Tough times in the Great Recession

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© 2010 by Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

 

The Great Recession has cut into the number of events I book, the number of concerts I perform, when and if I'm paid for a performance, and the ways event planners and hosts work with entertainers. While most conduct themselves in a solid way, the past 18 months has been rife with less than professional working methods by some of the people who book concerts at venues and communities. 

 

As a result, this year I had to work extra hard to retain the 88 gigs I booked for 2010. Planned between the fall of 2009 and spring of 2010, I saw slippage in my confirmed concerts by mid-summer. It also was hard to get contracts signed and returned. By September I’d seen 12 cancellations by some of the 60 venues that had booked me for one or more events in 2010. 

 

Most cancellations are due to budget cuts at venues. In some cases a concert was booked prior to budget approval. Three months after a booking a program director cancels an event when they realize they don't have the money or their boss told them not to spend the money. 

 

It means less live music for audiences at East Coast venues. For guys like me it means a tougher time scheduling, booking and performing concerts.

 
Perturbing cancellations abound
The resident services person at Collington Life Care Center in Mitchellville, MD eliminated a fall concert two weeks before an event. Why? Her administrator had eliminated the community’s program budget for the balance of 2010.

Another cancellation was announced by a program person at Atria in Rye Brook, NY, who lacked budget approval. I was “accidentally booked,” the program host said. When she refused to reschedule a date or renegotiate terms, I learned she never had the authority to book a concert like mine in the first place.

One vexing cancel came from Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington DC. In early June a recreation coordinator set a November date. In late June I got an email saying her manager's approval was expected. I sent a contract for the gig.

Two months passed without return of a signed contract or word from the rec person. So I sent three emails and left two voice-mail messages. A week later I finally received the following email message:

                    "I apologize about the delay. I had to wait on the 2011
                    budget to get approved. Unfortunately, there is no money
                    for additional programs such as the one we spoke about
                    [for] November. If you have any more questions please
                    feel free to call or e-mail me. Once again a [sic] apologize
                    for the inconvenience."

At least I got an answer, although I didn't "feel free to call or e-mail" her. Why? Few program people return voice mails or emails. I guess they think I will take the hint and go away. Others, I suspect, don't have the skills to navigate their voice mail machinery.

Unbusiness-like behavior
I found it fitting for me to cancel a concert if a program person displayed what I call "unbusiness-like behavior." Three recent examples come to mind.

Program managers at Brightview Assisted Living in East Norriton, PA, Mansion at Strathmore, North Bethesda, MD, and Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville, MD booked a Vintage Music Concert and even signed my contract.

However, two months later each sent their own contract with new terms and conditions we had not discussed — and which I could not meet.

All three refused to discuss the mix-up (“Take it or leave it,” one said.). All three did not want to examine new, mutually agreeable terms.

In each case I thought something was fishy, but I'll never know the reason why they conduct their business this way. Frankly, I find it hard to work with people who operate like that.

Signed contracts were cancelled 
Two cancellations occurred after contracts were sent, signed and returned to me in a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Why? The program person at each site explained, “People changed their mind.”

One came from Colonnades retirement village in Charlottesville, VA. The other came from Maryland Masonic Homes in Cockeysville, MD. Neither person was willing to explain the cancellation, reschedule the event or renegotiate contract terms. Gasp!

Was it something I said or did? I'll never know. In my experience these cancels are caused by budget cuts, sloppy records, inept hosts and poorly balanced programs. All too often these cancels are the result of poor communications by program people and their colleagues.

It pisses me off when these people to act as if their text messages or emails are the same as talking to people. You know, like over a phone or in person. In case no one told you, they aren't.

But nowadays, when people want to cancel a contract with no human interaction or believable explanation, they just send an email. See, wasn't that easy?

One hand ignorant of other hand
Cancellations occur when one person is responsible for concert schedules and booking, while another is responsible for budgets. All too often, neither knows what the other does.

What's more, neither tells me who has the real authority, although it's usually the money person who is not on the property when my concerts occur. Sadly, I'm left to sort out their inconsistent stories and duplicitous actions.

That's what happened with the concert hosts and finance person at Concordia Haven Apartments in Cabot, PA. They played good cop/bad cop with me and the concert booking fell apart.

The concert team booked me, while the finance person, who managed the overall budget, did not return my payment inquiries. "I don't know how to get calls out of my voice mail," she told me when I finally reached her.

The result was a concert booking that fell apart. It was a waste of resources and human energy for both parties. In my view, it also damaged their credibility as business people and responsible adults.

Who's responsible here?
Ultimately, it may not matter if I have a signed contract to deliver a concert to a venue. If the responsible parties at a community want to ignore a contract they signed, forget it was received, or change the payment set-up, they just do it. I may still get a gig and the venue may still get a program, but no one seems to be responsible for their part in the endeavor.

After I inquired about a long-overdue contract made by a retirement village in Manchester, CT, the program person told me: "Not sure what became of the contract."

Likewise, the director of a New Jersey library once told me: "It's lost on my desk somewhere, but we've got you covered."

Performer cancellations
If a performer cancels an event, don't expect equivalency from the venue. In 11 years I've had dozens of concerts cancelled by venues at the last minute. What a pain.

In 11 years I've cancelled only one event at the last minute. In 2005 my infirm, 78-year-old mother went into hospice a few days before a concert I'd planned at Beaumont in Bryn Mawr, PA. Realizing the difficulties I'd have performing, I began calling to reschedule the event.

Mom died on the day of the concert, but the program person never returned any of more than a dozen calls I made. For all I know she thought I was a no-show and saw no reason to return any of my messages.

So many performers cancel at the last minute that program people say they've learned to expect cancellations. It comes with the territory, they say.

It doesn’t matter that I don’t work that way. I’m just one more old-timey song singer among many, they say. In my view, when such attitudes prevail at the venues, it only reinforces the nasty way things work out for both sides.

For the record
For the record I work with venues and hosts to deliver entertainment to their patrons, neighbors and residents. I don't work for them. We are partners — not employer and employee — in the business of entertaining audiences.

Apparently this view does not prevail at some of the communities and venues plying their way through the Great Recession. So, the best I may be able to say is, "Thanks for listening to my music."

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© 2010 by Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved