Your thoughts on bars??

Folks,

Some years ago when I lived in Virginia I did a summer bar gig stint. I had gigs at three bars during the summer. We had full houses some nights, crickets chirping on other nights. It was fun for awhile but I was kinda glad when it ended. Haven't marketed to bars since.

Generally, bars don't offer much in the way of entertainment pay. Lately, the bar gig scene seems to be turning to game show mania and karaoke.

Thoughts?

It seems to me bars a good place for DJs to cut their teeth. I probably would've never become a DJ, if a manager friend of mine hadn't called me to fill in because I had a lot of CDs and their resident jock didn't show

Once you get a little older (for me anyhow), I lost interest in the same requests from the same customers day in and day out. I actually feel bad for some of the people that you see sitting at the bar every night "drowning their sorrows" and becoming an alcoholic in the process.

You have to remember when working the same place day in a day out; The customers are going to get used to your sets. There is only so many tricks to have up your sleeve, it get monotonous after a while. Same songs, same crowd, same requests same employees everyday.

In my opinion bar work just isn't worth the hassle for the low pay. Often times bar owners are as cheap as they come. The bar where I first worked was kind of a rough place of course I got to deal with rowdy drunks. :( I later moved on to a family owned & run bar, those people were truly the best bosses I've ever had. They would give me an allowance every week to build up their music library which means I didn't always have to take out of my pocket for the latest and greatest hits.

When I was a bit younger, I had a good rotation going I'd working alternating nights for three local bars. This worked out great, I didn't burn out as fast and got to work with different staff.

Some of the positives of working in bar:


For mobiles it can fill in calendar, put a few extra bucks in pocket for nights what would normally be empty
You get to know the customers well over time (double edged sword see above)
Often times the bar has it's own equipment (however cheap it may be) so you pretty much just show up with your music and play
Most bars have some sort of base music library that you can pull from
Your fellow employees will stand behind you most of the time
You get to meet some nice ladies ;)
As for karaoke, we only have one bar in our area (out of about 6) that does it weekly from what I hear turnout isn't all that great. It could be lack of promotion though.

For all the negitives I listed above there still some reason I just enjoy working bars. I cannot put my finger on it though.

Thanks, Dan.

My short-lived bar gig experience isn't much to go on. The shows were all on Friday nights. Yet, the few bar gigs I did were all over the spectrum. Some were a PITA, others were fun.

One of the sports bars was a downtown storefront that barely had room for my setup. Another was a biker bar that put me on a wide open stage. The biker bar was fun... they had a lot of requests and rocked all night.

At one bar, a waitress ran over to me and yelled at me to stop (I was doing sound checks). That ticked me off and I never went there again. I run a contractor business and don't take kindly to orders from bar wenches. :mad:

One bar had the floor filled, another was low-key. I guess it's an occupational hazard... hit and miss. :D

I agree... the DJ can sense what music is appropriate. Man, I played a lot of sad songs in them days.

Hi Fred,

I still have a couple bar shows. I have a set of equipment that stays in one of them and I have a couple people that work for me that do the show. I have been at one for 6 1/2 years the other 4 years.

There are some positives, for instance having a regular check. Go in and everybody knows your name. Referrals, weddings, private parties, christmas parties.

For me, they all thought that I had the answers and they would tell me all of their problems. Granted the majority of their problems were self created. Some times it would just get to me. It was and is so bad that when I would go out for a drink with my friends I would get bombarded with bar patrons problems. I couldn't even go to the grocery store.

Unfortunately also you do get attached to some of them. Of course their are some that are just nice people. These people do not take good care of them selves. I have been to atleast five funerals this year alone.

Granted maybe this is all common. The guy DJ's/KJ's I speak to here have told me that it doesn't happen to them so I don't know.

Are you thinking about getting back into bars Fred?

If so I hope that this wasn't too discouraging. As I said there are some positives.

Greets, Carolyn.

