I am performing at a wedding reception tonight. Some of you might thinking: EEUU!, but I am really grateful for the work. Lots of musicians are not working tonight and I am just feeling grateful that I can still pay my guys good money at this time of year. It is officially our slow season for a couple MORE months.(hope nobody gets on my nerves tonight)I am hoping it’ll be one of those crazy ass weddings where we just feel great afterwards. And it does happen.
I get a lot of pleasure playing weddings and it’s not just cause it’s great money. I have made some great friends, great business contacts, and received a whole lotta love by doing weddings.
IF the couple stays together (I’ve had only five divorces in fourteen years) they will always regard you as someone special in their lives. There is nothing sweeter than that ever grateful glow of two folks whose wedding you performed at! And it’ll last indefinitely – from the parents too, cause we made their party rock.Usually, on the day of a wedding gig, I am all pissy and shit cause: A. I have to leave my bed (and y’all know how much I likes my bed) and B. weddings can be all stressful and shit for me because some times there’s some wedding planner or catering director or photographer trying to treat me like shit like I don’t know nothing. But I know that emotions run high at these events and I’m not the only one freaking out. My job is actually kind of easy once we get it started. C. I am a worrier. What if Isiah is late and he sings the first dance? (it’s happened before and it is HELL) or… or… or…
It can be stressful: announcing bridal parties, pacing the music thus the entire evening, pronouncing names correctly and so on… Once I announced a wedding toast at the wrong time and thus the servers had to stop placing dinner plates and therefore only half the meals got served on time, cause the protocol is to stop serving once speeches have begun. That wouldn’t have been so bad except that this particular speaker was long winded and boring… and there stood all of the servers with plates in their hands waiting while the entree got colder… and colder!! The kitchen was freaking out! And you know the client was pissed at the caterer… OOPS!! I never made that mistake again.
The great thing for me is that we are still considered the band for the client who is looking for something “a little different” or “nontraditional” – translation: – Hip or cool. Therefore we are often spared the stereotypical “wedding band” nightmares – for now. Our clients are pretty cool for the most part and won’t be bothered with hiring some wedding planner who is an asshole.
Don’t get me wrong! Wedding planners are great! I have done a few weddings where there was no planner and they definitely needed one. Sometimes you just need a little help keeping things moving, and I have learned a helluva lot from wedding and event planners. There is an art to throwing a great party and you need someone who knows all the little details that make a difference: like timing, and keeping the kitchen on point, and making a plan that insures that everyone moves from one room or area to the next.
I once did a party for nine hundred people and it took one hour for the crowd to be seated… and that threw the whole night off. They ran one hour and forty minutes late. We played for thirty minutes instead of two hours cause there was a program and it ran long and so on… we still got paid though, of course!!
I have to wear an evening gown tonight because it’s Black Tie (tuxedo) My band doesn’t mind dressing up. They are brothas and have no problem donning a gorgeous suit and dress shoes-ever – unless it’s hot. Now last Thursday, we were at the House of Blues and the guys were in jeans. Tonight’s show will vary a bit, but not much. It’ll be all about the dancing and not so much me talking shit to the audience. We have to keep the pace: Bam! Bam! Bam! – keep the hits coming! At the HOB or Green Dolphin, I can take my time and have a little banter with the audience, sit on the stage’s edge, ask people where they’re from… you know… You won’t find me singing songs like: “Right key, Wrong keyhole” or “You Can Have My Husband” or “My Discarded Men” or “if I can’t Sell it, I’m Gonna Keep sittin on it” – at a wedding reception, unless requested, and sometimes they do request ’em!!
sigh… I have a good life!
