What do you solo people do during a gig when you have to leave the stage area? (bathroom, etc.).

What do you do about your guitars or small expensive items (Tonematch, etc.)?

Some gigs have a reasonably safe area, but there are some that are perfect for theft/damage. We have at least two places down here on the beach where the performing area is either isolated from everything else, or there are multiple establishments; in any case, your entire performance area is open to the public, in an area easy to disappear in. This is not normally a problem during performances, I'm not playing in the ghetto, but when I have to leave the area briefly, and I'm by myself...not sure what to do?

I'm not very concerned about the Bose and stuff, more about my laptop, my Tonematch, and my guitar.

Make it a habit to tip the servers who bring you drinks, don't go get them yourself at the bar.

Then ask them to keep an eye on your stuff while you take care of bizness.

O..

Tres, I've built this intimidating robot musician to ward off any intruders:

http://www.lovingthemachine.co...ta-violin-737003.jpg

Hi Tres,

I use a flight case for my on stage equipment which sit on stands during performances and contains my laptop, a mixer, 2 external hard disk drives my wireless mic receivers.

The laptop is secured to the case using a Kensington type cable lock, now while it is not impossible to take off with the whole case it is quite heavy and no more portable than the L1's etc.

A case like this would be easy to adapt for the T1 and the case lid could be fitted during breaks which would remove the temtation and also stop the curious fiddlers from playing with your gear whilst you are on your break.

Security is generally not a problem for me but I often use the friendly staff approach as suggested by Oldghm above.

I make sure everything's tied, velcroed, taped, or rubber-banded down on my stands. I sometimes put a little rope around my stage if it seems appropriate. I've heard it said you just need to keep the honest people honest.

I think Tom is right about the honest people. I have a friend whose guitar was stolen off the stage at a wedding rehearsal party at a restaurant. They even went and found the case. 100 people, staff, nobody saw nothin. I am more aware of what is going when I am loading and un-loading. I have seen musicians take they're laptop or guitar to the bathroom with them. Back to the honest people, if someone wants it bad enought they will find a way. Be a good Boy Scout. BE PREPAIRED

This is a good topic that I am very intersted in. I don't have any great answers. My wife comes to maybe 50% of my gigs so in those cases we have a buddy system to keep an eye on the gear. I suppose he rest of the time I have been fortunate that I have not yet been ripped off.
Really, I have a problem with not taking enough breaks. Played 4 hours today at a beautful oceanside venue and only took a 5 minute break. And that after a sleepless night. I am working on it. May need a 12 step program. I really appreciate the constructive suggestives on this topic.

On the security issue. I have a friend who throws a cover over his equipment when he is on break. I think it's a black sheet. He feels that will stop someone from a grab and run and if they are seen uncovering his equipment they might be stopped. Simple and cheap.

This is an interesting topic, and one that has always concerned me...especially since I owned 98% of all of the equipment when I was regularly gigging.

I tend to be a bit paranoid knowing that there are folks who might want to help themselves to some free equipment. However, I always try to tell myself that those folks are in the minority and that it most likely will not happen. Nonetheless I always tried to have someone (other band mate) present with the gear if I had to leave it for any reason. I'd watch it if he would leave for any reason, etc.

One venue we were booked in only booked a Friday/Saturday night combo deal. This was good in that you never had to tear down your gear on Friday night. You left it there and came back on Saturday night and did'nt need to set up, etc. Well, the first few times playing there made me quite anxious. No amount of promising on the part of the bar's management made me comfortable that my gear would not be tampered with. As it turned out no one ever messed with it and all I took home on Friday nights were my guitars.

One possible solution might be to consider one of those alarm devices that you hang on something (your guitar?) and it goes off if it senses it is being moved. If no one touches whatever it is you hang the alarm device on, the alarm will not go off. If someone tries to walk away with it...it will go off, and they can be very loud. This is what I would use nowadays if I had to perform solo and didn't have anyone with me to watch my gear in my absence, etc.

It's a shame one even has to think about this sort of thing!

Stu

Get insurance. I don't want to ever loose something but it's better than constant worrying.

Heritage Insurance for Musicians

quote:

This is an interesting topic, and one that has always concerned me...especially since I owned 98% of all of the equipment when I was regularly gigging.

Ha Ha !! Does that mean the other 2% was stolen ? !!!!!!!

Only joking !!

The bit that worries me is leaving the car unlocked when away from the car. I always lock the car each and every time I leave the car with some gear in my hands and some gear still in the car. It is a pain in the ar** to constantly rummage around in your pockets to find your car keys BUT it has to be this way.

My fear is when I gig with others and they help me unload/pack up the car. It is supposed to be in shifts, if leaving the car unlocked. Someone takes something into the venue. In the meantime I pull some things out of the car and wait for my bandmate to come back empty handed, then I go with my hands full. He is supposed to wait until I get back. Not always !!
One time my bandmate did this, I found some shifty-looking stranger peering into the boot(trunk for USA) of my car - he quickly walked away when he saw me. I reckon if I had been 3 seconds later, he would be gone with one of my guitars.

I'm with Oldghm here.

quote:

Originally posted by Oldghm:
Make it a habit to tip the servers who bring you drinks, don't go get them yourself at the bar.

Then ask them to keep an eye on your stuff while you take care of bizness.

O..

