When I was in Australia earlier this year, I was speaking with a fabulous drummer (who shall remain anonymous) about the perils and pitfalls of being a side person (instrumentalists who are hired and fired at will) and playing with famous singers and songwriters. We were laughing about a particular concert he worked on, where the ‘star’ (who shall also remain nameless) was particularly brutal to the musicians. They survived by forming a betting pool whereby the next person who took the verbal abuse would win the pool of money.
The truth is, this story is a very common one. (not the betting pool part but the abuse).Most musicians have either heard, or heard of, the infamous Buddy Rich tape where he verbally beats the heck out of his entire band. It is strangely amusing to listen to, only because it was a long time ago and oh so far away. Or stories about entire bands being fired and put out of the bus on the side of the highway in the middle of a tour or in the middle of a show. I am constantly amazed by the number of front people who think it is ok to belittle, abuse and shame the musicians who stand on the stage with them. Especially when the musicians are throwing their whole hearts into making the front person (star) sound fabulous. They rule by fear and intimidation and seem to think they will get the best out of people this way.
It is something that continues to baffle me and yet I have seen it with my own eyes, I have heard it with my ears. The discomfort of being in the audience when this humiliation is taking place on the stage in front of me.
Of course there are those who also like to abuse the sound man, the audience, the wait staff. NO one is off-limits. It is just the weirdest thing. It’s like being a ‘star’ gives you the right to treat people badly and then move on as if nothing happened, while the assaulted are left to lick their wounds and wonder what they did to cause this…..
I am not famous, I am not a star, I am just one human trying to understand another….
