Maybe it's a Foster sisters thing, I'm not sure.
Sharon split up with Elaine & Lisa some years ago, even thought they still work with each other when it's convienent. Sharon
is by far the worst one to work for but I worked with both groups from May of '95 thru March of '98. This page is based on my experiences and in my opinion, the Foster Sisters are ripoffs! Watch ya' back!!
Are you looking for a show(?)band that travels? This MIGHT be
the job for you!
Of course you shouldn't mind a few little hassles ~ Basic irresponsiblity and a severe lack of respect for the musicians that back them up for starters.
Typical New Orleans musicianship? Not really, but if you think that's too picky, how about this;
Sometimes you can't get paid after the gig because she says "I've got to wait for the check to clear" when you know the gig paid the deposit in check(weeks or months before) and the rest was in cash at the time of the job. What's the problem here? Everyone knows Sharon has a problem with money because of her gambling addiction but no one confronts her about it... musicians just get ripped off... OR, at best end up having to chase her around town trying to collect on bad checks. This was my experience several times... one check she told me everyday for a week it was good... after a week, I caught up with her and had to get rude with her. Sharon was always "robbing Peter to pay Paul" as they say. Some musicians Sharon stopped hiring and they never got paid or if they did, they settled for less!
Don't mind the little girl on the right with E.L.S. Erika's ego was only outweighed by her bigotry and general inner ugliness as a person. I felt pity for her because of her obvious ignorance. She thought she was Whitney Houston... no one ever told her she wasn't "all that". Too sad.
But back to the Foster Sisters...
How about gettin hired for one price and paid less AFTER the gig is over with... giving some lame excuse like, "I don't remember saying that."
Playing overtime and never seeing that money was pretty standard... the line was, "I will pay you when the "overtime" check comes in. Yea,right!
How about being hired (with 7 weeks in advanced notice) to travel to a South American country for a 3 week musical engagement and at that time, agreeing on a weekly sallary. Then, after changing your entire work schedule around for those three weeks, with less than a week before departure... you get a call and are informed that your sallary has been cut by 30% with the excuse that she simply couldn't afford the original agreed price. After all the alterations you have no work to stay in town for and HAVE TO take the cut/screwing.
Maybe you'd like to be booked to play a Friday & Saturday night in Houston and then that Wednesday before, Sharon calls to pick a fight so she can cancel you on the gigs when the fact is Sharon got another musician to play it cheaper. This kind of situation happened several times.
Every where I play in New Orleans I meet other musicians that have had the same experiences; they won't play with the Foster sisters anymore because the good gigs and good pay weren't worth the time and trouble of trying to get paid and their total lack of professionalism. The joke around town is, "they've run out of New Orleans musicians and have to find them on the road to keep the band going". Again, with Sharon, you never knew who would show up for the gig... in or out of town. The music was usually lame in the throw together bands.
Did I mention rehersals? A real joke! Except for the guitar player (where the 'gatherings' took place) no one was ever on time and ALWAYS half the group was aleast an hour late... EVERY TIME! Did we learn the songs that we seldom got tapes for? No! Did everybody practice at home and have their charts or words prepared so we could get the rehersal done? NO! How could you when most of the time you never got rehersal tapes or even told what songs to work up. Very unprofessional!
There are many more stories to tell about these women but just check around with anyone who's ever played a gig with the Foster Sisters.
What's wrong with these women? I'll tell you! Based on my personal experiences, the facts as know them... in my opinion...
THE FOSTER SISTERS
are LYING THIEVING RIPOFFS !!
If you see them, please feel free to tell'em I said so! Don't support these people, their product or their efforts... they might just rip you off too!