If The Gig Doesn't Fit
If you get offered the gig but you know you’re not the right fit…do you still take the gig?
Maybe you got it because you’re pals with the band leader, or because you’ve got great technical chops, or because you’re not risky, or because you have solid values, or no values, or because you were available, or because you look cool, or because you’re related to someone cool, or because you’ll put up with a lot of shenanigans.
But if you still know deep down you’re not the right fit, at what point do you pass on the offer?
You get to choose. (You survived before this gig, and you’ll survive if you turn it down.)
The answers are different for everyone…but you don’t need answers for everyone.
Celebrity Game
If you haven’t played…the celebrity game is where everyone on the team writes the name of a celebrity on a little piece of paper, all the names go in a hat, one person goes to the front and draws a name and has to get the team to guess the name. It’s basically celebrity charades.
The game got popular with my friends when I was in high school…and the people who were the best at the game weren’t professional actors. They weren’t actors, or impressionists, or Hollywood correspondents. They simply knew how to get their team on the same wavelength.
Going All In
Ears. Shoes. Omelettes.
An encore isn’t going to happen if most of the band has already taken their in-ears out.
It’s almost impossible to get someone to play one more game after they’ve taken their shoes off.
The cook in your kitchen isn’t going to make you an omelette after the dishes are done.
It’s not hard to put ears back in, shoes back on, or heat up a skillet.
But there’s a mental off switch that goes along with each of these. That’s what’s hard to flip back the other way.
Hard Won Realization
The best artists have come to realize the power they have to serve and give the audience a great experience.
That realization is hard won. An artist starts off oblivious to it, then gets acquainted with it, plays with it, wields it for personal gain, lets it go to their head...and often times it stops there or they get lost along the way…but then hopefully there is an awakening. An embracing of it as ‘power to’ instead of ‘power over’. An understanding that all the attention they’re receiving can be used for the benefit of everyone.
»» The magic metaphor is that as the spotlight is on you, your head turns into a disco ball so we can all party.