Let ME recap the situation:

EACH BAND WHO PLAYED SATURDAY NIGHT IS MAKING $100.

Those measly $5 covers went to pay you all.

Checks will be available on Wednesday after 12 noon at the Alibi office.

That's pretty sweet. Thanks again.
Marisa

And we're painfully aware that some of these participating venues don't understand showcasing and may not be interested in promoting and nurturing a live music scene. But without these venues, fewer bands would be playing. So, read as: Deal with the questionable venues or lose performance slots. We agree that it would be great if every downtown venue was a Burt's Tiki Lounge. We hope that you know we'd never wish this type of disrespectful treatment on anyone.

100$! Woooo!
That's really kick-ass.

It is a funny thing (or not),
I realize I am really not a part of the ABQ scene and don't have a stake in what you are going through directly, but I will chime in anyway.
I am making about the same dollars per night now I was making 20 years ago - and I don't mean adjusted gross, allowance for inflation or any other bullshit qualifier - the exact same money - and that is because the clubs don't have to pay more for bands - there is always somebody hungry ready to hit the stage for what ever they can get - I don't mean any disrespect - cause I am right there fighting for those gigs along with the rest - but it isn't gonna change until you (we) change it.
It's easy for me to sit back with a good day job and say fight for what you deserve - bla, bla, bla - but it really comes down to why you are playing - for the music or the money (for me it is money and music - but I make no bones or excuses - I'm a hired gun and a good one - and I want the money).
You have to make your own decisions - but know that there is no history of improvement without a fight anywhere I've been - and I've been around.

nomad

As we see, Rocksquawk being taken over by the Alibi and advertised more widely is both good and bad.

Growing pains.

A good read for that is "Somebody Moved My Cheese"....if you're into books anyway.

Nomad, I think you'll be really good for them. And they might, just might, respect your experience.

The money probably isn't downtown, though you'll find a lot of "good eggs" on here.

How bout Somebody cut the cheese!

Zing!

http://www.myspace.com/9819842

Im glad we are all getting paid. But what I see is that the majority of these bands were playing not knowing they were going to get paid. Myself included.

So thanks for the bonus.

I guess I can order more buttons from Levi now.

Wait wait wait. The pay thing was never the issue for me, though it's always good to get a little cash. We just like to play. And the owner of Ned's is trying to make a buck, and he knows his crowd is going to bump and grind with the best of them. Someday everyone's going to realize that hip-hop is a big deal in music, whether they like it or not.
All I was trying to say is it sounds like the Ned's guy doesn't like rock after 11, so maybe we should keep that in mind when booking there. Like start the bands a little earlier, or cut the sets down from the get go, so that when people see Ya Ya Boom at 10:30, we don't stand anyone up. We can please our fans, the owner of Ned's. Everyone's good.
Festivals like this are awesome. I'm sure a ton of work goes into them and the details are hard to keep track of. But it seems like this guy always turns our Cinderella back into a pumkin at 11, so maybe that's something to remember. That's all.
Miza

quote:

Someday everyone's going to realize that hip-hop is a big deal in music, whether they like it or not

I agree. We are all dinosaurs. There is live and/or local hip-hop though isn't there? It's one thing to say that this style of music is more relevant or popular than what we do, but it's another to say that we all have to listen to the same ten songs over and over again from DJs and jukeboxes. I mean, top-twenty has never been local regardless of the genre. They didn't take you off because they wanted hip-hop, they took you off because they wanted songs all those people knew. It would have been the same thing twenty years ago, just with John Cougar or Richard Marx. I don't think the kind of music is as important in this case as the niche the bar fills.

Yeah, and I didn't hear anything about money, or talk to anyone who mentioned money until this thread right here, so I think the bands should get props for playing when they thought it was for free. Whatever they did or didn't have to put up with.
And thank you Alibi, for being band welfare.

quote:

There is live and/or local hip-hop though isn't there?

good point levi, where are the local hip-hop performers? why can't they get involved in these events as well to make it a real music event instead of DJ's an jukeboxes? I think we should try and diversify the music and include everyone... although i think burts did have some hip-hop performers earlier in the night.

I'm glad we got to play NEDS, I got to see some great bands I'd never seen before, But for the record next time the owner opens up his venue for some shows it would be nice if we could get the times straight before the night of the show. And could we get a PA set up in front of the cops, they look like they need something to do, perhaps watch a punk rock show or something.

Many apologies, Dandee. I was one of the help (behind the scenes) the night of the showcase- the door person should have had a list of bandmembers at each venue so you would be stamped/let in no charge. We'll remember next time. Unfortunately without a list they had to charge because they didn't know the hundreds of band members out that night- and people like to lie.

Same goes for eating- if you've ever worked one of these things- people say anything to get in free. Sorry they ruin it for others.

And for the record, we made just enough from the cover charge to pay the bands.

Hopefully we'll have most of the kinks worked out for next time.

Thanks again to all who played and all who supported.

All right. Back to the hip-hop thing. Though I suppose maybe that's a whole nother topic. I guess I just got a little riled up because there's often a clamor of voices on the rock scene of people who don't like hip-hop or the kind of person who listens to hip-hop. I don't think it's necessarily more relevant though. And you're right, we got pulled for that same couple of songs 106.3's been playing on repeat for the last month.
But good idea in terms of diversifying. There's some really good local hip-hop crews and solo MCs and DJs in this town. I keep wondering when they're going to organize, you know, make a rapsquawk.com or something. With a much better name than rapsquawk cuz that's not quite working.
And they're often super nice when you do end up on a mixed bill with them. They always really dig us and the feeling is mutual. Maybe the ideal is for musicians accross genres to join together. I honestly believe that our listening audience has the capacity to get into more than one breed of music and its subsets.
Boy, this rocksquawk thing is kind of addicting isn't it? I've posted like a bajillion times in the last couple of days. Sorry bout that. Goodness.
Miza

106.3 is a talk radio station

Just thought I'd throw in a little FYI

Sorry. Meant 97.3. Used to be hip-hop though.

No need to be sorry...I'm just a dick, that's all

I don't think spinning records is anywhere close to as cool as being able to write and perform your own original material. but that's just me.