Karaoke Forums

Sorry to hear mrmarog. So far we have survived 3 management changes at our reg Fri night over the past 2 years. Always wonder if the next show will be the last. Enjoy it like it will be.

I do believe they will call you back. Regulars will complain. money will be lost. This could be a great opportunity for you. Just be prepared to do your best negotiating. Wish you the best either way. Go rock the house!

_________________
-Kona

I am over whelmed by the kindness and encouragement shown in my thread. We are a very special industry where fun seems to be the norm, and great friendships sprout. I will sleep better this evening knowing I have support from my respected collegues.

Mrmarog

Mrmarog,

So sorry to hear of the short shortsightedness of the new owner. I am quite certain that you will find a new location for your show in short time and your loyal customers will continue to support you and your show. Bright Blessings to you

Athena

_________________
"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Mr.marog, sorry this happened to you. You seem like a great guy, and you certainly don't deserve that kind of treatment. Kudos for sticking to your guns!

I had a similar thing happen to me back in the mid 90's. i had a weekly Friday night karaoke show at a club that was standing room only every Friday. This was a huge club, so lots of singers, dancers and plenty of drinkers! I was friends with the head bartender, and he told me for a fact that they would average $3,000 - $3,300 every Friday. I was making money, the bar was making money, the staff was making money......everybody happy. Right? Wrong!!!! The manager wasn't happy because when the bar got busy, he had to get off of his rear end and help out the bartenders and servers. He was lazy, and this didn't sit well with him.

Not only was he lazy, but he was a childhood friend of the absentee owner, which in this case meant he pretty much had a job for as long as he wanted.

The show started early in the evening, so I would come in at 11am to set up. That way, I had the rest of the day to run errands and so forth. One Friday morning I came in to set up. and the owner's elderly father asked me what I was doing. I said I'm setting up for tonight's show. He told me that "we're not going to be having karaoke tonight, because builders are coming to tear down the back wall. We're expanding the building. We're going to put POOL TABLES in here, and have pool tournaments!"

I asked "Well what about karaoke? It does extremely well here." He said he was sure they would resume my karaoke show once the remodeling was complete in about 3 weeks!!!

Remember the lazy manager? Well, he doesn't like to work, or help out, but I hear tell he LOVES to play pool! He basically talked the absentee owner into putting in pool tables so he wouldn't have to work so much. I soon got a phone call saying that they no longer needed me because they were a billiard club now. Once the novelty wore off they were lucky to be doing $200.00 a day in that club. They called me and asked me back. I could have told them to go to he11 for the way they treated me, but instead I took the high road, and said "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't play places with pool tables, because I've seen more fights break out over a .50 pool game, and I'm not willing to subject my equipment or reputation in those types of establishments. But thanks for thinking of me!"

I just for the life of me cannot understand why so many club owners insist on shooting themselves in the foot by getting rid of what works and makes money.

@BT: I have to agree about the pool tables. Pool tables bring an incompatibility issue into the mix, and never add anything to the karaoke experience. Knocking out the wall is exactly what is also happening at my show as well. The owner has said there will be no interuption of the karaoke shows.......REALLY! I know contractors and their ability to deliver what they promise. The unforseen always comes into play on any remodeling project.

They are also planning on replacing the ceiling (including raising it a bit), adding a bar, moving the stage and dance floor, and raising the back of the room. They assure me, that this, and more, can be done with no interuption. Can you see what I am up against. I currenty leave a lot of my equipment there and construstion dust is not good for electronics.

Change can be good or bad, but why fix what ain't broke. The end result of spending all this money to remodel will be to recoup the expense (finance 101). That of course will include raising prices. In todays economy that is not a wise move.

Update: We had our 275th and last show last night. It was not filled with the usual excitement, but instead with unpleasant under currents from the new owners. They introduced our temporary replacements last night, I say "temporary" because they are very hopeful that we will come back after the remodelling is complete. I was very professional when I was packing up to leave, and told them that I would leave my cabling (which I ran above the ceiling) for the next KJ to use. We shook hands and hugged (sort of) and said our goodbyes. We gave all the servers a card with some cash for having done such a wonderful job of taking care of our customers.

As I was leaving the owners son asked if I would send out an email informing everyone that karaoke would continue as usual, and to please excuse "the dust" during remodelling. I yes, yes, yessed him in order to get out of the door. I have no intention of advertising for someone else. What do you you guys feel about that? Should I send out 1 final email urging MY CUSTOMERS to continue to patronize the place I just left? Keep in mind my leaving started out as a 6 week leave for a vacation and R&R, with no intention of quitting, so they could remodel. They gave me 4 different start dates for the remodel, and all passed without a single hammer having been swung.

Last night was extremely disappointing, and my wife and I woke up at 3:00 AM this morning and rehashed the nights events. Change can take some time getting used to, and sometimes you have to fill your life with something else.

