Re: Performers vs entertainers

[ironman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

I enjoy putting on a good show, too.  The big problem with people playing in 
the audience is that you, the person/people hired to be in charge of the 
music, are no longer in charge.  Once you lose control, you're in trouble, 
from a number of aspects.  If I'm in control, I can do my job better.  In 
fact, being in control from the stage has allowed me to (safely) intervene 
when trouble was brewing in the audience i.e. two guys pushing at one another, 
etc.

Sometimes gussing is not much of a problem (like if you're trying to play 
SOFTLY to find the key, etc.).  Most of the time, gussing is loud enough to 
be heard by others, and this is annoying, to me, to the band, to the 
audience.  And sometimes it's an absolute train wreck, and I've actually have 
to call a break to regain control of the situation.  (I usually don't take 
breaks, ergo the nickname.)  

Picture yourself on stage, trying to play a finely crafted song, and hearing 
someone in the audience playing wrong notes, wrong timing, perhaps a wrong 
harp, etc.  Would this affect your performance?  It affects mine, and this is 
my job.

I'm very generous about sit-ins.  If you want to play, ask.  I'll usually get 
you up for at least one song (unless it's a major gig or somehow 
inappropriate), and if you're decent, probably a few.  But when I do, 
please don't play over the vocals or other solos.  (Yes I know Little Walter 
did - and he died from a beating ;-)

I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad.  In fact, just the opposite.  It's a 
lot easier to hear it in a generic post than to be chided from the stage in 
front of an audience.

 -- mike