Did I do the right thing?

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T

toqer

New DJ
Feb 1, 2007
426
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53
YouTube - Jerk throws my karaoke mic

Start looking hard at around 1:30 on the video. Not too hard to miss.

Basically what happened was the guy threw the mic hard enough to hit the ceiling, then it fell 9 feet to the tile floor below (still works, a great testament to how durable Shure mics are) I stopped thier song, told them to get off the stage.

*Granted* it might have been an accident, but if you look at the guys hand it's fully open by the time his arm is at the top of it's upward swing. Also some girls from his group started screaming and carrying on, which didn't really make me feel too sympathetic towards thier excuse of "It was an acccciiiiident" (I told her it was a $400 accident)

Afterwards she wrote a yelp review that was totally untrue, video shows I didn't say what she says I said, and things didn't go down exactly as she described.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/seven-bamboo-san-jose#hrid:XKXof3jJeoAVO-6QhKnOsg

From a KJ's pov, did I do the right thing to end the performance early?
 
Toqer To me (from my pov and not being present) it appears to be an accident
Was it handled harshly (just a bit) but I was not their and a you tube video will only show so much. But I don't blame you nor could anyone else for being upset and Yes Shure's are the best..

Personally I think the guy ate too much dork stew
 
Yah reflecting back on it, this is what would have been the right thing to do...

Kill thier BGM and Mics
Krank up the filler music
Walk over and gently take the mics from thier hands.

Getting on the booth mic and talking smack probably wasn't the best way of handling it, but lets get to the root of opinion i'm looking for.. Was cutting them off the right thing to do (yes I know it could have been done better:p )
 
You did the right thing, but people who have no knowledge of the cost of things might think you overreacted they may think is a $9.00 mic. for comparisons sake look at what Eddie Griffith did to the Ferrari Enzo that wasn't his, just an accident for playing silly at trying to eat more than they could. By the way you should post the vid and explain, you can prove a lot with the vid.

It's simple you break my stuff or damage it you're not going to play with it anymore.
 
So you want Little Ricky to be honest, eh...?


I'd never go back to one of yer shows!

It was an obvious accident that the guy threw it too hard, and was unable to catch it, and you stopped the whole night right there for many people, and got obnoxious.


If yer gonna do interactive entertainment, where the guests get to use your equipment, then you have to learn about CoDB (Cost of Doing Business).

Think of it from a guests point of view (that's what I did):

I don't care how much yer mic cost, I'm here to sing and have a good time.

It was an accident, and this KJ got bent out of shape for nothing.


There's two sides to every story... :)
 
To me, it looked like a complete accident. Yes they happen.

It is always hard to think on the spot. It is hard to say what I would have done in your position.

I think you over reacted. But I was not there.
 
Been there, Toqer.

Did you overreact? Not in my book, you abuse my equipment, it's my show, your done, period.

I would have given them what I call the "drunk mics" you only get the Shure if
1. your a regular and 2. I know you well enough to know that you are not going to break my equipment.

Did the guy do it on purpose? That's irrelevant, it happened because he was reckless, when you watch the beginning of the video he is swinging the mic every where.

When you are borrowing someones tools you take care of them, if you don't want to take care of them, then, you don't get to borrow them.

Not that different when you rent, really, you damage it or abuse the equipment there are consequences. You lose your deposit. In this case you lose your privilege to sing.
 
I would have stopped him the moment he opened his mouth and "attempted" to sing...:sqwink:
 
Unfortunately, it was a bad situation......Was it an accident, maybe, maybe not. Honestly, it looked to me as if this guy had a little too much liquid encouragement and got carried away, but that is just my point of view.

Now, I don't know you, and you may think I am a bit harsh, but remember, you did ask.

I do think that you did over react on the mic in front of the entire club, especially dropping the F Bomb. As for cutting him off and playing filler, that is step one, but when you engaged them on the mic, you lost your credibility as a professional host in the eyes of the crowd. It is situations like this that cause us to have damage waivers in our contracts. If you don't have one, get one soon.

Here is how I might have dealt with it. 1. Kill the mics, and get filler music going 2. go up to the dude and ask what the heck that was about. 3. If he gives you attitude, he is done, if he is truly sorry and can convince you it was an accident, he gets one more chance with the understanding that if it happens again, he and he gal pals are done.

I do feel your pain about your mic, however, this stuff does happen from time to time, that is why I no longer use $400 mics for Bar Karaoke. Picture a drunk cowboy, a pitcher of beer and a broken heart.....can you guess where my Brand New Shure ended up??? He was bounced, the mic did work again after drying out, but I did not. I blew my stack at the guy and got an attitude on the mic and the owner, although sorry about my mic, felt it was uncool.....looking back now, I think so too.

I know this is a big show for you so I hope it turned out ok in the end.

Frank
 
These three points echo what I was thinking.

Carolyn said:
I would have given them what I call the "drunk mics" you only get the Shure if 1. your a regular and 2. I know you well enough to know that you are not going to break my equipment.
Click to expand...

franknichols said:
Was it an accident, maybe, maybe not. Honestly, it looked to me as if this guy had a little too much liquid encouragement and got carried away, but that is just my point of view.
Click to expand...

franknichols said:
I do think that you did over react on the mic in front of the entire club, especially dropping the F Bomb.
Click to expand...
 
Did this singer screw up? Without a doubt. Did you overreact to it? I suspect so but that's just one opinion. And we all know that opinions are like a certain part of the human anatomy ~ everybody's got one. :)

Karaoke isn't our market so I can't speak for that aspect. The closest we get to people using the mic is wedding receptions, black tie galas and the like.