I'd say in haste, that if you forgot to send the email......I'd forgive you....... .........such a small slight, when you compare it to the jacking around, that they treated you to......of course, I'm just one opinion.....

As far as I'm concerned mrmarog, that's the owner's responsibility. It's as I always tell club owner's when they ask how many people I bring in with me: "It's YOUR (the owner) to bring the people in via advertising, promotions, drink specials, etc... It's MY job to KEEP them in here, and RETURNING to your establishment!"

After the way they jerked you around, you shouldn't fell any obligation to them whatsoever. It was they who made the decision to mess with success. Whats more, they're ultimately responsible for promoting their club. Let them roll the dice and take their chances.

I would.... but it would work two ways so that I didn't burn any bridges... tell your singers that they are remodeling yadda, yadda... AND to "expect updates from time" from you. (and that would be where your new gig is located in the next email).

This way, you're actually "remodeling YOUR venue" by moving to a new one.

mrmarog,

Sorry To Hear about this. there are a lot of owners that have this problem of not realizing where their bread is buttered. You deserve better than that. You are much nicer than I would have been. I would have remained professional, but I would have taken everything that was mine and I would not email anyone. they are the ones that stubbed their toes here, so let them bandage it themselves and learn their lesson.

Good luck finding a gig. sounds like you have as much passion/heart for this job as I do. I put everything I have into one of my shows and I'm proud of it.

=)

_________________
Sal "Kjmann" Esquivel
Karaoke With Sal - Website

mrmarog,

Having been in very similar situations I personalty would follow up with an email(just because I said I would) however, I would word the email to let my customers know that I was not running the show, and advise them I would be sending updates later. That was you are keeping your word and not going out of your way to promote another's show.

Athena

_________________
"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

I'm with c. staley & kjathena on this. No way I would advertise for them unless it was of benefit to you. ENJOY your vacation time.

_________________
-Kona

Is there an echo in here?

You can accomplish the task of the message without any direct endorsements of another host by telling them to stay in practice:

_________________
KNOW THYSELF

well said Earthling

_________________
"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Mrmarog to Earth: That was very nice of you to compile my posts and create a very nice message for me. This may very well work for me.

My whole day so far has been off the bubble. I spent time today cleaning a space out in my garage to store my gear until needed again. I am also planning on rebuilding my rig to be even sleeker, lighter, and of course better than it was before. My laptop has the left hinge cracked and needs to go back to MSI in California, and that turn around is 2 weeks an is covered under warranty. My time off will allow for these things to happen. One must look at the bright side. You guys/gals have been great.

Thank you,
Mrmarog

Well excuse me for having my own opinion. I did not know that as a newbie that I need to conform to the opinions of others until I was a super poster, my bad.

Now the reason I made that comment,

"Last night I laid down my plans of taking off from April 22 to June 2, so they can remodel during that time. Their response was "you cannot leave for that long without finding a replacement during your absence". I responded with "Hire who you want and if you like them....keep 'em"."

Maybe the new owner is having problems with permits?, money to finance the work? Don't know.

But if I was the owner of the bar and you came to me telling me that you were taking a dedicated time off for me to remodel, I might have said the same thing. They didn't tell him to get out, just to have someone fill in during his vacation. He was the one that made the choice to let the gig go.

just my .02

It did sound a bit sarcastic....... and they're really cracking down on that here lately.......kinda like walking on eggshells anymore.........but remember if you read his whole post....he kept putting off his vacation, as they kept pushing back the remodeling.......not to mention, the bad treatment he had been getting since the new owner had taken over.......wouldn't have mattered if you were a newbee or not.......please don't take offense, we want and welcome you here.....sometimes the typed word doesn't always relate exactly what we mean, which causes mis-understandings.......be nice if we could see the facial expessions as people post.

Thank you Johnny, You summed it up very nicely. The month of May is a very good time to take a vacation/time off in Florida for 2 real good reasons: 1) the tourists are gone, 2) the weather is still reasonably nice (not too hot yet). To clarify other ideas: 1) they assure me that money for remodelling is not an issue, 2) permits will not be needed or be a problem, 3) their contractor works til wee hours in the morn, 4) their will never be an evening when karaoke won't be available based on the contractors abilities. These issues have been brought up and no firm dates were ever established as to when any of these improvements were to take place.

My wife and I plan on taking the "vacation of a lifetime" any where from 2 weeks to a month cruising the Mediterranian. Cruises can be obtained "last minute" at some of the best prices, and this gig is the only committment that we have pending at this time. The new owner is jacking us around by: 1) Not giving us a firm date for remodel, 2) not accepting who I want to have replace me, 3) minimizing the number of shows that my replacement would have to do.

I have a proven track record with 275 flawless (and bonifiable) shows at this location, and I HAVE performed. So far everything they have said has been idle chatter.

This.