BOOKING AGREEMENT

LOAD IN
For a typical four band bill load in time is between 8:30 and 9:00. If you arrive earlier, we will not be there or ready for you to load in. If you show up later, you will risk not being able to load in until between bands time sets. No band will load in while a band is performing. Load in is through the front door of the bar and parking sucks, so happy hunting!
Advertised show start time is almost always 9:00 pm unless otherwise noted. Shows are always 18+ unless otherwise noted. Cost of admission is $5 unless otherwise noted. Please include this information on your website, My Space and flyers.

SOUND & LIGHTING
Sound, PA, and lighting are provided. Opening band will receive a sound check prior to show. Bands following will receive a level check before their set. We use our house sound engineers and people who are familiar with our room, so don't worry! You will sound awesome if you are awesome! If you are interested in bringing in your own sound engineer this is money that will come out of your pocket. You will not save money on the door by bringing in a friend to help you out. All sound engineers must be approved at time of show booking. We know most sound engineers in town, so we know who will blow up our PA and who won't, so we prefer to use our own. Sound will still cost out of the door so we can bring in our normal sound engineer to a) run the other bands that night or b) make sure our guy is there in case something goes wrong.

CLUB SPECS PROVIDED HERE!

NEVER DO THIS
If you are a no call/no show to the club the night of your show, please do not contact us again.

If you show up to the club and act like a jerk, please do not contact us again and you will be asked to leave without pay.

PROMOTIONAL AGREEMENT
You must agree to promote your show. We like it and do pay attention to the bands that send us flyers, send out My Space bulletins, newsletters and contact the press about playing our club. There is no natural draw at the club. Dirty Jack’s is a destination bar, so it is important that you let people know where we are located, how to get there and where and what time your show is. We try to help you as well by posting your electronic flyers on our website and My Space page. We try to send out invites and bulletins as well as time permits. We will do everything we can to help, but it’s been proven over and over again, your fans want to connect with you, so they’ll listen to you more. If you seriously have no idea how to promote a show, please visit our promotions page for some tips. If you are a magic band and can tell no one about your show and people still come, we may wave this rule. We haven’t yet though.

EARLY SETUP
Any band asking for an early set up will be charged more money. There are many things we do throughout our normal days and if we are unable to do them because we have to be at the bar early, we will be compensated $25 an hour extra anytime before 8:00 pm. Bartender and sound engineer arrive to open the club at 8:00 to set up the bar unless the show is set up differently in which case you will be informed prior to the show. We appreciate the 30 minutes to get things cleaned up and ready to go before you start bringing your gear in or asking for drinks.

DOOR POLL POLICY
We do a door poll although we rarely pay by the door poll policy. If you are not familiar with a door poll it simply means that we ask fans as they come through the door who they are there to see. That way we are able to tell who to book you with in the future. If you're a good band, but are still building a following, then it is important for us to know that so we can put you in front of some people that we think are potential fans in the future. If you are a good drawing band we know that we want you back repeatedly and that we will depend on you to keep showing us your excellent promotion skills and bringing the rock. In these cases, some pay may begin to be guaranteed or we will begin to provide you with more "perks" of playing at Dirty Jack's. This is why it is important that you are honest when we ask you what you think you will draw when we are booking your band. If you promise us 50 people and bring 5 then we'll know you were basically just lying to get booked and we'll frown on that more than you telling us that you only think you'll bring a few and booking you with someone else who only brings a few as well making for a poorly attended evening all around.

ALL AGES SHOWS
All ages shows have typically been a bad idea all around. Unless you can draw more than 50 people for each band on the bill, you’re really not going to make a lot of money. We require charging a flat rate of $8 minimum at the door and we will keep $5 and you will take $3 for every ticket sold after the $100 production fee is paid off. If you are a touring band, this is especially a really bad option although it sounds appealing. All ages shows are usually most appealing at clubs that already book all ages shows every night. This is why we sound so sad when you suggest it.

BAND DRINK SPECIALS
Bands receive $1.50 PBR draft, $2 domestic, $3 wells and about 50 cents off additional drinks. THESE ARE FOR BAND MEMBERS ONLY!!!!!! Not band members and their girl/boyfriends, husband/wives or the girl/guy they're trying to take home; not band members and their moms and dads; not band members and friends they're trying to impress; not press, media, booking agents, tour managers.... well, if you don't get it by now, then you just won't. ;) However, we do offer very, very, very reasonable drink prices for those attending the show.

END OF NIGH PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT
One band member must be available at the end of the night in order to be paid. Money will not be paid before the end of the night and arrangements will not be made for later.

GUEST LISTS (updated 5/6/2008)
THERE IS NO GUEST LIST UNTIL 20 PEOPLE HAVE PAID THROUGH THE DOOR!  That means, your merch person, your manager, your wife/husband/fiancee, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your mom, your pet ferret will have to pay at the door.  If 20+ are paid through the door and you want the money for the person you wanted on your guest list, please see us after the show.  We will potentially refund up to two people per band depending on the number of people we are over at the door.  **There may be an exception if you have booked through a promoter, but it will be up to the promoter of the show and vary each time.  Please talk to the promoter or whomever rented out the venue for that night to know what their guest list policy is ahead of time.**

ELMWOOD PLACE NOISE ENFORCEMENT
Please note that while we are in a business area that there is also a near residential area also nearby. We have to keep the noise levels down as much as possible while you are playing at Dirty Jack's. If you are asked to turn down from a level we find unreasonable and you refuse, we will shut your show down. Usually this will mean that the entire show will have to be shut down for the night, so especially if you are playing first, don't ruin it for the other bands! We are doing everything we can to keep everything at a reasonable noise level for our neighbors without compromising your sound.

CINCINNATI MARKETING POLICY
DO NOT BOOK A SHOW IN THE CINCINNATI AREA WITHIN 4-6 WEEKS OF YOUR BOOKED SHOW!!!!!!! There are very few exceptions to this. We love our neighboring venues, but it only hurts us and them if you are going to over-saturate your market. It is never a good idea as a band to play shows in the same market over and over again. It may seem like a good idea at first, but in the long run it is always a bad idea. Again, there are a few exceptions, so you might see it on occasion, but we have our reasons (and sometimes they're not silly).  Most other area venues also have this agreement in place so as to help build a crowd on the night of all of our events.

SHOW LINEUP
We do not book lineups for shows until the show is closer as a general rule. If an outside promoter or your band is setting up the bill, it will be up to them to set up the order of bands. When we book the show, we give the bands a choice in the order that they were booked on the bill. If you were the first band, you have first choice of your spot, if you were last, you, well, you won't get a choice, so be quicker next time. ;)

SET LENGTHS AND REQUIREMENTS (updated 6/11/08)
Set lengths are typically 30-45 minutes long.  If this is not the case, you will be informed via email or My Space email ahead of time.  Sets are to be 30-45 minutes of ORIGINAL MUSIC ONLY!

CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF NEARBY HOTELS