I can tell you this: If I see some punk throw our SM58 in the air like a drummer does sticks, I'm gonna be one PO'd MFer. It's not cute, it's not funny and it's not adviseable to piss Wolfie off.

How would you react if you loaned me your car and I busted the windshield out of it? Well, it's the same thing. That mic is my business equipment. I need it to make my living. If you get stupid and break it, you're taking food off my table.

I am very careful about who gets that Shure mic. If there's any doubt in my mind, we have a corded Carvin clone, a CM68 they can use. If they're gonna break a mic, they can break a $60.00 mic, lol. :)
 
Funny the dorks think you overreacted but if you bumped one of them wih a speaker on the way out they would be the first to sue...

If the Mic went through big screen behind them they would that have been an accident too??? They would have to pony up the cash for replacement or land in jail

I lose my mind when someone abuses gear belonging to me I probably would have been worse than you the only difference is I wouldn't have jawed on the mic
 
I sympathize...

I too, have had numb skulls break my gear. I had a dancer reach up and grab my mirror ball and give it a spin. The slip ring holding it to the motor broke, and the ball hit the floor and smashed. I told him he'd have to pony up some cash... and he did. I gave him the ball and said, you paid for it... it's yours.

I agree with Carolyn on this... he's done, but I would have kept my mouth shut on the mic.
 
Wow 14 responses, thanks guys!

Yah it had been a rough week for me. I can't go into too much detail, but I have an ex-friend getting ready to present a bunch of ideas me and my friends have been working on as his own to the company he works for. I actually didn't sleep for 72 hours this week spinning my wheels over it. I was grumpy to start with.

I've learned some good stuff off the responses. It's nice that the general concensus is I did the right thing, though I could have handled it better. I get told all the time I drop too many F-bombs, it's a bad habit I need to get out of.

Subject of Junk Mics:
We've have used Shure T288's for the last 2-3years. We're going to upgrade to PG-288's soon so I guess the T's will become "Junker" mics.

Subject of Disco Balls:
Yah Tyrone, same thing here except it was a mosher. We had a bunch of punk rockers and one of them was singing "Anarchy in the UK" on stage. He played with it till it fell, then he jumped 3 feet in the air and came down on it with his feet. I think all I did was say "$100 will avoid the cops" and it was paid for.

Subject of was it an accident:

OK..... We don't know exactly what was going through this guys mind. Personally I think he was trying to throw it up in the air (to catch it later)

1082133256-Did-I-do-the-right-thing-Our-DJ-Talk-DJ-Help-and-Resources-Chat-Windows-Internet-Explorer.png

That's a freeze frame. It's kind of blurry, but I believe I see a fully open hand indicating he intended to throw it. I think it was that intention that pissed me off to dropping the F bomb too.

Afterwards he tries to be cute.
1082133537-Did-I-do-the-right-thing-Our-DJ-Talk-DJ-Help-and-Resources-Chat-Windows-Internet-Explorer.png
Kinda looks like
1082133710-Home-Alone-1990-Windows-Internet-Explorer.png
or
108213384-doctor-evil-Google-Image-Search-Windows-Internet-Explorer.png


I don't think it was an accident, I think it was intentional.
 
I'm actually in agreement with the above folks too...

Should you have stopped the music? Yes

Should you have dropped the f-bomb? Knowing you the way I do it doesn't surprise me and while it was a warranted reaction the tone of that reaction could have been made just as clear without the f-bomb.

My reaction probably would have been similar but I'm not using 400.00 mics, currently. But, I certainly would have called him out for being an idiot, throwaway mics or not, you don't treat other peoples equipment as if it were some sort of "Play-Scool" toy your child naws on in the baby pin.....

It's really hard to say how a person would react while in the actual situation... truly, toqer did show some restraint.... I've seen harsher reactions, so bravo toqer. :sqwink:
 
I'm sorta baffled here, that people say they would stop the music... :sqconfused:


I've had people knock over speakers, light poles, etc. while gigging. Never felt a need to stop MY job -- I just pick them up, and put back in place. If something gets broke, I worry about that later -- I'm in the middle of a show. Improvise, adapt and overcome.

I've watched the thing over and over, and it's quite plain he was doing a "throw the mic, and catch it" thing, like almost every performer does on stage. Obviously, he was a bit buzzed :)

I knocked over a drummers hi-hat while dancing at our local club one night. I just helped him pick it up, put back in place, and all was well, smiles.


It's just part of the job man...
 
Rick, Just curious, have you ran a lot of karaoke shows?

Reason I ask is this. If you let it go like nothing happened guess what? The next drunk will think that they can do the same or worse "because it's funny" "or cool". Been there, done that, have the t-shirt and the brownie.

The bigger deal you make out of it, and embarrass the person that did it, guess what? Other customers see it, they don't want to be embarrassed, or ruin their good time, so they are careful with the mic.

When I first started karaoke, drunks would do that crap to me all the time. Bang on the mic, hit the mic on the table, swing the corded mic from the cord, throw the mic in the air. One day a drunk smashed my $300.00 mic on the table and ripped the guts out. I snapped, embarrassed the hell out of that guy and barred him from EVER sing on my equipment again. It was amazing after that, very rarely at that show did I have to deal with it again. Now from the get go, I see someone abusing my equipment I have zero tolerance, they are done.
 
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