I'm Peter Martin. And I'm Adam Manus. You're listening to the You'll

Hear at podcast. Daily Jazz Advice coming at you.

Today we're going to give you seven ways to lose a gig. How would you know about this?

Oh, I know, buddy. I can tell you about losing a gig. Yeah, I mean, I've fired people. And I've lost plenty of gigs, actually.

Right. All right. So what do we mean by lose a gig? I mean that you mess up so badly that you either are not going to get hired for a gig that you potentially could get hired for. Yeah. Or you are going to lose a gig that you are already on. Okay. Or just being fired. These are nice ways to say being fired, right? I thought of this is just a generally, like, you know, this could be titled

too. You want to know why you're not getting any gigs? This could be it. That's right. Seven reasons you aren't working. That's right. All right. Well, let's get started with number one. How about don't prepare at all? That's a good way to lose a gig. That's a good way to lose. Now, we mean just an utter lack of preparation.

Like, you just show up, you're like,

who's up?

Yeah, the gig has been on your calendar. to lose a gig. That's a good way to lose. Now, we mean just an utter lack of preparation.

Like, you just show up, you're like, who's up?

Yeah, the gig has been on your calendar for two months, and you haven't done anything about it. Right. Yeah, that's a great way to show that you don't care about that gig. Although, on the positive side, you did show up, so there's a little bit of preparation. We're going to get to that later, actually.

All right, but no preparation in terms of the music. And you want everything kind of handed to you. You don't even know who else is going to be playing. You're calling 30 minutes before the gig to ask where it is and what you're supposed to wear. Do a little bit of homework about what you're playing, who you're playing with, where you're playing. Now, I will say that this is, sometimes if you want to lose a gig or don't want to do any more gigs at that place or with that person, this is a good way to do it. Oh, this is good. So we could flip this. It's not the easiest way, though. We could flip this list. So, like, want to get rid of a gig without having to actually say I quit? Well, we said seven ways to lose a gig.

We didn't say it's a positive or a negative.

You can use it for whatever you want.

All right, I'll move on here. gig without, you know, having to actually say I quit. Well, we said seven ways to lose the gig. We didn't say it's a positive or negative.

You can use it for whatever you want.

All right, I'll move on here to number two. And that is to be a downer. You can be a total downer on a gig and you will lose it. Would this be like a Debbie Downer? Is that what we're talking about? A Debbie Downer? It would be, you know, one-syllable answers to questions,

not at all interacting with the people you're on the gig with, not interacting with the audience,

just staring at your shoes and or beer on the brakes. You know, even if you're a quiet person,

you can still be polite and pleasant. So that's interesting. So you're really talking more personality-wise on the gig, not even musically, because you could also be a musical downer. You could be a musical downer. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm talking more about just like, in general, like, or even, you know, you ever be on a gig where it's like maybe it's not the best gig, but everybody's, but like one person's like, oh, this stinks and they play like crap on purpose and they're just not into it or whatever. But that's interesting about even the personality because if, like, you could lose a gig if you're sort of a downer, even if you're playing well and sort of executing. I mean, unless you are just the top, top level, you know, Billy Holiday level, then you can do whatever you want.

Right. But I, unless you are just the top, top level, you know, Billy Holiday level, then

you can do whatever you want.

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