Added: 1 year ago
From: RueDeLaHarpe
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  • i thought he was goin to say somethin else wen he said..take your 500 dollars and......lol...

  • Hilarious.. lol @ $500. I'm a sideman here in NYC.. and you can't get me out of my house for less than $400 on a Saturday night. Ever....

  • Thankgod we're not in germany LOL

  • I played in the Greater "Tampa Bay Area" for 15 years , and if any band did a cover song, they were chased out of the bar. It's a whole different culture down there. It's a song-writers paradise.

    Slowdave out....

  • This is so true. My band once had a bride in tears weeks before her wedding when she wanted us to go to the venue (a 100 mile trip for some of us) THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING, set up our gear, leave it there overnight unattended and go back the next day to play the gig! When she was told that this was just not possible, she got hysterical. Unbelievable.

  • The most ridiculous thing is that the patheric $500 offer would be a great gig here in HK. It's hard as hell to get a gig paying the equivalent of $500. I've been paid $800 HKD (around $100 USD) for a 5 piece band for a gig before. Can't even cover getting there and back after splitting! Not to mention the cost of living is more here, pretty impossible for musicians to survive!

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  • No actually I run a 7 piece band, I decide what I am going to pay dudes like you. I have never had a client like this, you must attract assholes!

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  • Hopefully you can smell problem client and not take the gig!

  • This conversation should of ended at 0:34. There is nothing to be gained by trying to plead your case with someone who doesn't respect your role in the importance of their day.

    As for some of the negative comments about wedding djs, they are well founded but I suggest that it might be more productive to deal with less professional bands who under cut your prices rather then crap on the djs.

  • The 1 dislike is the bride

  • This is not even a joke. This IS REAL!!!!! Perfect!!

  • @baronbuttocks2 YOU ARE A FRICKIN IDIOT!!!!

  • Sooo true!

  • a fellow muso sent this link to me - its brilliant and sums up exactly what the general public think of us-- i also love the guy who comments that its 17 dollars an hour each

    has he never heard the word expenses or equipment upkeep or any of the myriad of things we havr to go thru for that 5 hours on stage (at $17 an hour)

  • That was pretty damn hilarious. Y'all need to make more videos!!

  • HITS NAIL ON HEAD. Let the clueless hire DJs; the rest of us know that a good live band beats the hell outta any DJ.

  • That's what is nice about not having to make a living playing music. I just excuse myself from these kinds of conversations and walk away. I get plenty of gigs that pay what I ask, without having to feel like I've got to put up with this. But I know someone wants the gig bad enough to tolerate this garbage. Just not me!

  • As a professional musician of about 40 years, it's encouraging to see the comments from pros about keeping their prices up. Now if we could just convince all those other SUPPOSED professionals to stop undercutting the rest of us JUST so they can get the job. Keeping our prices at a reasonable level makes what we do more valuable and allows us to continue making a living doing this.

  • @MiditheVeg That's also called anti-competitive trading and is wholly illegal. But nice thought...

    

  • @baronbuttocks2 A lady called the Los Angeles musicians union to inquire about the cost of booking a five piece band with a singer for a wedding... The AFM rep says "Off the top of my head, roughly two thousand dollars"... She says "WHAT ? FOR MUSIC ?"... ...The rep responds "Ma'am... I'll tell you what. Call the plumbers' union and ask for six plumbers to work from six to twelve o'clock on a Saturday night

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  • AWESOME man you have hit the nail on the head ROTFLMAO

  • Every time I turn down a wedding gig because the bride is too cheap, I watch this video and giggle.

  • @baronbuttocks - you obviously aren't a musician. I wouldn't play a solo gig for 5 hours non-stop for $500.00. Lugging my equipment - set up, tear down, travel time and expense - not to mention that I am a professional with lots of training. Just because I am not a doctor or a lawyer doesn't mean my education didn't cost as much and my skills and education aren't as valuable as theirs are. People who hire musicians need to understand what they are paying for.

