A dispatch from Team Santana
I feel like I’ve had enough distance from this to post about it.  This is about a venue that I’m not going to name because I’m not out to stir up bad publicity, just tell a story (but if you see me in person and ask, I might tell you if you bring me a cookie).

The other day/week/month, Jananna had a gig at a…place. There were 4 of us total on the bill.

Somewhere in the back and forth about the show, the venue said they’d supply some food, which is super cool. Something about a sandwich was mentioned.

When the time came to cash in on said food after supplying an entertaining 2 hours of music, it turns out the venue really did just mean…one sandwich. Not a sandwich for each performer. One sandwich. I clarified this at the counter, where they said, “Yes…one sandwich” with a straight face. I then uttered these words that kind of made me want to slither under a table and never come back out:

“Can I get the Band Sandwich, then?”

Sigh. Our other compatriots had other places to be so Anna and I split it. It didn’t taste good, but that might have been the acidity of shame.

I try not to be a complainer, and we play for tips quite a bit. We just want to play at this point, and it’s all fine (I know, there’s a larger discussion to be had about playing for free at all, but not for this blog). But I think maybe…just for self-respect purposes, we should have gotten a discount on our food or not been offered anything at all. The four-way Shame Sandwich split just seems a little…awkward.

Because I like to be happy, I will point out that a lot of venues all over really treat musicians well and are very generous.  I know that this type of thing will probably continue because the world is full of musicians who just want to play, and we are grateful every time someone gives us a slot.

It’s just that next time, we’d really prefer to split a bowl of queso instead.