Burlap and Blues, The Blues Blog

We have all received that E-Mail telling us that we have won Lottery International for Sum of Dollars Million Three U.S. Three Thousand Sum of. With scams like this infiltrating our email box every day, sometimes a new scam can throw you off, and I almost got suckered into a new one targeting musicians.

My Myspace account has several songs that are very guitar heavy. Last week I received a MySpace message asking if I wanted to open for this national known shredder group. I replied, hey what the heck... What I did not know almost cost me a little money, and maybe even my equipment.

Follow up:

After I had a few opening messages, including the "I really like your stuff", and "Our patrons will be amazed at your music." This place is about a 90 minute drive, and I asked how long they wanted to play.

The response I got threw me for kind of a loop. "$400 for 30 minutes and $600 for an hour." In the back of my mind I was thinkin' hey maybe new gear day might be coming! So I emailed back and said I can do a good hour of material, and gave my phone number.

The call I got took me by surprise. "Hey Ken, I am glad we can book you for your show, all we need to finalize everything is a fax returned contract and your credit card number." I don't remember what I said besides I think we are not on the same page.

The $600 was the performer's fee to have the opportunity to open for big name band. After the dude told me that, he mentioned that there was an additional insurance fee of $150 to cover their costs of my fans. My rowdy fans. Equipment is not covered by house insurance. You need to insure your own equipment

After doing a little searching, this is a common scam for this place, the opening performers don't even play in the same ROOM as the main stage. After they play the performers would have to PAY to see the main act.

Don't fall for a scam like this.