Okay...us experienced ppl know how to handle most stuff. Here's one that happened to me yesterday;
I was s'posed to open for the county fair as a solo, right after the high school band did some stuff ( I wasn't told about that).
So I get there & tune up & I'm ready to go on. There's a frikken parade coming down the street that I also wasn't told about. The firefighters from the surrounding three counties were having some convention in town, as well.
After they had paraded, the high school band starts playing all Blues Bros stuff. I just sat & waited. They went on for like 1/2 hr past when I was s'posed to start. Then this young girl playing flute started wavering. She just passed out from the heat, & hit her head pretty hard on the concrete.
They cued me to go on, & just as I got to the microphone, the damned firefighters started blaring their sirens. There was an ambulance working on the girl. No one was watching the stage, obviously.
There was only one thing for me to do. Balk. I waited until the sirens stopped. The girl got loaded up & driven off. The ppl looked my way.
I hit a few chords, then stopped & said, "Gee. The previous act played everything I had prepared for ya, right up to the big finale. I also appreciate the fanfare from the firemen."
A few ppl looked horrified, but most laughed it off. I had them in my pocket, somehow, & did a fair performance in the sweltering heat. I did my darnedest to distract them from the possibility that someone had just gotten hurt, & set myself up to play at the same time. Then everyone could have a good time. I got a lot of good comments, anyway.
There's times when stuff happens that a performer has zero control over. It's up to you whether to take the chance & use it to your advantage, or to ignore it or gloss it over. This isn't my best example of things like this, but I'd like to hear your stories of extraneous happenings that could have detracted from your show. How did you handle it?
Newbies take note - a seasoned pro will usually be able to use anything & everything to his advantage to get the ppl's attention, to keep that attention, & to entertain them. It's that willingness to be a risk-taker that separates the pro from the amateur. Keep in mind that there's gonna be times that whatever you do just doesn't work, but you learn from it & do better the next time.
I used to do all original material, with schtick so well-rehearsed that I did it without even thinking. I'd have humorous intros for my songs & the like that I just always used. I was working exclusively in bars at the time.
One time I was asked to do a benefit for a battered women's shelter.
So I"m standing there picking material on the fly while I'm on stage, & intro'd a song like I always did - "I wrote this for a bitch that dumped me."
Great way to go when you're doing a benefit for a battered women's shelter, eh? Yeah, we all do stupid things occasionally, but that one sticks in my head, somehow. There was absolutely nothing I could do to gloss over or use that gaffe to my advantage, so I finished the show & practically ran off the stage all red-faced. In retrospect, it is kinda funny, but at the time all I could do was kick myself & wonder about my ADHD.
I've since changed the way I intro my own material, too.
I was s'posed to open for the county fair as a solo, right after the high school band did some stuff ( I wasn't told about that).
So I get there & tune up & I'm ready to go on. There's a frikken parade coming down the street that I also wasn't told about. The firefighters from the surrounding three counties were having some convention in town, as well.
After they had paraded, the high school band starts playing all Blues Bros stuff. I just sat & waited. They went on for like 1/2 hr past when I was s'posed to start. Then this young girl playing flute started wavering. She just passed out from the heat, & hit her head pretty hard on the concrete.
They cued me to go on, & just as I got to the microphone, the damned firefighters started blaring their sirens. There was an ambulance working on the girl. No one was watching the stage, obviously.
There was only one thing for me to do. Balk. I waited until the sirens stopped. The girl got loaded up & driven off. The ppl looked my way.
I hit a few chords, then stopped & said, "Gee. The previous act played everything I had prepared for ya, right up to the big finale. I also appreciate the fanfare from the firemen."
A few ppl looked horrified, but most laughed it off. I had them in my pocket, somehow, & did a fair performance in the sweltering heat. I did my darnedest to distract them from the possibility that someone had just gotten hurt, & set myself up to play at the same time. Then everyone could have a good time. I got a lot of good comments, anyway.
There's times when stuff happens that a performer has zero control over. It's up to you whether to take the chance & use it to your advantage, or to ignore it or gloss it over. This isn't my best example of things like this, but I'd like to hear your stories of extraneous happenings that could have detracted from your show. How did you handle it?
Newbies take note - a seasoned pro will usually be able to use anything & everything to his advantage to get the ppl's attention, to keep that attention, & to entertain them. It's that willingness to be a risk-taker that separates the pro from the amateur. Keep in mind that there's gonna be times that whatever you do just doesn't work, but you learn from it & do better the next time.
I used to do all original material, with schtick so well-rehearsed that I did it without even thinking. I'd have humorous intros for my songs & the like that I just always used. I was working exclusively in bars at the time.
One time I was asked to do a benefit for a battered women's shelter.
So I"m standing there picking material on the fly while I'm on stage, & intro'd a song like I always did - "I wrote this for a bitch that dumped me."
Great way to go when you're doing a benefit for a battered women's shelter, eh? Yeah, we all do stupid things occasionally, but that one sticks in my head, somehow. There was absolutely nothing I could do to gloss over or use that gaffe to my advantage, so I finished the show & practically ran off the stage all red-faced. In retrospect, it is kinda funny, but at the time all I could do was kick myself & wonder about my ADHD.
I've since changed the way I intro my own material, too.
