I had gotten the pieces of music a little earlier I could have at least ‘acted’ a bit better. They could have put piano and violin players for the solo track, which had PIANO and VIOLIN!

We could have had the tracks during the week, and rehearsed them. Tonight, anyone half paying attention would know we were faking it. I don’t know... maybe they just don’t care....

But the real reason for the drama was that the bitcoin bears were punishing me for spending money I didn't yet earn!

Lesson still not learned!