A piper's rant

[beloitpiper]

I'm a bit peeved. Here's the story:

So I'm on Fall break right now. Unlike most schools, we get an entire week off (yay!). I decided to go back to Madison for the week and relax at home while enjoying the beautiful fall colors with my family. On Monday morning, I wake up and check my E-mail. There was one in there from a woman I had never met. "Hi Greg, I got your name through the grapevine from some connections I have at Beloit College. I hear that you play the Bagpipe! I am a party planner in the Beloit area...." yadda yadda yadda. She wants me to call her about playing at a party. I call her up, we talk, and she asks me to perform at a party this Sunday. I said I was on fall break, but should be able to drive down for the afternoon. Then she says she can only pay me $50. I said that my usual rate is $150, but she persuaded me to go cheaper because there was going to be lots of publicity. I agree to do the event, and she said she'd e-mail me all the details.

Tuesday, I drive to Milwaukee to visit a friend. I have a good time, crash at his place, and drive home late Wednesday night. I get home, and there is a message from the party planner on my phone. Basically it said that she hired a different piper because I didn't sound very enthusiastic to perform. She cited the fact that I didn't respond to her e-mails (she had sent two while I was in Milwaukee) and that I was performing for less than my usual amount. I call her back.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hello, this is Greg" I say.
"Oh, hi Greg, how are you?" she asks.
"Not too well, actually," I answer, "see, you asked me to perform, I agreed to do it, and now you back out and hire somebody else. This is completely unprofessional on your part, and I'm not too happy about you changing your mind like this. When I say I'm going to do a gig, I have every intention on doing it."
"Yes, but you didn't seem like you wanted too," she interjected, "You went for a lower price and didn't respond to any of my e-mails."
"You knew I was on fall break so I wasn't going to be able to check my e-mail every waking moment. And if I give my word I am going to perform, I will perform as professionally as any other hired event. It's pretty insulting that you'd assume that I didn't want to do this."

We argued, and I made it clear I was not happy. In the end, she decided to stick with the piper she has now. I've figured out who she hired, so I've talked to him about it. He said he had no idea of the situation, and agreed that it was wrong of her to do that.

Needless to say, this party planner's reputation among pipers in the area (from Milwaukee, to Madison, to Beloit, to Rockford) is pretty bad now. I hope she has better manners with the caterers...

[David Dalglish]

you should all avoid her in future.

[Mipi]

you should all avoid her in future.

Yes! That would be a good lesson.

[sirdaniel1975]

This is very similar to many situations I've had myself in the music business. The unfortunate side of this is she has your name and can do equal damage against you with her own peers.

[londonpiper]

Name and shame her on Dunsire!!
That'd learn her!

[FreakPower70]

While I can see your upset about the situation, and the other pippers in the area should probably know for there own sake what goes on, I can't help but feel like it would not do any good to start some kind of vengeful feud or anything. Though I will note I am not exclaiming that you Beloitpipper are indeed starting a feud, it is just the way the thread seems to be turning.

FP

[SteveB]

She deserves proper publicity on Dunshire. The ad will serve all parties well.
(pun intended)
Slainte

[Howard Clark]

Personally, I'd have thought that a response of, "Oh well, that's the way it goes", and get on with your life would be better.

You did not want to play for $50, normal is $150. Yet you grudgingly agreed to. I think she heard you accurately through the phone.

Feel free to crucify me as you see fit. But I think someone needs to say it.

Grow up a bit lad, such is the way life is sometimes. She did you a favor. Retribution for a perceived wrong will lead to more trouble.

[JerseyLawyer]

"You'll get lots of publicity!" is a crock. You should have told her that your rate is your rate, and the amount she was offering was too little. I don't understand why people think pipers should play for so much less than any other musician.

The way I see it, you had a contract with her to play, and she backed out after you had already gone back to school early in reliance on her promise. It's not a "perceived" wrong - it's just wrong.

[auld argonian]

Okay...first off, resist the temptation to dis her on any websites...seriously, that sort of thing usually backfires on ya and refraining from it makes you the more professional and mature party.

(The situation is SO like what happens in photography, my profession, that I feel that I have a good perspective on your righteous indignation.)

If anyone asks about her, please feel free to tell them the particulars of the situation but try to stick to the facts and let the questioner draw their own conclusion...which would correspond to your own, fer sure.

Always try to be the one who is the most reasonable one.

If getting those gigs appeals to you, do up some cards and spread them around to the wedding planners and other special events people...cast your bread upon the waters and it'll no doubt pay off.

And there will always be somebody out there who will do it (don't matter what it is...except maybe a plumbing job...) cheaper. Fact of life in any of these free-lance pursuits. That doesn't mean that they'll do it as well as you but to sort of paraphrase Ron Riverkilt: you can have it good or you can have it cheap but you can't have it good and cheap.

Just try to blow this one off and write it off to experience.

As far as that "it's good exposure" b*llsh*t goes...hey...you can die from exposure. We had a public relations firm here in Chicago that made a virtual living getting photographers to "do them a favor this time and we'll make it up to you later" except "later" never came.

Best

AA