I try to always treat the staff well, learn the names, acknowledge them publicly, tip excessively but not to the point of being patronizing, and all of this has always come back around 10-fold.

That can be in the form of

Customer: "Do you have live music here tonight"
Staff: "Yes, it's __________ tonight and it's a really good show".

or

Someone helping me to get a clear path to the stage when I need to set up.

or

Someone watching the gear at one end or the other as I load in / out. (Snakehips scenario).

or

Someone attentively turning off the background music when it's time for the set to begin.

or

Someone suggesting that I move something to a more secure location because they know the lay of the land and its risks; and I don't.

or

Someone making sure that my food is fresh when it's time for me to take a break.

Playitforward, Mike - please take a break now and then. I'm with Joel on this. I will talk to the venue management to find out how often they want me to take breaks. I want to understand the business model and work with the business to do what they need done with respect to customer expectations and turning the tables.

Back to security.

You can have insurance, and that's great. I'd rather not be filing claims to attempt to replace stuff. I find that making it clear that someone is watching is a big deterrent to problems. That means that I ask the staff to keep watch (and they are always pleasant and willing to do it), and it is clear that they are doing it. This seems to have stood me in good stead.

Regarding Musician's Breaks. This is a very interesting subject. Over the years we usually played 4 sets of 40 on and 15 off. The exception was when we did 'lounge" or club work. Most owner's wanted us to take breaks because if they are on the dance floor they are not drinking. Private function events like Weddings etc. are a different story. We usually played for 90 minuties through dinner and then took our first break. Then it was breaks as normal. When Dj's entered the scene one of their selling points in addition to providing many different type's of music for all tastes that they provided 4 hours of uninterrupted music. Big selling point. I never saw a dj take a break. As with musician's there are good and bad. I have had a blast with great Musician's and great DJ's providing the entertainment.

We now limit our duo gigs to 3 hours and take one break. It works out pretty good. If we get hired for 4 hours we most certainly take at least 2 breaks. Being a musician is tough work! LOL!

Good advice, all. Most of the time I employ most of these things, and I usually don't have a problem.

What was concerning me was a couple of oddball situations.

There's one gig down here (I'm trying to get) that is a long restaurant on the beach. The outdoor bar area is right next to the building. Then you have a deep (40') sandy beach area where all the customers sit at tables. Then a short fence of sorts, and the remainder of the beach, then water.

They've placed the "stage" (about 6'x8'x1'high) out in the sand area, about 8' from the fence. If I were to leave the stage, I'm at least 40' from the nearest employee. It's a quick run to the parking lot or down the beach, and when the sun goes down, it would be even easier to disappear. I'll probably just bring my wife on those gigs.

This Wednesday, I'm playing a downtown Farmer's Market (that's what it is, but it's quite small, more of an arts fair with corn!) and I'll be set up right on the sidewalk (that's where the power is). Haven't played there, yet, but I'm hoping the booth next door will keep an eye on things.

As I said, normally this isn't really an issue...it's those oddball gigs...

quote:

We usually played for 90 minutes through dinner and then took our first break

That must be Ritz Carlton treatment.LOL. When we do Weddings or Christmas parties, they usually invite us to the dinner, albeit at the end of the line, but we just transition into break music in autoplay/crossfade mode.

I might add in a comment like "To assist us in joining you wonderful folks at dinner tonight, our friend Frank Sinatra has offered to fill in on a few songs to help us out".

At the Parrot Heads meeting, it's more like "My buddy Jimmy decided to sing a few for you, while I freshen up a bit, I'll be back shortly".

I am sure many Professional DJs use a crossfade to slip away when necessary.

quote:

That must be Ritz Carlton treatment.LOL. When we do Weddings or Christmas parties, they usually invite us to the dinner, albeit at the end of the line, but we just transition into break music in autoplay/crossfade mode

LOL! ..Don't worry Joel ..We always eat at a wedding or private function. If we don't, then plan B goes into effect which is 20 minutes on and 40 minutes off!

LOL!

Hello Troisnoir,
What I did when I've used a laptop was immediately play a l o n g break song off the laptop of some sort.Then announced I am taking a break.I can hear the song playing and gives me enough time to take care of business.If someone tries to steal the laptop,the music will quit, drawing all eyes to the stage,plus I will hear that as well.This will cover all your amplification equiptment,T1,powerstand,producing the sound.Heck, you could even run it through your effects pedal if you wanted.The club owners won't turn on the jukebox until the break song is over.For the guitar,I use a small chain going through a section of water hose,wrapped around the neck about three times,then locking it to either my L1 stick when I'm using my Wallacher guitar hanger on my bose,or a bar stool.I don't use a car pulling chain,just large enough that they would have use a bolt cutter to cut the chain.You can also find different sized diameter shrink wrap at Radio Shack for whatever size chain you use.It has worked very well so far.- J.D.

Good idea, JD, I may try that...

Splitting off separate topics:

Hydration

Breaks

I've been a full-time working musician for nearly 40 years, most of it as a single. I guess I've been lucky, but I've never had anything come up missing.
When I first started I bought insurance, but after a few years I just stopping getting it.
I basically play a sit-down situation now, and leave everthing there almost all the time. I just cover up the kb, pa, laptop etc, with a table cloth, unplug the power supply and go home. So far, it's always there the next night.
Maybe it's a Southern thing
Anyway, since I said this, it will probably all get stolen tonight.
DonM