Here is a minor episode for the "gigs from hell "annals. Imagine someone asks you to dinner. They ask you to bring the food. However, they won’t tell you where they live or what time dinner starts or what sort of food the guests might enjoy. When you try to contact them, they are out of town. I was invited to call in a neighboring state with a fine band from my state. The drive would take the better part of a day and we knew that we wouldn’t come anywhere near making gas money. However, many callers and bands are willing to do ‘charity’ work for new contra communities. Generally when callers/musicians travel, they like to maximize what they offer and will do afternoon music/dance workshops, often for free. When we were first booked, we offered a variety of free workshops. After a month of receiving no response, we brought this offer up again with the caller/organizer who invited us. After three more months, another prompting email query brought a response that the caller/organizer basically didn’t have time to bother. Twenty four hours before the dance, we had still not been informed of where the dance was or what time it started. The last email (2 months previous) from the "host" said they were looking for a new hall. Lack of information on where we might stay and the fact there was a potluck before the dance had us spending money on a pricey meal and motel in the tourist town. The caller/organizer would not be around due to another gig. An enterprising band member finally called a local musician and got a rough idea of where the dance was to be held. What fun….5 generous and experienced folks, willing to lose money, driving a 2 day round trip to help a new caller/series. Nothing about the word "host" applies in this case. So, in order to turn a rant into something constructive, I have composed a bare bones "invitee" form to be sent to guest bands/callers shortly after the invitation is accepted so that new callers/organizers who care about their dance communities might meet the basic requirements of a host: Dear _________(caller,band) Thank you for agreeing to be part of our contra experience. Our dance starts at __, with the pre-teaching starting at ____. The hall is located at___(map link) and will be open by_____. Your sound person will be_____. Usually we have about _____(number of dancers), with about ___% being experienced; of course we may have an influx of newcomers. Our dancers are generally (comfortable/not comfortable) with a hey/contra corners in the first half. Generally, we dance until____PM, then have a break and resume dancing until____PM. Our dancers enjoy a (waltz, polka, hambo, swing) (before, after) break and at the end of the dance. We have arranged for you to stay with ______. Their phone/email/address is_______ Or Below is the contact information for reasonably priced motels near the dance hall We will be able to pay you_$_______. For more information about dance logistics, you may contact me (or ___) at _____. Please let us know in advance what you will need in terms of microphones, etc. Thank you for bringing your expertise to our dancers. For additional goodwill, we suggest that the "host" get the following things right in communication/publicity: Spelling of the caller’s name and the band’s name, where they are from, the date for the gig (these things slipped by in our case). A thank you email would be frosting on the cake. Hope this helps!
