I received a call from a friend today referring me to a bar owner. It seems the KJ they currently have thinks nothing of taking other jobs on their schedualed karaoke night. These jobs probably pay a little more.
Your reputation for being reliable, respectable, honest and moral gets you jobs. He is costing the bar owner hundreds if not thousands of dollars per month, so he can make a few extra dollars. If he can not work for the money they pay or if he is not worth the money they pay he should find another job. Because he is losing this one.
If you make a written or verbal contract for your services then you must deliver.
I have never in 15 years used a written contract for weddings, parties or bars. If I tell them I'll be there, I am. I refuse to compromise my reputation for a little extra money. This KJs reputation is shot. He will be referred to as "unreliable." If you heard that about someone would you hire them?
You do get what you pay for. The bar owner told me what they pay him. I told her I was double that. She said she would have no problem paying my price for someone reliable. So being a person that people can count on is worth more money. This is how you ask for and get more money. You become worth more money by being accountable. Not by blowing people off for a higher paying job.
Lack of Business Professionalism.
Well last week.. for the first time in 6 years.. I cancelled a show when i showed up at the bar.. I felt like crap for dong it.... I was diagnosed with an allergy to the sun.. they had me on a massive amount of meds... and all of a sudden @ 8:00 pm on friday.... I started heaving... I went to work... I was going to work it... but then as I set up... my HD gave out... and BAD ME.. I didn' have a back up... and I had to cancel.. I probably would hve cancelled even if y HD hadn't died... But i did feel bad... I still do... There is a host in my town that has a bad rep. for not showing up or cancelling at the last minute... people have just stopped going to see her.. because alot of the time they take cabs and make plans to go there and she isn't there... or doesn't bother calling when she isn't going to be there...I work tonight.. still feel crappy but i'm going...
Another KJ story about the job that got away.
A KJ I know that has an illegal hard drive and started in business 2 years ago got a call for a 2 night gig because they fired their steady KJ.
Actually this is going to turn into 2 stories.
Part 1. The steady KJ lost his job because he was openly gay. Don't write me any letters. The bar owner said that some of the customers were making fun of him and he and the owners couldn't handle it. Obviously the bar owners felt the dismissal was in their best financial interest. Right or wrong it happened.
Part 2. They actually contacted 2-3 other KJs to try out. So the first one they tried was the illegal KJ. A loaded hard drive usually is loaded with every F-Bomb swearing song. The daughter was bartending and when mom and dad walked in, they didn't like his selection of music being played. And they didn't care for the way he was dressed or acted.
This job is 2 nights a week and they pay premium money, voluntarily. Very Rare.
So the bottom line is...his unedited song book cost him big dollars. His other job/jobs pay $100 a night, but then again that's all he's worth. So this job was way out of his league to begin with. Those of you that still think "anything goes" at karaoke is the hot ticket are mistaken. Bar owners that have "quality" establishments and not dives want quality in there cliental and you don't get quality with "anything goes" mentality. Quality cliental come from quality KJs.
One more story.
My regular Saturday job just started to have bike night on Tuesday. I hope it's a one time deal. I told the owner he may as well have "Hells Angel's are coming Tuesday" on the sign because that is what the normal people are going to think.
A KJ I know that has an illegal hard drive and started in business 2 years ago got a call for a 2 night gig because they fired their steady KJ.
Actually this is going to turn into 2 stories.
Part 1. The steady KJ lost his job because he was openly gay. Don't write me any letters. The bar owner said that some of the customers were making fun of him and he and the owners couldn't handle it. Obviously the bar owners felt the dismissal was in their best financial interest. Right or wrong it happened.
Part 2. They actually contacted 2-3 other KJs to try out. So the first one they tried was the illegal KJ. A loaded hard drive usually is loaded with every F-Bomb swearing song. The daughter was bartending and when mom and dad walked in, they didn't like his selection of music being played. And they didn't care for the way he was dressed or acted.