  • this is freaking awesome

  • Try doing free-lance web-design and after the contract is signed and the website is made the client decides 3 months down the road they could "do it themselves" and try to avoid paying you--which they're still contractually obligated. Payment finally arrives 6 months after initially promised and they give all the source code to their nephew who is "Good with that web stuff" and you see your work butchered to hell at a later date. Thank god for binding contracts.

  • @Porthbot

    yep... that is the truth unfortunately as graphic/web design has been de professionalised... contracts all the way for me, they don't want to sign I feel vindicated walking away.

  • @baronbuttocks2 You are obviously not a golfer.

  • Don't ridacyule me

  • This video is like history written with lightning and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.

  • @baronbuttocks2

    Please keep in mind that most professional musicians don't play gigs for 40 hours per week (8 hours per day), thus the pay per hour is not comparable to a "regular" job. They also spend a great deal of time practicing, individually, as a group, as well as traveling to and fro, and must purchase expensive instruments and other gear such as amplifiers, etc. They are members of a highly skilled profession and to be able to pay the rent (a real challenge), they must be paid fairly.

  • @baronbuttocks2 pretty good, but anyone can get a way better gig.

  • 25,000 on a ballroom, 9,000 on photographer, 5,000 on cake and 6,000 on flowers? ha ha ha!

  • The best parts are: BRIDE: "Because it's my money & I'll do what I want even if it means wrecking my own wedding".

    MUSICIAN: "You are stubborn and stupid. But we'll do it".

    And...

    "That's fine. Maybe you could ask her to stab me with the cake knife, because that will be less painful than sitting through your wedding on the bandstand".

    And...

    BRIDE: "Because of your bad attitude, I am going to hire a wedding coordinator to come over and tell you to turn it down before you even start playing".

  • This is pretty much interchangeable with working in graphic design...

  • "You are stubborn and stupid but we'll do it." LOL

    4:34

  • so sad......... but so true

  • As real as it gets!

  • All of this is SO TRUE! Voice of experience here..

  • i'm free that evening and will do the gig

  • We had a mother of the bride who wanted US to give her a 50% refund because the power went out because of a storm outside and we couldn't play amplified. We walked around that damn room playing New Orleans Center Line style stuff acoustically for almost an hour and kept the guests upbeat and dancing until the power came back on. Even cheered up her daughter who was in tears because her dress had gotten all muddy because of all the rain outside.

  • I understand that lesser quality is considered acceptable than used to be, allowing DJ's and karaoke whores to be considered "equal" to a live band which equaltes to less work for less money. But the reality here is that musicians don't want to do what the rest of us have to do, which is get a second job if the first one ain't cuttin' it. So either get a second job like the rest of us schmucks or live within your means. Either way, stop your bitching. Jesus. QQ more.

  • So true!

  • This is magnificently true...EXACTLY true.

  • - My husband is the CEO of an oil company called Shell. My mother is a lawyer and my father is the president of a small country.

    SO GOOD! haha

  • Haha, the funny part about this video is that it's true.

  • I am in the afore mentioned band laughing jacks. This is absolutely hilarious and an accurate picture of an evening reception. Excellent!!!!!!

  • I run a pro band in The North East of England. We recently played our 1200th wedding gig. The conversation in the clip is so very true. We have hundreds of stories...we recently had a stage invasion from a totally naked man who had been dancing with the other guests as if nothing was amiss. I forced him off the stage when he grabbed our (female) lead singer. The bride assured me it was ok, as he was a "great guy", who "does that sort of thing all the time"...seemingly he was soaked in sweat...

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  • I have been in the music business forty+ years and I think I've heard this conversation or one like it many times. The last wedding I did the niece got up to sing 'At Last' and thank god it was OK. The money, the people, the setting, the music set list, can all be a problem and there's no end to the hardships that can be put to you. I have wanted to kick a number of people in the ass or in the balls but it's a wedding and you wouldn't want to ruin such a happy event.

  • To say that you "hit the nail on the head" with this crazy video would be the understatement of the century - Haaah ! ! ! GREAT JOB ! ! !

