My signature says that Music Room appears every weekend. Whole weekend looked open, but life got in the way.
So, as I post this week's Music Room a day late, a dollar short, and years behind in blog time, this week's theme is Missing The Gig. I bet a lot of us have stories about being late for a concert, missing a performance, or showing up at the wrong venue.
Most of you probably have better stories than I do. I was late to a school assembly once. This school had a nice tradition of weekly assemblies every Tuesday, including one student playing a recital piece in front of the entire Upper School (grades 3-6, or 8-11 year olds). You'd preview your piece with the music teacher, and she'd let you know which assembly to be ready for. I wasn't feeling well, arrived midway through the assembly, and didn't get to play at all. Since this wasn't an announced event, my fan base didn't riot and no fifth graders demanded their money back.
These fans weren't as mild-mannered; a Chicago class-action suit tried to get refunds for 172 fans over an aborted Limp Bizkit performance.
Then there's the performers who don't show because they don't want to share the stage with the fans' underwear.
The dispute stems from a set of outdoor arena concerts billed as "Two Great Voices," planned for February 2005 in Melbourne and Sydney, pairing the New Zealand diva with Australian pop star John Farnham. Contract negotiations, venue rental, publicity and ticket sales were all underway when Te Kanawa pulled out entirely in March 2004, citing concerns over artistic control. Leading Edge Events, the promoter producing the concerts, claimed that they had already incurred nearly A$400,000 in expenses and sued the soprano and her former manager, Nick Grace, for A$600,000, plus 25% of potential profits from the venture up to a total of A$2 million.
Te Kanawa testified in a Sydney courtroom last month that she withdrew from the project after seeing, and being horrified by, a DVD of a Farnham concert. In the performance she saw, as at many of the pop crooner's appearances, his middle-aged female fans threw panties at the stage. (This was, of course, the detail that excited headline writers worldwide.) She told the court that she found the spectacle "absolutely horrendous" and that she "was concerned about the knickers or underpants and underwear apparel being thrown at him and him collecting it and obviously holding it in his hands as some sort of trophy.
"How could I, in my classical form, perform in this way?" she asked.
Te Kanawa was sued by the promoter but won the case.
Please share your missed or near-miss performance stories here!
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Previous Music Room Diaries
#11 - 5/27/07 Dkos 5th birthday - Music you loved/hated as a 5 year old!
#10 - 5/20/07 What do you play when you travel?
#9 - 5/12/07 What are you trying to improve?
#8 - 5/05/07 Cinco de Mayo Edition!
#7 - 4/29/07 Requests You Won't Play
#6 - 4/22/07 Crossovers and Genre Jumps
#5 - 4/14/07 Inane Song Structures (Pachelbel)
#4 - 4/07/07 Ear Playing vs Sight Reading
#3 - 3/31/07 Perfect and Relative Pitch
#2 - 3/25/07 Music Lessons
#1 - 3/18/07 Jokes & Stories