This job is 2 nights a week and they pay premium money, voluntarily. Very Rare.
So the bottom line is...his unedited song book cost him big dollars. His other job/jobs pay $100 a night, but then again that's all he's worth. So this job was way out of his league to begin with. Those of you that still think "anything goes" at karaoke is the hot ticket are mistaken. Bar owners that have "quality" establishments and not dives want quality in there cliental and you don't get quality with "anything goes" mentality. Quality cliental come from quality KJs.
One more story.
My regular Saturday job just started to have bike night on Tuesday. I hope it's a one time deal. I told the owner he may as well have "Hells Angel's are coming Tuesday" on the sign because that is what the normal people are going to think.
You're right on there. I've performed at several "biker bars" and always find them to be among the nicest and most well behaved crowds. I actually don't know anyone who still holds onto the "Hells Angels" mentality when thinking of bikers. In fact, the biker groups are notorious for supporting charities buy holding events like poker runs. They're just good, hard working, Americans that ride motorcycles.DanG2006 wrote:I get bikers at my friday show, but they are so well behaved that except for the biker garb you wouldn't know they were bikers. Just goes to show that you can't always judge a book by their cover. Had one get up and sing "Hello" by Lionel Richie Saturday night.
I'm a biker (35 years) and I don't go to biker bars or bike nights. I didn't say that they were Hell's Angels, It's the preceived reputation. That's what hurts the bars reputation. Normal people don't like it and they won't bring their wives and kids.
I have seen Bikers from "real" Motorcycle gangs show up at bars that have bike nights. From 2 Different gangs at once. All it would have taken was a look or a few choice words and a phone call could have brought out the troops in full force. And not with a game of Twister.
What you seem to be missing is the fact that regular people view them all the same. Normal people leave the bar when they come in. So for a short term gratification (money) you kill your business long term. I've seen it more than once. It kills bars that want to be considered "family" bar/restaurants. You can't have it both ways and expect to stay in business.
I told the owner that his crowd doesn't hang at the biker bar 2 blocks away. And they don't come to his bar. But he just invited them all (and every other biker gang) to his place. Why??? The only thing I can think of is, he wants to retire early.
I have seen Bikers from "real" Motorcycle gangs show up at bars that have bike nights. From 2 Different gangs at once. All it would have taken was a look or a few choice words and a phone call could have brought out the troops in full force. And not with a game of Twister.
What you seem to be missing is the fact that regular people view them all the same. Normal people leave the bar when they come in. So for a short term gratification (money) you kill your business long term. I've seen it more than once. It kills bars that want to be considered "family" bar/restaurants. You can't have it both ways and expect to stay in business.
I told the owner that his crowd doesn't hang at the biker bar 2 blocks away. And they don't come to his bar. But he just invited them all (and every other biker gang) to his place. Why??? The only thing I can think of is, he wants to retire early.
I don't take my kids to ANY bar but wife is with me at every show... even the biker bars. We are always treated with respect.Bigdog wrote:Ask yourself why you don't take your wife and kids down to the good old biker bar to hang with the nice guys?
Because she has more brains. It's just loaded with potential trouble at any given moment. Unless you're "packing" you have nothing to fear.
It has nothing to do with how they treat you or how nice "you" think/know they are.
It has to do with how the general public (over 40) preceives them. Bikers are only 1% of the population. That leaves 99% normal people. The biggest demographic. The majority of a bars customers. Catering to the very small minority once or twice a month will hurt the business. I have seen this happen in several bars I play at.
One bar we averaged 60-80 people a night. Right after they started having bike night once a month, that number dropped to 40-50. Another gig the place was packed with people waiting to eat everytime it was time for me to set up. After they started having bike night, that dropped steadily to ghost town levels until the bar closed for good.
It's not good for the overall health of the bar, it's reputation or mine. I would rather not work at a bar that has bike nights.
Movie stereotypes. They are all not "Riders For Christ" or Veteran groups or someone trying to save gas money.
