HOW I LEARNED TO HATE KAROKE EVEN MORE

Last Friday, April 3, I did a show in Oakdale, Minnesota, as part of a fund raiser for a very worthwhile organization which provides low-cost housing in the Twin Cities by (and I am not sure I have this right) buying the actual property and then allowing the builders to live in the houses on the land without having to purchase it.

Also present was a Karoke outfit (anybody who does what I do or works as as real musician knows how we feel about these entrepreneurs) by the name of "Coryoke" run by a guy named Cory (get it?). You can visit his site (oh, please do) at: www.coryoke.com.

Any way, while I am packing up MY sound system I notice the "roadie" who is assisting Mr. Cory in dismantling HIS system, taking down MY speaker and folding up MY speaker stand, which is aluminum silver in color. (If you go to the coryoke site, there is a photo of his gear and you will note that it is all BLACK stuff).

Then I see Mr. Michael Anderson, the man who hired both the karoke dude and also hired me, over telling the roadie that not all the sound stuff belongs to them.

After I get what I think is everything back into my vehicle I take a final inventory (which I always do before leaving somewhere far away) and realize that one of my speaker stands is missing.

Mr. Anderson and I go back in and make a thorough check of the premises and sure enough, my speaker stand has been taken by the karoke guys. Now I am pissed. I mean, look at that sound system on the coryoke page again. Is there anything remotely aluminum finished to it???

I ask Mr. Anderson if we can't pursue them yet that evening and get my stand back, but he vetoes that and tells me that he will contact them first thing the next day -- and everything will be swell.

Since I don't hear from him on saturday, on sunday I fire off this e mail to the address provided:

Michael:

Just touching base to see if you were able to find out what happened to the errant aluminum silver speaker stand that I will be very much in need of this coming saturday, April 11th. I will be playing at Leaker's Bar and Bowling Alley in lovely down town Glenwood City - if whoever took the stand wants to ship it there, that's okay by me, but I need to know if that is how it is being handled. Otherwise, it can be shipped directly to me:

Larry Heagle
4888 Hobbs Road
Fall Creek, Wisconsin 54742

Here are my telephone numbers:

cell: 715 590 8222 (best bet during the day)
house: (715 834-8815 (best bet evenings)

I also wanted to say thank you for allowing me to be a part of the fund raiser this past weekend and that I hope that funds were indeed raised! The crowd was a great audience to work for and that always makes it easier for me. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I had a bit of trouble staying awake on the way home, but that was solved with a huge cup of coffee!

Larry


I then receive this in reply:

Hi Larry,

I spoke with Cory Petersen, the owner of the Kareoke system on Saturday and he told me he had your stand and speaker cable, which his roadie took by mistake. I sent him all your contact information at 9 pm. this morning as he told me he would take responsibility to get your equipment back ASAP.

His business phone is 651-770-0331 and he's located atr 6337 47th Street North St paul , MN 55128 If you have not heard from him by Monday afternoon give me a call at (763) 228 7137 and I will follow up. His website is www.coryoke.com

Glad you made it home safely. I'm naturally wired so I don't ever get sleepy after a gig.

Michael

Since I do not hear from Corey Petersen on monday, I call Mick back and he says he will get right on it.

Finally, late afternoon, today, I get a call from Corey Petersen which leads to this e mail to Mr. Anderson:

Mick:


"Hi Larry,

I spoke with Cory Petersen, the owner of the Kareoke system on Saturday and he told me he had your stand and speaker cable, which his roadie took by mistake. I sent him all your contact information at 9 pm. this morning as he told me he would take responsibility to get your equipment back ASAP."

Mick -

I thought I would send you this snippet from your past e mail in which Corey Petersen tells you "he would take full responsibility to get my equipment back as soon as possible." Today (tuesday mid afternnon) I got a call from him asking how I want to handle it - I tell him to ship it to me and he had best get on it as it is already tuesday - he tells me he has a better proposition: HE WILL BUY MY STAND FROM ME AND I CAN GO OUT AND GET MYSELF A NEW ONE.

Well, Mick, I am afraid I lost my temper with him and told him that he should get whoever took my stuff to drive the stand and cable to Glenwood City and drop it off at "Leaker's" where I am working this coming saturday. I told him that I am a responsible professional - if I had made the same mistake I would have called and apologized the next day and driven the equipment to St Paul and dropped it off.
I told him I wanted to hear back from him yet today that this problem is solved. It is now after 6PM and I doubt very much that I will be hearing from him.

so I am appealing to you again. I need my stuff! I should've tracked the son of a bitch down that night.

Excuse me for venting. I will let it ride over night and if I don't hear from him I will call you tomorrow. Maybe you and I will have to meet half way in order for me to get it back! God I hate people who do not take responsibility for their own mistakes but want to take an easy way out.

Larry

TO BE CONTINUED

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