7 On Your Side helps Janis Joplin experience band get paid for gig
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A Janis Joplin Tribute Band was busted flat, but not in Baton Rouge, rather near Boston, and was never paid for this playing a gig.
They were hired to play at the Music Room in West Yarmouth Massachusetts back in July.
"That night I was written a check I put it in my bank," said Lisa Polizzi, the band's lead singer. "It ended up bouncing. I get a letter from my bank, I had no idea it even bounced."
It was the fourth time Polizzi played the historic venue bringing her pipes and her bandmates all the way from their home base on Long Island to Cape Cod.
"We all have families, we try to give them a great show and to not get paid, to stiff you, it's sticking it you," said Mitch, a band member.
"I just get mad at the disrespect toward her," said Rick, a band member.
For months, one of the owners kept promising in emails to make good on the $2,300 rubber check, but 50 days out from their sold-out show, they did not receive a dime.
"I called the police department and Yarmouth Police Department, but nothing was being done," she said.
"When a place like that shuts you down they don't realize all the work that it took to get there," a bandmate said.
It's a hard business, at Katie's of Smithtown, where the Janis Joplin Tribute band has played for years.
Owner Brian Karppinen said the band and the bartenders are the last people you want to stiff.
"The band, it the last ones who should've gotten shorted," Karppinen said. "I don't know the man's situation, he should've taken care of the band. If you got the pay the band, put it on your credit card, sell something, I've done it."
Polizzi dropped a line to 7 On Your Side, and we contacted the owner. He made an immediate down payment on Venmo, and then paid installments until they got their full $2,300 plus the bounced check bank fee.
"Thank you 7 On Your Side! Can't thank you enough. You're so amazing!" she said.
The owner apologized and even wants Polizzi to bring her Janis Joplin experience back to the Music Room soon.
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