Some are hard core bikers and everything that comes with that. When normal people see gang colors and or all the leather, beards and long hair, they get creeped out.
So how is it good for business to chase away your normal regular crowd for a group of bikers? I have seen nothing but harm come from it. It's good for the biker bar down the road because nobody normal hangs out with them. You either are one or you wannabe. Normally the 2 crowds don't mix socially.
It has to do with how the general public (over 40) preceives them. Bikers are only 1% of the population. That leaves 99% normal people. The biggest demographic. The majority of a bars customers. Catering to the very small minority once or twice a month will hurt the business. I have seen this happen in several bars I play at.
One bar we averaged 60-80 people a night. Right after they started having bike night once a month, that number dropped to 40-50. Another gig the place was packed with people waiting to eat everytime it was time for me to set up. After they started having bike night, that dropped steadily to ghost town levels until the bar closed for good.
It's not good for the overall health of the bar, it's reputation or mine. I would rather not work at a bar that has bike nights.
Movie stereotypes. They are all not "Riders For Christ" or Veteran groups or someone trying to save gas money.
Some are hard core bikers and everything that comes with that. When normal people see gang colors and or all the leather, beards and long hair, they get creeped out.
So how is it good for business to chase away your normal regular crowd for a group of bikers? I have seen nothing but harm come from it. It's good for the biker bar down the road because nobody normal hangs out with them. You either are one or you wannabe. Normally the 2 crowds don't mix socially.
A few corrections here big dog. First, Bikers (i.e. those who ride motorcycles) make up way more than 1% of the population. It's 1% of the Biker population that are considered the troublemakers or the biker gang members. That's where the term one percenters comes from.
There are bars that cater to these guys and I can't imagine any of them ever hiring a KJ. Those that cater to the regular 99% of bikers actually can do a very brisk business. One of my regular customers is a biker bar. They don't put up with the B/S the one percenters bring so the those guys don't hang out there. But they do get a lot of weekend warriors or even lifestyle bikers who are not in that 1% crowd. It's a great place and without the biker traffic the place wouldn't exist.
I've never not felt safe in that bar. In fact I can only think of one bar I've ever been in where I ddin't feel safe. Your image of biker bars is pretty dated Big Dog, much of what your envisioning simply doesn't exist anymore.
There are bars that cater to these guys and I can't imagine any of them ever hiring a KJ. Those that cater to the regular 99% of bikers actually can do a very brisk business. One of my regular customers is a biker bar. They don't put up with the B/S the one percenters bring so the those guys don't hang out there. But they do get a lot of weekend warriors or even lifestyle bikers who are not in that 1% crowd. It's a great place and without the biker traffic the place wouldn't exist.
I've never not felt safe in that bar. In fact I can only think of one bar I've ever been in where I ddin't feel safe. Your image of biker bars is pretty dated Big Dog, much of what your envisioning simply doesn't exist anymore.
OK... 
1% of the population drives bikes. 250,000,000 in the USA 20 years ago. 1% 0f that. And a percentage of that are the bad apples.
2% drive vans. I was also a 2%er.
That's what the figures were twenty years ago. Don't have figures for today.
300,000,000 people in the USA. So with the popularity of motorcycles on the road today the 1% figure is probably low. But they still have 1% patches and all bikers still refer to themselves as 1%ers. Always will.
When you see hard core motorcycle gang members (from 2 different gangs) walk in the bar while you are doing karaoke then we can talk about it. As the good (smart) people are leaving.
I do karaoke in family bars. Biker hang outs aren't family oriented. I don't want to have my business reputation associated with bikers. Good ones or bad ones, because in the general publics eyes they are the same thing. I play for and get hired by the general public.
I've never not felt safe in that bar. In fact I can only think of one bar I've ever been in where I ddin't feel safe. 2-3-4 hard core gang members can screw up everything in a big hurry. Just a simple phone call can bring in a whole lot of trouble real quick like.
