Fired for the first time in 45 Years....

Greg Johnson · Post by **Greg Johnson** » 9 Nov 2014 6:59 am

Well I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I was fired from a local 'Honky Tonk Band'. Why... this is the best part. Played at a local bar in Greencastle PA. The owner during the break told the Singer and Bass player (Married couple who ran the band) how much he loved the steel guitar. He went so far in saying without the steel they wouldn't have a act.

Well next morning I got the call and the axe. LOL talk about inflated ego's. P.S. they are now playing 3 piece without a steel LOL

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 9 Nov 2014 7:14 am

Bump in the road...forget it and move on. $:\$

Bill Sinclair · Post by **Bill Sinclair** » 9 Nov 2014 7:39 am

At least it sounds like you've got a good place to gig with your next band. Let me know when that happens and I'll head up the road to hear you!

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 9 Nov 2014 7:44 am

Yup, sounds like you've got your foot in the door for your new band. Do it quick and screw those a-holes.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 9 Nov 2014 8:42 am

I got fired once and they hired me back because I turned out to be better than the guy they hired...lol

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 9 Nov 2014 8:56 am

The club owner did you a favor by separating you from Mr. and Mrs. Ego.

Don R Brown · Post by **Don R Brown** » 9 Nov 2014 9:05 am

I'd be tempted to stop by that bar some slow day and just enjoy a beer. Maybe not volunteer anything, but when the owner brings up the band it would only be honesty to explain you were let go, and when he asks why, to tell him.

I know, I know, rise above it and move on. But you must admit it would at least cross your mind to do it even if you don't actually follow through.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 9 Nov 2014 11:54 am

It would be kind of neat to have a job where a lot of people came to hear you play whatever you felt like on your steel guitar. In fact, it would be really neat. Lemme know....

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 9 Nov 2014 12:32 pm

I spent some time, many trips, in Greencastle,PA a few years ago. What a nice area with a lot great things nearby. Hang in there and remember you could be stuck up here in the frozen Tundra of Corry, PA!

Butch Mullen · Post by **Butch Mullen** » 9 Nov 2014 2:16 pm

Back in the '60's I got fired from my bass playing job and got replaced by the girl singer. But what really hurt, my bossman at the trucking co. said I could be replaced by a talking dog!!!

Don Poland · Post by **Don Poland** » 9 Nov 2014 3:48 pm

I'd be curious to know if the bar owner hires them back for another gig, or boots them. LOL

Chris Brooks · Post by **Chris Brooks** » 10 Nov 2014 6:07 am

In Albuquerque in the 70s I was fired because I was "too good" (Me?!? I don't think so).

Lead singer hired the previous steeler back because he wasn't as "good" and so would never leave the gig.

Chris

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 10 Nov 2014 6:13 am

Your former bosses are dumbasses. Surrounding yourself with better players doesn't make you look worse, it makes you look BETTER.

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 10 Nov 2014 6:28 am

Greg I feel your pain as it just happened to me a month or so ago. I was told I wasn't rock and roll enough. Shoot I didn't know I had to be to play in a country band.

Greg Johnson · Post by **Greg Johnson** » 10 Nov 2014 7:48 am

Lane, your right, musicians always play up to good musicians. That is why I signed on for the summer with a new Nashville act that is going to be working the east coast this summer, and he still likes Allan Jackson more than Jason Aldean

Should be fun.

Don P: they played there yesterday without a steel, and from the rumors they weren't asked back.

I always remember that God has a sense of humor...

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 10 Nov 2014 7:56 am

The sentence "married couple who ran the band" was the bright red light for me. Kiss of death.

John Peay · Post by **John Peay** » 10 Nov 2014 9:14 am

Chris Brooks wrote:Lead singer hired the previous steeler back because he wasn't as "good" and so would never leave the gig.

The "married couple who ran the band" probably chose their spouses using the same logic!

David Cubbedge · Post by **David Cubbedge** » 10 Nov 2014 9:27 am

when I saw "married couple running the band", this is what I first thought of...

Mickey Adams · Post by **Mickey Adams** » 10 Nov 2014 10:33 am

LMAO!!!>...I had EXACTLY the same image!!!>..

Jack Aldrich · Post by **Jack Aldrich** » 10 Nov 2014 11:01 am

My firing from a band was a real boon - it headed me into Hawaiian and non-pedal steel. I was working for a singer who is a compulsive/obsessive. He got on my case for not playing intros EXACTLY like the record. I learned the intro for Jim Ed Brown's "Pop A Top". When we rehearsed it next, I played the intro, and he said "That's not right". I had him play the record, and he admitted that I'd played it "correctly". That did it; I said "Look, if you don't like what I'm doing, fire me.", and he did. I was complaining to a buddy about it, and he said "a friend of mine is in town, and I'm going to his cousin's for a kanekapila. Would you like to come along?" He friend was Ledward Kaapana. I never looked back, and I've had more fun playing Hawaiian than country. I get a couple of pedal steel gigs a year, but I play regularly with local (and islander) Hawaiian groups.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 10 Nov 2014 1:50 pm

Man, you guys are cracking me up.

http://youtu.be/4D8_B9pQEzc

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 10 Nov 2014 1:57 pm

the only shocking remark is:

the first time in 45 Years....

Greg Johnson · Post by **Greg Johnson** » 10 Nov 2014 2:12 pm

Joey,

I have been extremely fortunate in that regard...

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 10 Nov 2014 10:40 pm

I have lost gigs because:

A steel player was not in the budget

I wouldn't commit and go to unpaid rehearsals

My musical voice no longer suits the direction the band is going.

I couldn't keep up musically ( I'm not so great at swing steel guitar jazz stuff)

And all sorts of other reasons. My reaction to losing a gig is to find a weakness that I was not aware of and practice until it is a strength or work on something that is more interesting.

I have never been fired because somebody else is a jerk.

Peter Freiberger · Post by **Peter Freiberger** » 11 Nov 2014 6:18 am

Getting fired frequently helped build my resume.