The run of summer bar gigs was fun at times. It was a PITA at others. The bar owners wanted me there on Saturday nights but my summer Saturday calendar was booked solid already. So they booked me for Friday nights, scheduled around some school dances. One bar cancelled their final Friday night gig in lieu of a KJ who offered to work the night for $75.00... :rolleyes:

One later bar gig in particular was a hoot... I put on the Cochise Perculator and rattled the place. The crowd liked it so much I ended up playing it three more times... :D

But I digress. I have no desire to get back into bar shows on a regular basis. That said, I'll be more than happy to cover one for a DJ in our networking group (if I can make it) but that's about it.

Shirl and I did music and PA at the Hooters bikini finals in Rehoboth Beach last summer. That was fun ~ standing room only ~ but the pay wasn't really worth the drive to Rehoboth and back on a Saturday night. Lotsa eye candy, true... but eye candy don't pay the mortgage. :D

John Mixon (DJ Salt) has been trying to get me into bed with his Game Show Mania racket for a couple of years now. But I ain't gonna do it. It's too much paperwork and too much hassle for too little money. The Rehoboth Hooters was a referral from John... he was already booked that night.

GSM is successful for two people ~ the bar owner and the GSM business owner. The host doin' all the work gets beer & cigarette money. I have told John that I'm not leavin' the driveway for what his weeknight GSM gigs pay. Besides, I work 2nd shift at the local Playtex plant and wouldn't be able to run it anyhow.

We've been dear friends with John for a number of years. John likes to pick on me about our big sound system (to much to load) and I like to tease him about his pipsqueak rig (try it at the Curves Bachelor Auction). ;)

Bar gig DJs have my utmost respect. Some bar patrons can get really arrogant when they're drinking... I do not envy the DJ's job one bit. :)

Hope it helps.

Probably won't be marketing to bars. I used to bartend and some of my early gigs (many moons ago) were in bars.

It was fun, when I was younger and could party all the time...but I don't have the desire to do so anymore.

Don't mind going out for some music and some dancing, but it probably won't be me providing the music. I'll let some of the younger guys and gals have their fun.

Kirby, your quite opposite of me, we have some horible djs in our area, and sometimes it gets in my way of me having a good time. I rather be at the controls since I can't dance and I am the lord of the dance.

Travis - Most of the Bars here host Karaoke with very little dancing going on, and the bars that do have djs who spin some music (hip-hop, rap) are places where I wouldn't have a good time anyway.

I do have some friends that play in bands (r&b, jazz, funk & soul, and rock) and I do try to get out every once in awhile to see them when my schedule permits.

I can't dance, but I sure try!

:thumbsup:

My thoughts on Bars.....A great place to drink a bad place to be behind:eek:

Actually after many years I am thinking of going back to the bars....A little different role though I plan on starting up a Karaoke outfit in the new year. The money will be much better I used to get 50 bucks and that was big money most were getting 25 or 30 back then. The sad part is most bar DJs in this market still arent making 50 bucks a night

I did my first bar gig at 16. They thought I was 19 (legal age here) and I never bothered to tell them the difference. The last bar gig I did I was 21 (15 years ago) and i swore never again

Well never has arrived

It was fun while it lasted but as Dan said you kind of get tired of seeing the same people on the same stools night after night. Its a different time I am a different person doing a different show for different reasons lets see how it goes

Ill even do it sober this time:eek: :eek: :eek:

I love my bar gig. I work every Friday and Saturday, and show up 10 minutes before music, and leave 10 minutes before closing. The gear is good... it's all mine.

I get to see beautiful women all night, some flirt with me (plus), and I party every time I'm there. They pay me very well, and I don't "hump" gear anymore (well, except for once in and once out, twice a year).

I've seen everything you can possibly see in a bar (yes, I have!!!), and get "flashed" all the time (plus).

Here's a video from last night... I just came inside for the winter (all summer I was on the party dock).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeZ807HbBGY