Normal people won't drive through the parking lot, let alone stop for a drink.
Don't confuse what I'm saying. I never said there were not good normal people that ride and act normal. But the publics' perception of bikers still remains that of OUTLAWS. Won't ever change. So if they "think" everyone in the bar is a biker outlaw they aren't coming near the place.
Let's put it this way. I have owned motorcycles since 1972. If I owned a family bar/restaurant, there would never be a bike night. I have seen the damage done to several bars income from bike nights. They didn't recover from it. The normal people quit coming. What do you have left? An empty bar that has bike night and nothing else to bring in income. Because they scared everyone away. The bar business today is too fragile to be messing with anything that will cause normal people to stop patronizing you. Over a few months worth of bike nights. You will lose long term income for the very small short term gain, if you have one. The bike nights will kill your reputation. Unless you already were a biker bar. I live near 2 biker bars that have been nothing but biker bars for 50 years. Nothing will ever change their reputation. So that's all that ever hangs out there. Even if they wanted to change it will do them no good.
1% of the population drives bikes. 250,000,000 in the USA 20 years ago. 1% 0f that. And a percentage of that are the bad apples.
2% drive vans. I was also a 2%er.
That's what the figures were twenty years ago. Don't have figures for today.
300,000,000 people in the USA. So with the popularity of motorcycles on the road today the 1% figure is probably low. But they still have 1% patches and all bikers still refer to themselves as 1%ers. Always will.
When you see hard core motorcycle gang members (from 2 different gangs) walk in the bar while you are doing karaoke then we can talk about it. As the good (smart) people are leaving.
I do karaoke in family bars. Biker hang outs aren't family oriented. I don't want to have my business reputation associated with bikers. Good ones or bad ones, because in the general publics eyes they are the same thing. I play for and get hired by the general public.
I've never not felt safe in that bar. In fact I can only think of one bar I've ever been in where I ddin't feel safe. 2-3-4 hard core gang members can screw up everything in a big hurry. Just a simple phone call can bring in a whole lot of trouble real quick like.
Normal people won't drive through the parking lot, let alone stop for a drink.
Don't confuse what I'm saying. I never said there were not good normal people that ride and act normal. But the publics' perception of bikers still remains that of OUTLAWS. Won't ever change. So if they "think" everyone in the bar is a biker outlaw they aren't coming near the place.
Let's put it this way. I have owned motorcycles since 1972. If I owned a family bar/restaurant, there would never be a bike night. I have seen the damage done to several bars income from bike nights. They didn't recover from it. The normal people quit coming. What do you have left? An empty bar that has bike night and nothing else to bring in income. Because they scared everyone away. The bar business today is too fragile to be messing with anything that will cause normal people to stop patronizing you. Over a few months worth of bike nights. You will lose long term income for the very small short term gain, if you have one. The bike nights will kill your reputation. Unless you already were a biker bar. I live near 2 biker bars that have been nothing but biker bars for 50 years. Nothing will ever change their reputation. So that's all that ever hangs out there. Even if they wanted to change it will do them no good.
In some ways i must agree with Bigdog... not on the whole biker thing.. cause i don't know any and don't have them frequenting my bars, BUT the bar business today is very finicky and you can change one little thing and that can piss off alot of people.
I don't know how things are run in the states as far as laws BUT take the cavs machine for instance, (its a machine preloaded with THM CB & something else $800.00/monthly), well in canada it's becoming a big huge thing for the bars to rent them. they hire a tiny little girl in a push up bar and panties, without a voice or any idea how the sound equipment works and they pay her $10.00 an hour. very economical considering that the going rate for a karaoke host/company is $250.00 - 450.00 a night.
