In between sets at this college party, I’m sitting at this kitchen bar waiting for the keg line to die down. We’re not getting paid for this gig, so I have my email list out. At the mere mention of someone telling me they enjoyed our set, I tell them to write down their email. At one point I just told some kid to give me his email address. He had no idea who I was or why I wanted it, he hadn’t been there for the first set. But he shrugged his shoulders and grabbed my pen.

I look across the room where two girls I’ve dubbed “The Chemical Sisters” have decided to use my PA to blare club music through their laptops and act like they’re really doing something amazing. To my chagrin this tall hippie dude, who reminds me of the lead singer of the Spin Doctors has taken my mic off its stand to scream/sing/rap into it. The volume in the mic channel is way low, so its hard to hear him, but he’s definitely in the mix. I hope he will get tired of this game but he doesn’t.

My friend Rosscoe comes over to ask me something, and I half-jokingly say “Look at this fucking guy, this shit ain’t karaoke. Rosscoe, go tell that guy to take his fucking hands off my mic.”

Excited at the mission he proclaims “Okay!” and hightails it over there.

I sit back amused as I watch Rosscoe, who is significantly shorter than Mic-Kid, dominate the situation. Mic-Kid is reluctant, but Rosscoe calmly grabs the mic from him, and with a few hand gestures somehow backs him down while gracefully placing the mic back on the stand. I was stunned that he was able to stifle Mic-Kid so easily. Rosscoe leaves and I see Mic-Kid standing there, sort of dancing. I keep expecting him to grab the mic again, but he just doesn’t.

About 20 minutes later, I wander over to the PA to tell The Chemical Sisters to turn down their laptops so we can play some goddamn music. Before I can get to them, Mic Kid approaches me “Is this your PA equipment?” I say,”Yeah.”

“Did you tell some guy to tell me not to touch the mics?”

“Yeah”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want to be a dick so I got someone else to be a dick.”

“Oh. Okay man its cool. It’s you’re stuff. I just wanted to know if that kid was being a dick on his own.”

“No I told him to.”

“No problem man, sorry for fucking with the mics.”

“No problem, thanks for coming out.”

As we play our second set, I see Mic-Kid bopping up and down to our tuned-up version of Phil Collins “Another Day In Paradise.”

***

I only say this because while checking someone may be necessary at certain points in your live entertainment career it’s important to note your role as “the entertainment.” Anything you personally do to bring the energy down for an individual is branding your band negatively in that person’s eyes. This includes ignoring people at shows and paying attention to your iPhone instead.

Please note that this can be a passive gesture. Paying attention to your Blackberry instead of speaking to someone who’s wandering around your merch table can be sort of a bummer for that fan too.