I've been "caught" four times since I began taping in 1978. First time was in Kansas City at a free concert "in" Brush Creek. It was a Ramsey Lewis show. I was using a JVC 1636 MarkII casette recorder. I had a ghetto rig with two aluminum poles anchored into a 4 x 4 block of wood angled out at about 45 degrees. Attached to the poles were a couple Shure mics I borrowed from a friend, no clips, good old duct tape. So we're rolling along nicely and having a great time when about 45 minutes into the show this guy walks up and presses the stop button. I was so surprised I had no chance to stop him but I and two of my compatriots jumped up like there had been an explosion and I literally yelled at the guy "what the f*** are you doing. He steps back and says "no recording". To which I responded, keep your hands off of my s***. He repeats "no recording" and I said "I heard you, and you don't touch my equipment again understand" and he walks away. I look around and there are numerous individuals with small hand held recorders, the micro cassette type generally. So I hit record and begin to take my sweet time taking the rig down first slowly folding up the blanket, then taking a breather and finising my drink and putting the food and drink into the cooler. It must have taken me 30 - 40 minutes befor I actually began taking down the equipment.
The next day I called the Parks & Rec office as they had sponsered the series. I proceeded to ream them out for having singled me out to which they responded that mine was the only "professional" equipment being used. I had a good laugh at that and told them that it was rediculous to have such a half ass policy and that one man's trash is another man's treasure and I would continue to record at the series until a clear policy was published. Next show, Asleep At The Wheel, no problem. Next show, Pat Metheny, no problem. Guess they got the message.
Next time was at Universal Lending Pavilion, Denver. I had a pair odf SP-CMC-22 mics mounted in heavy gauge wire in a T shape. I held these just under my chin. All was well until the next to last song when an usher waks up leans into the isle and says "put it away". Caught that load and clear on the recording and always have a good chuckle when I hear it.
Two months later, same venue, two ushers walk up to me and one says there's no recording allowed. I tell him that I'd checked online and the artist allowed taping. He said that was not correct and politely asked me to stop. Interestingly enough, the one who didn't say a word was the one who had busted me the first time at that venue.
Fast forward to 2007, Paramount Theater. Get to the show, set up the rig, 1st row balcony. Record the entire show and I'm taking my time taking down the rig when again an usher walks up and says, "I see you were recording." I say yes. He proceeds to tell me that there was no recording allowed. I tell him the artist is open taping. He walks away an returns a couple minutes later and tells me that he checked and security said no taping. So I say ok, show him the file in the H120, show him the delete option and I delete "a" file. He sems satisfied and walks away. I quickly teat down, pack up and rush out of the theater.
I have found that at my age (50+), venue personnel take a much different tact than they did when I was younger.
Topic: What are usually the consequences of getting caught? (Read 10601 times)