  • OMG... this is way too familiar. I think I've meet this bride! :)

  • After 25 years of wedding receptions, a rather portly bride came up to me and asked that we play "the cake cutting song" because they were ready to cut the cake. I said, "I'm sorry, but I don't know "The cake cutting song" by that name. Then she started humming "The Farmer in the Dell" Dilemma....shall we play something else or shall we follow her instruction with fear the guest will think we are making fun of her rather "farm animal" size?

  • @rhodgson3 - OMG, now that's funny!!

  • Glad I moved on from weddings. Got lotsa stories. Used to be, they'd welcomly insist the band eats. I recall a wedding gig where full prime rib was served but not as much as a crust of bread for the band. Our mouths were watering. There were two garbage bins, of course placed by us at the bandstand. We had to keep playing, watching left over hunks of prime rib being dumped by snotty waitresses who'd deliberately loudy toss the dishes into the bus tray because they hated the wedding music.

  • The Wedding Band Musician Mantra: Put On The Tux And Go Make The Bucks.

  • oh man this is so true..

  • I've developed a couple strategies to deal with two of the issues brought up here in this all-too-real dialogue. "Sitting in"-- I just tell them only if I can sit in with YOU at work when you get back from your honeymoon-- this is especially comical with lawyers, as they sputter and try to explain that their job requires specialized training and experience-- as if anything else didn't (certainly NOT music, of course), and I just tell them up front I do not deal with wedding coordinators. Period.

  • ...oh my goodness..makes me feel not so alone!

  • This is hilarious/ so sorry for you all

    Sounds normal??? oh Man!!!

  • Some years back, I was the pianist in a sextet...all dressed in tuxes...playing a wedding reception for 250 guests....mostly Italians. Towards the end of our second set, dinner was being served....steak & lobster...when a food fight broke out, and soon escalating to an all-out food fight involving everyone there. The reception was then cancelled, everyone asked to leave, and we were, of course, never paid. Rappers, mindless rockers, and turntablists have put musicians out of the music business.

  • @thegreatdrbob

    A food fight with Lobster? Man, that musta been cool!

  • @thegreatdrbob "Mindless" rock bands work just as hard as you do. It is the rest that kill music.

  • Been in the music biz for almost 30 years and it doesn't get any more real than this!!! This is WHY we drink and do drugs... : )

  • @got2see4myself You have to be kidding me, your band must really suck to attract anyone like this

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  • Jimmy Maltese is a solo strumming backing track act, he doesn't play well with others.....literally . He plays outside to a  disinterested crowd for $50 (or free) and wonders why he gets ridiculed when he starts talking shit here.

  • @cretinalert - The man behind this screen name is John who is a 54 year old man who only finds pleasure in ridiculing everyone else around him. Every comment he has ever made here on YouTube has been a negative one. He is a very sad excuse for a human being and only dreams of accomplishing what others actually do in reality. I truly feel very sorry for such a loser as John and can only quote the old saying; "You only reap what you sow", so I'm sure his life is one of only bitterness & sorrow.

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  • @aphelia23 - It seems as though both you and John have much in common... you're both ignorant losers!!! LOL!!!! I'm truly sorry for you both... :-(

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  • @aphelia23 - He (John) didn't make these Wedding Band cartoons... they were made by RueDeLaHarpe which is labeled right under the video... I guess READING is not one of your stronger skills. All he (John) was doing was commenting negatively on everyone who made a comment on them.... please get all the info straight before you make foolish accusations and show to everyone publicly just how ignorant you really are... what a waste!!! LOL!!!!

  • @aphelia23 - It's funny how the accuser becomes the victim when he doesn't know what he's talking about... you've made your judgements and accusations under totally false pretenses because you've gotten all the information wrong... Glad to see your ignorance and false accusations against someone revealed for the world to see, you have fun too. :-)

  • @cretinalert - I feel so very sorry for you. It must be horrible to live in such misery that you need to attack others with lies and ridicule... : (

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  • Sad but true that people think this way about Musicians, though we really only have ourselves to blame as so many musos are in fact drug addicts who chase women and abuse alcohol.....

