The Guest List
Friend: "Hey man, I'm short on cash. Can you put me on the guest list?"
Me: "Sigh. Ok."
You may be thinking "don't be such a cheapskate", but that's not what this is about. I could care less about somebody's five dollars. I've always disliked the concept of the "guest list" because I find it promotes elitism. If you're a friend of the band with no money, you get in. If you don't know the band but want to see them, and have no money, you don't get in. Whether or not you get to see the show is determined by who you are friends with.
As I've gotten older and played more and more shows, I've softened my opinion. You just can't avoid making deals like these, even in a supposedly egalitarian setting. In the past I was rarely asked this question, and if I was I'd refer the person to someone else in the band. I think of myself when I first started going to shows; it seemed like everyone knew everyone else, and I didn't know anybody. It all looked like a clique to me, which I had somehow come to believe that punk rock was against. In retrospect, I could have just been more sociable and reaped whatever benefits that might have generated, but I wasn't that kind of person then. That's another discussion.
I still think it's a little greasy to ask to be on the guest list without offering to do anything like selling merch or hauling gear or whatever. I feel like I'm in some old-boys network. I hate that crap.
Someone once pointed out to me that it's better to let your friend in for free than to play to no one. I guess this is true. My bands almost never play to packed houses. I suppose I've accepted the guest list somewhere along the line. I've got to admit, if one of my friends' bands is playing with a whole bunch of shitty bands I hate, I'm not above trying to use this priviledge.
So the moral of this story is, alternately:
Young Me: If you're in the position to help others, never help out your friends unless you also help out an equal number of strangers. Otherwise, you support an elitist hierarchy and are very un-punk.
Old Me: Help out whoever asks. Or something.
What an unfocused post!
Me: "Sigh. Ok."
You may be thinking "don't be such a cheapskate", but that's not what this is about. I could care less about somebody's five dollars. I've always disliked the concept of the "guest list" because I find it promotes elitism. If you're a friend of the band with no money, you get in. If you don't know the band but want to see them, and have no money, you don't get in. Whether or not you get to see the show is determined by who you are friends with.
As I've gotten older and played more and more shows, I've softened my opinion. You just can't avoid making deals like these, even in a supposedly egalitarian setting. In the past I was rarely asked this question, and if I was I'd refer the person to someone else in the band. I think of myself when I first started going to shows; it seemed like everyone knew everyone else, and I didn't know anybody. It all looked like a clique to me, which I had somehow come to believe that punk rock was against. In retrospect, I could have just been more sociable and reaped whatever benefits that might have generated, but I wasn't that kind of person then. That's another discussion.
I still think it's a little greasy to ask to be on the guest list without offering to do anything like selling merch or hauling gear or whatever. I feel like I'm in some old-boys network. I hate that crap.
Someone once pointed out to me that it's better to let your friend in for free than to play to no one. I guess this is true. My bands almost never play to packed houses. I suppose I've accepted the guest list somewhere along the line. I've got to admit, if one of my friends' bands is playing with a whole bunch of shitty bands I hate, I'm not above trying to use this priviledge.
So the moral of this story is, alternately:
Young Me: If you're in the position to help others, never help out your friends unless you also help out an equal number of strangers. Otherwise, you support an elitist hierarchy and are very un-punk.
Old Me: Help out whoever asks. Or something.
What an unfocused post!
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 5:11 PM
1 Comments:
Ah yes, the whole guest list issue. It can be quite a source of awkward feelings.
I haven't had too many problems with guest lists, but what bugs me is people picking merch up off your table, walking away and never coming back to pay. Geez, thanks!
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