Shadows Force - The Region's Hottest Rock n Roll Party Band

by Shawn Brinker
(Erie, PA)

WOW! If alot of this shit just doesn't hit home? I'm am certain now that we are definitely NOT the only band dealing with these problems. Who else out there has to deal with the ole "double-booking" excuse for a bar owner to kick ya out to either have a cheaper or larger-drawing band play over your spot? And in these situations, how many of y'all out there never got the phone call and actually traveled an hour to get to that show, only to see another band already set up?

What ever happened to true professionalism. Do we need to send all of these bar and club owners to some type of professional business ethics classes so they understand what a verbal agreement means? Maybe they got the copy of Webster's there the simple word "professionalism" wasn't defined properly.

Would everyone agree with me that "The Cove" would have to be the worst of any of these venues? Not only for being the worst paying venue in NE Ohio and the king of the "double-booking" excuse book, but for PJ Macchia showing the bands the least amount of respect in not returing phonecalls and playing head games. Yet, I see The Cove CONSTANTLY posting bulletins on MySpace looking for bands when he obviously needs some traing on how to proporly use a telephone to call bands back that DO want to play there? Unbelievable how stupid some of these "wanna-be" bar owners can be!

So for all of you that are experiencing these same blatent showings of disrespect and problems arising from the ultimate book of " good excuses and ways to screw a band over" publishing that no band member is allowed to buy, my heart goes out to you. Not only do we walk away un-financially compensated, but also with a furthering damaged reputation of our good names.

I urge all of us to ban together to unleash an attack on these negligent and devious club owners to let them know we're not going to put up with this stuff anymore. Send me some comments back, so as I can post your gripes and experiences on our band website as well. Together, we just might all be able to make a difference. Oh, and by the way, breached verbal contracts between bands and venues CAN be won in court if you are willing to go that extra mile for this cause. Good luck all.