Floater: One Dumb-ass Has to Wreck it For the Rest of Us (San Francisco, CA)
It was a beautiful night in downtown San Francisco and the crowd filled up the bar. The opening band, Flamingo Gunfight, played a great set and the place was jumping. It was an Irish whiskey kind of night and we were ready. The sound on stage was tight and all through the set we could feel the audience enjoying the show. Before we could get to the end of our set I could see the sound guy signaling me with the universal sign for “it’s over,” the finger drawing a line across the throat.
I didn’t know why the show was over, since we couldn’t see any problems and it was nowhere close to last call. Then we hear the house music coming on. The crowd is cheering for more music and we want to give it to them, but the house music is on and the mics on stage are off. So we head out to the bar, a bit confused. And that’s when I am asked one of the rudest questions I have ever had the displeasure of hearing.
The bartender asks me, “What is it about you guys that brings out the cokeheads?”
Now, I happily admit that Floater crowds are fairly well known for buying an awful lot of drinks. I also know that many of them enjoy marijuana, sometimes more publicly than expected. Over the years I have heard a lot of comments about Floater shows and pot, or giant bar tabs, but this is the first time I have ever heard anyone associate us with coke. It pissed me off.
It turns out that out of the hundreds of people at the show they had some asshole who was coked-up and trying to fight with people. They kicked him out and he got in a fight with a security guard in front of the club. So, for this, the show was ended and I had to endure Floater being rudely and falsely labeled. Why isn’t some coked-up ass the club’s fault? How about the neighborhood? The presumption that it’s the band’s fault is not just wrong, it’s incredibly rude. How would he have felt if I had stepped off stage and asked, “What is it about your bar that brings in the violent, coked-up idiots?”
I’m sure there are those who will say I’m over-reacting and they could be right, but when people make derisive comments about Floater or the fans I get protective. But isn’t that the way things always seem to work? One dumb-ass has to wreck it for the rest of us.
Next stop is Shasta Lake and the Oktoberfest. Maybe there we’ll be allowed to finish our set.
Links:
FloaterSpace
Cocaine (Wikipedia)
Related posts:
- Floater: Floater + King Black Acid = Romantic Explosion (Eugene, OR) 11/22/08 W
- Floater: Of Amp Disasters and Good People (Boise, ID) The Knitti
- Floater: Defying Every L.A. Audience Stereotype at the Viper Room (L.A., CA) Playing at
- Floater: Models of Preparedness We Are Not (Southern Oregon to Chico) Rogue radi
- Floater: There’s Crazy and Then There’s Utah Laws Crazy (Chico all the way to SLC) The Senato
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dizzy
says:What is it about floater shows that you always have 5, 10, 100 completely uneventful shows and then one bad event tarnishes the bulk of your work?
Posted @ October 23rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalinkap
says:I thought you guys brought out all the military guys..
But seriously, that is crap. Floater crowds are typically well-behaved and non-violent. Any malicious acts are usually accidental displays of clumsiness to be followed by apologies (guys falling on tables, spilling entire pitchers on girls, that kind of thing).
Posted @ October 27th, 2009 at 6:12 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalinkmits5k
says:No such thing as an uneventful Floater show.
Posted @ October 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalinkGeohempseed
says:I was at the show and i never even saw anything happen, that was accually the most friendly show I’ve even been to, I met more people at that show than any other of the floater shows ive been to. No one was trying to yell at floater, and no one was pushing people, it was awesome. If you come back just go to the “bottom of the hill” like you did earlier this year, its a better venue and no tenderloin community either. THANK YOU so much floater for your shows and your music. and thank you LOCAL CUT
floater forever
Posted @ October 27th, 2009 at 6:20 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalinkstrength through unity
Thomas
says:Rob,
Sometimes when you care so much about something, you get over-protective. Totally normal.
The SFO bartender was a quick-to-judge idiot. Don’t think twice about him. Nobody else will.
Posted @ October 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalinkDanielle
says:I was wondering what happened. I thought there was no way that you guys would end that early, let alone the bar do last call at midnight on a Friday night – weird… Anywho, you guys absolutely rocked – wish we could have heard more… can’t wait to come and see you again… By the way, everyone I met that night was just happy to get a fresh breath of good music – no dirty business… Seeing you guys jam that night was a testimony to how the music is so ingrained in you that it simply oozes from and is inseparable from your being – the Spanish word for it is close to energy – anima… As if you give it life… Thank you to all 3 of you for continuing to bless our ears and souls with some of the best music we have ever encountered.
Posted @ October 28th, 2009 at 9:49 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalinkNicktod
says:This is why we need to abolish hate crimes… So we can savagely beat down ANYONE deserves it. And after this savage crowd pounding, I bet COKE BOY will think twice as well as the others who witnessed it.
Posted @ October 31st, 2009 at 12:44 pm (October 20th, 2009) | Flag this Comment | permalink