But it's starting to get scary that they can do this, because it's taken alot of bars away from the rest of us. in this small area I live in we have about 26 bars and 9 Karaoke companies makes for competition and then add these cavs machines that ARE really more economical than I am or any of the hosts around here... it's just starting to get very hard to find work.
and back to another topic i started I Don't know where lol..
the bar I am currently working at changed my nights to Fridays - Karaoke and Saturdays - Country dance night... Well this did nothing but piss off my customers... so then he decided to have Karaoke fridays & Saturdays BUT the damage was already done. a month and a half of customers not knowing what was going on, was enough to drive half if not more away. before i started at the bar on Saturdays over a year ago they were lucky to be open til 11:00 pm, before he changed my nights I was bringing in 25 - 40 singers a night. the bar was at capacity every single saturday... NOW he's telling me that if it doesn't pick up within a matter of 2 weeks he might cancel karaoke all together... like what he did to the customers is my fault.
I really don't think half if not more of the bar owners have a clue about what it is to own a bar.
I don't know how things are run in the states as far as laws BUT take the cavs machine for instance, (its a machine preloaded with THM CB & something else $800.00/monthly), well in canada it's becoming a big huge thing for the bars to rent them. they hire a tiny little girl in a push up bar and panties, without a voice or any idea how the sound equipment works and they pay her $10.00 an hour. very economical considering that the going rate for a karaoke host/company is $250.00 - 450.00 a night.
But it's starting to get scary that they can do this, because it's taken alot of bars away from the rest of us. in this small area I live in we have about 26 bars and 9 Karaoke companies makes for competition and then add these cavs machines that ARE really more economical than I am or any of the hosts around here... it's just starting to get very hard to find work.
and back to another topic i started I Don't know where lol..
the bar I am currently working at changed my nights to Fridays - Karaoke and Saturdays - Country dance night... Well this did nothing but piss off my customers... so then he decided to have Karaoke fridays & Saturdays BUT the damage was already done. a month and a half of customers not knowing what was going on, was enough to drive half if not more away. before i started at the bar on Saturdays over a year ago they were lucky to be open til 11:00 pm, before he changed my nights I was bringing in 25 - 40 singers a night. the bar was at capacity every single saturday... NOW he's telling me that if it doesn't pick up within a matter of 2 weeks he might cancel karaoke all together... like what he did to the customers is my fault.
I really don't think half if not more of the bar owners have a clue about what it is to own a bar.
Bar owners are total idiots. I have NEVER seen one in 15 years and thousands of shows that has ever made all the money they could be making. Usually it's because of STUPID decisions, as the one you just mentioned. If he kills the crowd it will be "Your" fault. Nothing was broke but he had to "fix" it.
In the bar business today you do nothing that will possibly change the money making. Unless you know absolutely for sure that it will increase your income.
I have a bar owner right now that is listening to a according to him a "nice" biker. He talked him into having a weekly bike night. You want a family bar or a biker bar, but you can not have it both ways. As far as I'm concerned the biker has no vested interest in the bars well being. So why would the bar owner take advice from him as to what he thinks will be good for business and potential income? I told the bar owner he may as well put Hell's Angels is coming on his sign.
I'm also worried about another bar I do karaoke at. Last Sunday (karaoke night) there were 10 motorcycles out front. If I was driving by I would keep going and I ride a motorcycle. But I don't want to hang out where "bikers" do. It's a big beautiful brand new no smoking family bar. But if this keeps up that could change.
In the bar business today you do nothing that will possibly change the money making. Unless you know absolutely for sure that it will increase your income.
I have a bar owner right now that is listening to a according to him a "nice" biker. He talked him into having a weekly bike night. You want a family bar or a biker bar, but you can not have it both ways. As far as I'm concerned the biker has no vested interest in the bars well being. So why would the bar owner take advice from him as to what he thinks will be good for business and potential income? I told the bar owner he may as well put Hell's Angels is coming on his sign.
I'm also worried about another bar I do karaoke at. Last Sunday (karaoke night) there were 10 motorcycles out front. If I was driving by I would keep going and I ride a motorcycle. But I don't want to hang out where "bikers" do. It's a big beautiful brand new no smoking family bar. But if this keeps up that could change.
