Hi.

I'm Dave, a professional musician from Dublin. I was booked to play with my band at the Citi Bar on Dame St. last Monday July 9th. I confirmed the gig twice with Jody, the bar manager (the previous Monday in person and via phone last Friday). One of the bar staff called me on Jody's instructions at 4pm on Monday and told me the gig was cancelled, and they were getting some traditional musicians in on Mondays from now on. (We were due to start a residency there.) I asked to speak to Jody but was told he was busy and that he'd call me back. He didn't.

I finally got through to him on Tuesday evening to ask for a cancellation fee, and he refused to acknowledge that he'd done anything wrong. He said the owners no longer wanted to pay for a full band on Monday nights, so there would be no more gigs - end of story. (I had been playing there for about four months as the bassist in another band, two of whom recently moved home to Oz, and I had arranged with Jody that my other band would take over the Monday night slot.) I replied that if that decision has been made, then that's one thing, but as far as I was concerned he and I had a verbal agreement which he had reneged on, and I felt I was due a cancellation fee. He got pretty annoyed and hung up on me.
I called him again this afternoon to say that I'm still not happy with the way things have been handled, and he told me to try the legal route if that's what I wanted, and hung up on me.

So I called him back immediately, asked him what his problem is. I'm trying to be reasonable about this, I said, and you keep hanging up on me. He repeated that the owners had made the decision blah blah, and I said again that that's irrelevant to me given that I had twice confirmed the gig with him, not with the hotel owners, and as such I felt entitled to a cancellation fee. I told him that he's the one who has screwed up (those are the exact words I used) and he replied that if I kept saying that then I'd better not ever walk past the door of the bar. Then he told me again to go the legal route, and, guess what? He hung up.

So here's the thing - if any of you guys know the musicians who are now playing in there on Monday nights, please tell them to be prepared for the same kind of treatment that I got. I'm gonna pop in there next Monday and tell them myself. And I'd advise anyone else not to take any gigs in there, either, for the same reason.

As far as the legal route goes, I have contacted the MUI to see if I have any further options. Neither the small claims court nor the employment appeals tribunal have any jurisdiction over this kind of problem, and the solicitor option is risky at best, and hella expensive, so what I want to do is make life a little bit more difficult for Jody. Hence this message (yes, I registered just to post this...).

Thanks for reading this far!
Dave.