Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her; confidentiality is assured, unless you want to use your drama as a ticket to Internet microfame.
Dear Fan,
I've been the core of an act with someone for 10-plus years. We were pretty loosey-goosey on the money end of things for a long time, mostly because there wasn't much of it. I was putting up the front money, but I wasn't losing much, so I let it slide. Fast-forward to a couple of years ago when we formalized the business end of things between the two of us -- I leveraged a loan to try and give things another push (in addition to other things I was already covering) and am still not being reimbursed for the other guy's half of expenses. He seems to think his bar tabs even out for the travel and promotional expenses I've laid out. And while we're on the eve of things getting legal, I've been getting advice from several people to go the "public humiliation" route -- to make him look like the cheap, self-centered guy he really is. I find the suggestion astonishing -- do you see any beneficial reason to proceed in that fashion?
-Anonymous