  • "I hate musicians, I think they are all drug addicts who chase women and abuse alcohol..." sadly there really are people who think like this woman. WHY DO YOU HATE US? By and large we bring pleasure to the world, we make the world a nicer place to live in....DO YOU?

  • Pretty funny and true.

  • Very true, very true...

  • As a musician about to enter the "real world" of playing crappy gigs for cash, this is altogether too depressing.

  • "Maybe you could ask her to stab me with the cake knife because that will be less painful than sitting through your wedding on the bandstand."

    This is hilarious because it's so accurate. And I love the way the characters are getting increasingly angry but the deadpan intonation never changes. Brilliant.

  • How about that song from "Die Hard" (Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th), or "Ordinary People"? UGH. This is why I quite freelancing. It's always like this.

  • Man! How many times have I had this EXACT conversation and played at weddings like this?!! LOL. It is so true and whoever did this is obviously a muso as only musos are treated this way. My heart is with you ;)

  • lmao - we get the same logic as photographers! ( I want you to shoot for 11 hours for $800 and include an album...etc.)

  • can't tell you how many times I wanted to electrocute someone at a wedding....

  • How many times have I heard this exact same thing!

    The sad part is ....who is more pathetic?

  • I am an entertainment agent and about to send this to all my "wedding bands"....this is SO terribly the truth....and so darn funny at the same time!

  • wow I think I know her

  • @fish2fly EPic!

  • This is so funny - I would have loved to say this to a bride and her mom, NO to uncle Cletus who wants to sit-in and play his spoons!!! Great Video!!

  • so true! So very true

  • Man, eerily familiar. Works for professtional DJs as well.

  • I just cant believe somebody else , and perhaps every musician has had and continues to have these conversations. What is it about bands that everyone thinks they can do it as well or better when drunk. We once had a guy eating his curry on our drummers snare because he wanted to do the next set !!!!!!!

  • Wait a minute... this means my phone must be tapped, how else could you get all my conversations recorded to write this script!

  • This is eerie. The only stone unturned was choice of a song for the First Dance.

    I once had someone request "Me and Mrs. Jones." -Touching.

    And someone once explained to me that Playing the music was just that: play. Work is what people get paid for, not play. Anyway, anybody can do it.

  • @Maxinelong

    You're so right about the first song thing. One of my favorite memories was being asked to play an instrumental version of November Rain for the bride's entrance. We were a tenor sax/gypsy swing guitar duo. And yes, we did it. I don't need to mention that the bride was wearing hot pink high heels. Ah, what a business...

  • LOL!!! "Then stop wrecking it."

  • @Dookiestix awesome post!

  • Ha Ha Ha !! True. Uncle Charlie sucks. No cake for you !!!

  • AWESOMELY ACCURATE!!!!!

  • Hillarious!

  • Goood! You totally forgot about the bride comparing to you the prices of a DJ vs your live band. By the way, why in the hell ALL the DJ's are stupid MORONS????

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  • I also had a father of the groom ask for a partial refund because he thought we started too late. The wedding planner was supposed to give us the go ahead and she was no where to be seen. We waited and then started playing anyway. He didn't have the nerve to call me himself; he had the wedding planner call me. I told her the bride and groom were happy and already paid and told her to have the father give me a call and we could chat about it. He never called. Chump.

  • We used to have to bring our own silverware, because all they'd give us is paper plates.

  • What's the matter with you complainers! Whenever we did weddings we were grateful for carrying our guitars from the loading dock; past the dumpsters filled with schmegma; through the kitchen; up a service elevator into a room where the maitre'd from hell would read us the riot act before we could even set up. THEN we had to eat tomato sandwiches and flat soda; put up with insane relatives and watch crazy drunk Uncle Tom dive bomb the tables with a napkin on his head and sunglasses.

  • Thanks about the way it goes almost exactly. When I was a wedding DJ, I'd get my money BEFORE the gig. That's the only way to avoid being screwed. Bands should do the same.

