Speaking of being an A-hole...

This is end of your Godfather I; baptism and Carlo, right?

It's all downhill from here. Heartbreaking betrayal.
 
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BrammyH said:
Yeah, I thought the new guy was heaven-sent?
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What has he done for him lately?

He obviously didn't spend enough time...in the pocket!!

He musn't have been...laying down enough funky grooves!!

Why play quarter notes, when you can play...50 cent notes!!
 
The now former new guy was fantastic, awesome guy, great player etc..

But, he was also dividing his time between several bands at our expense. The progress was all but stagnant. Last night I went and saw my old nemesis play, and spent a good long time hanging out again with his bass player whom was my first choice from the beginning, and whom had auditioned and done very well. The only reason I ultimately chose the other guy was to avoid drama.

This morning, I let my band mates (minus the bass player) know that tonight would determine his fate as I had run out of patience.

A few minutes later, Chas (the nemesis' bass player) texted me to let me know that he had quit the band.

Then this afternoon, our bass player, whom had played a gig last night with another band, texted us all to let us know that he had a last minute gig pop up and wouldn't make rehearsal tonight less than two hours before we were to get together.

He stuck the fork in himself really.

I immediately called Chas, asked him if he wanted to come jam with his new band tonight, to which he jumped at the chance.

I them fired the other guy.

The rest of us all met up for a beer an hour later, then along with Chas, had an amazing and highly productive practice that just wrapped up.

Crazy 24 hours that ultimately netted a great result.
 
Nothing personal OGG, but if I had the option of rehearsing with a band with very little on the books or taking a gig it would be a No Brainer for me.It would just be business
 
Scott Powell said:
Nothing personal OGG, but if I had the option of rehearsing with a band with very little on the books or taking a gig it would be a No Brainer for me.It would just be business
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None taken, I agree whole heartedly.

By the same token. The other four of us had to cancel already booked gigs, and pass up several more while we tried to get our new bass player up to speed. We too have financial needs, and are all heavily invested both monetarily and in nearly two years of hard work.

The fact that he was not forthcoming in the beginning about his other band obligations is something that didn't sit well when discovered. It was only discovered after multiple canceled rehearsals and unproductive rehearsals that were entirely the result of him being ill prepared.

We just went two weeks without rehearsing, the night of the last one, I sent out a very detailed and specific list of what the song priorities were and what to come prepared to play tonight. That email was answered and acknowledged by all parties.

This past Wednesday, he emailed asking what songs we were supposed to work on tonight... yeah.

Then last night, I see he has posted pics and videos of the gig he played last night. This left me wondering how prepared he was going to be tonight, having only had 1 full day to prepare despite the two week intermission which began with clear instructions that somehow he acknowledged but forgot along the way.

After first letting my other band mates know this morning that his future hinged on tonight, and assuring them that as leader I took my obligation to provide them with the best possible opportunities to recover from our limbo and to get back to playing paid gigs ASAP, I then received word within minutes from Chas that he had quit the Nemesis' band.

When he eventually canceled on us with two hours notice, I had no choice but to both stick to my word, and to make the right "business" choice for the greater good of the band as a whole, and for the guys who have been loyal, patient, and who have also invested so greatly in the project.

Indeed, business is business. It is also precisely why he lost his position in this business.

And for any doubts I may have had, they were instantly erased by his shitty response to a very heartfelt and sincere parting of ways. To which, I should ad, I took the high road and doubled down on the apologies and appreciation when it would have been much easier to light him up.

In the end, he wound up feeling like the douche. Unfortunate, but also irrelevant. The night went off without a hitch and we had an amazingly fun and productive session with his replacement.

We ended the day significantly closer to being gig ready than we have been in the two months since losing the first guy. In fact, Chas is so well prepared that I am going to start booking new shows immediately, and if an impromptu gig arises, I have total confidence that we could pull it off.

Business is good.
 
I dunno for what the fired bassist was looking. Evidently it was not a band in which he to put in some effort.

If you didn't jettison the dude, the band would make no progress toward paying gigs.
 
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Rick 381 said:
You should tell old new guy that there's an opening at Nemesis band.
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Actually, there are two openings in Nemesis band as his drummer quit yesterday too.

Old new guy and Nemesis are not to be however, as Nemesis' first band way back in the early 80s was with old new guy, from which Nemesis got fired for an over abundance of suckage, and has held a grudge over ever since.

For realz yo.

There is so much tragic comedy and irony surrounding Nemesis that I could write a Judd Apatow style screenplay and make a ducking mint. Perhaps more Cameron Crow than Apatow, but priceless either way.

BTW, Nemesis just messaged me stating that he isn't sure, but his bass player and drummer might have quit on him.

I had to resist the overwhelming urge to inform him that his bass player has already paid me his share of the September studio rent.

Thug life.
 
USian Pie said:
Is Nemesis the actual name of the band or are we just calling it that?
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Nemesis is not the name of the guy or the band.

The guy, once upon a time way back when, was a local musician that is older than me, and lived less than a block away. I met him in 1985 by random circumstances while I was dating his then bass player's little sister.

The dude was larger than life. 6'4" with platinum blonde hair and the look of a true rock star. He was infatuated with the same music I was, but because he had been around longer, he was much more versed and knowledgeable about the genre and had an amazing music collection. The first time I went to his house (I was 15) and saw his Roland Juno 60, ARP OMNI, and Rickenbacher bass along with that insane collection, I was in awe.

He had already been out on the scene playing in bands that covered the music I loved and was therefore somewhat of a God to me.

His birth name is Roger. Back then, he went by "Rajar". He was always egocentric and quirky, and had a revolving door of band mates due to his unique and difficult personality. However, to his credit, for several years, he was much nicer to me than he was most others, and he genuinely supported and inspired me to get involved in live music despite being the punk kid with no skill.

In fact, my first real band was made up entirely of his former band mates who were also older and had a lot of experience themselves, and our first show was in support of his then current band at a hugely popular local venue that I wasn't even old enough to enter as I was only 16. I owe a great deal of gratitude to him for his part in of all of the awesome moments in my life that stemmed from that early support.

At some point in 88?, he got twisted up over something, and decided that he hated me. I'm just one of many that experienced a similar scenario.

Over the next 3 decades, we rarely interacted, and when we did, it was never exactly pleasant. During that time, he changed his name to Raven White for many years and ran through a couple hundred more band mates. A couple of years ago, he changed it again to Valentino Frankenstein and still goes by that.

A few months, I reached out to him to try and bury the hatchet and see if at the very least, we could be civil since our bands have similar themes and it was inevitable that we would wind up on the same bill at some point.

It was slow going at first, but we did manage to patch things up and he even called upon us to gig with his band on two days notice because the other band suddenly canceled. We had a great time, and it was a true pleasure to be sharing a stage together again after so many years. It was a huge moment of closure and bittersweet reflection.

That's also when I met his bass player, who grabbed me in the parking lot to gush over how great we were.

Anyway, during this recent reconciliation period, he often refers to himself as my "Personal Nemesis", which is unfortunately pretty accurate as it relates to the nearly 30 years of stupidity.

It's difficult for me, because as much as I feel indebted to him, and am glad to have resolved those old issues, when I see how he treats his band mates as he did on Friday, I am reminded of precisely why he is so notorious and has gone through so many of them. It's nearly impossible to find a musician in the San Diego metro area of 7,000,000+ people who aren't either former band mates, or know precisely who he is and refuse to work with him.

So, on one hand, I feel bad for him, and a tad guilty, but on the other hand, I feel like a hero for giving his bass player both an escape and a sanctuary from the madness.
 
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