Concerts in general

[Diane Hofstetter]

Doug,
Sometimes it works out just great........

I got a phone call one Saturday afternoon, could I do a "rush" tuning for a 
rock concert that was to start in about an hour. The group putting on the 
concert had forgotten about tuning the piano, the artist was refusing to go 
on and the lady calling me said "And my brother is a piano tuner and he 
refuses to get out of the bathtub!"  I went down to the auditorium, past the 
lines of people waiting to get in and heard them announce to the artist "the 
piano tuner is here". "Good, get him down here", she said, then "Oh, you're 
a lady!"

She left for her dressing room and I looked over the situation while it 
became apparent to me that the sound checks and re-arranging of the sound 
equipment was just starting and would continue the whole time until the 
concert  (it was LOUD).  So I went to her dressing room and said, "I passed 
the lines of eager fans waiting to hear you, the sound checks are too loud 
for me to tune the piano, and besides 15 minutes is not long enough tune a 
piano.  Is there _anything_ I can do for you to enable you to go on?"  She 
looked at me seriously, and asked "Could you fix the pedal and those three 
dampers?"  Bingo! The deed was done, the show went on (I doubt anybody at 
that rock concert was concerned about the out of tune unisons or octaves for 
that matter) and the crew that put on the concert feted me with brie cheese, 
chicken wings, sourdough bread and countless other specialities that were 
there for the "workers".  I got paid extra for coming in at the last minute 
like that too!
Diane


>From: DGPEAKE@AOL.COM
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: Re: Concerts in general
>Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 23:07:52 EST
>
>I had a situation years ago when a promoter called me and said their tuner
>did not show up and needed me right away.  I showed up, they were having a
>sound check, and the top sound fellow, called me into his office, was very
>angry, and asked me why I showed up late. After he found out that I was
>called later, he told me I needed to stay for an hour or more after the 
>sound
>check.  I said, fine but my price is $$/hour, even if I wait. You are not
>charging extra, he said. I told him that my time is valuable too and I will
>get paid accordingly.  Finally the promoter came in the office and asked me
>to come back and will pay me for my time for showing up, and extra for
>working after hours.
>
>You got to hold your ground in concert work, or you will get run over.
>
>Dave Peake, RPT
>Portland Chapter
>Oregon City, OR

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