  • AMEN!!

  • i'm a professional musician. this was cathartic for me. yes. yes.

    

  • as a professoinal musician all i can say is.... WOW that is so true.

    this needs to be played to all brides thinking of booking a band.

  • WE DON'T DO ANY DAVID HASSELHOFF SONGS !!!!

    ...Love it !!!

  • Frightnening!!

    Too real!!!

  • I concur, jglaser!

    Way too factual to be understood;

    extremely funny with a major sting!

    When they said Ritz Carlton in Laguna Beach, I about died!

    (having performed there, and living in the O.C. as I do....)

    - Voicedude

    aka Joel-Steven

    A Cut Above Entertainment

  • wow after being a band leader and sideman for great la entertainment companies

    this was so spot on its scary

    haha

    my best

    jamie glaser

    jamieglaser-com

  • Fabulous! But don't forget the request to play some odd tune when the newlyweds enter the room....or the 'fight song' from the Bride's Father's college!

  • Just got through watching the "Band at the wedding" series. Thanks for venting for us -- I laughed (so funny), I cried (so true) it became a part of me (just kidding!).

  • Spot on !!! I play weddings for a good part of my living I have met many a bride like that....

  • The creator of this video is obviously a very experienced musician. Good job!

  • Hilarious, and largely (allowing for the removal of the veneer of civility) right on. Welcome to MY world.

  • Forgot the part where they leave the wedding for their honeymoon and forget to pay the band! Otherwise...dead on!

  • BRAVO!! Absolutely brilliant and true as hell!! HAHAHA!

  • wow, that's about right!!!! did one of those gigs once, NEVER again, haha!!

  • Hilarious if also too true!

  • let me dumb it down for you a little more

  • Thank God Hasselhof hasn't made it big in Ireland.

  • LOL This is Awesome

  • This is so beautiful.

  • cold chills....how dare you make a documentary of every horrid wedding I've ever done just so you can feel better about your decreped existence....you bastard....

  • Too classic I love it and so very true!

  • This link should be post in Bride Magazine!

  • ...wonderful....I was in tears of laughter....:-)

  • THIS is AWESOME (sad but damned true for New York especially)

  • Brides everywhere should be directed to this video as a form of treatment!

  • RueDeLaHarpe, thank you, thank you!

  • "I want you to learn a new tune, and I will fax it to you (to the Kinko's across town from you, rather than the one in your city). And you'll have to go buy the sheet music for another tune, but I won't reimburse you for that cost, nor the extra rehearsals. Oh, and I'm a friend of Joe's, can I have a discount?"

  • It's a good thing most wedding entertainers have a uniquely well-developed gallows humor quotient! That was way too accurate!

  • Absolutely hilarious - you had me laughing out loud several times during the video. Love it.

  • Yeah, she forgot two things:

    1. "We will not give you anywhere near enough room to set up"

    and

    2. "No matter how quiet you play we'll tell you you're too loud because we're idiots who expect live music to be the same volume as aradio and just as controllable"

    I have run into SO many idiot 'civilians' (non-musicians) who are just like this woman. I would have told her to screw-off about a minute into the video. This guy's way too patient.

    .

  • OMG! I know this scenario all too well! LOL

  • too true !! i lov'it

  • If anyone asks why I quit the wedding DJ business after 15 years I'm going to send them to this video. You nailed it exactly.

  • Amazing....All true ! All true !

  • This is an opportunity for SOMEONE ELSE! Just say NO!

  • One of the hardest lessons in the music business: Sometimes you gotta say "no".

  • This is my life on a daily basis. Thankyou!

  • "The wedding coordinator will come over before you start and tell you to turn down..."

    Classic!

  • wonderful! 

  • How true! I forgot it was a cartoon...it seemed so very real LOL I love the "you are stubborn and stupid" Ha Ha

  • How true!

  • $5000 for the cake?? Lol

  • Beautiful!

  • thank god we are NOT in Germany ! LOL

  • Spot On!

  • Freakin hilarious! Great job to whoever does this. We all have to go through this crap!

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