ATTN: All Comedians - WARNING

Do NOT work for Lone Wolf Entertainment/Sam Short Entertainment. The last two tours I've done for them, they've underpaid me both times and are refusing to pay me the balance. They are now taking a new commission out of the contracted amount - this is illegal. They did not do this the first two times I worked for them and they had no explanation for doing it now. Taking commission out of a contract amount is illegal - plain and simple.
I do not do these tours for the money. I go overseas because I come from a military family and respect the men and woman of our military. I feel they deserve a smile whenever we can give them one. (I've now done a total of 15 tours). But some companies like Lone Wolf/Sam Short get large amounts of money from the government to provide shows and now they are underpaying or refusing to pay talent a portion of the money promised or contracted? All I ask is that comedians and bands get a fair payment to cover the time gone. I hope this helps some entertainers to avoid this company. There are many other great companies that value talent and take good care of us!

Good Luck. Support your troops!
Dan

PS. Update as of 2/20/07  I just got my tax form back from this company. Guess what? They taxed me for $300 MORE than what I earned! There's yet ANOTHER law that they are breaking.....

3:30 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Konichiwa, bitches!!!
Current mood: tired
Category: Life

Here is the short story of my trip over to Japan for the beginning of my tour....

What a long freakin' trip! First, a 12 hour flight, direct to Narita (Tokyo) on a Korean Air aircraft that was very old. The inside was the old, 2 X 5 X 2 seat format with one big screen in the middle of the cabin. So everyone watched the same screen.......same screen.......12 hours.....ONE movie, the rest was Korean programming (which we could watch, hearing translated in English, yeah!). The movie was 'The Break Up' with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston. Two or three funny Vince moments; other than that: DOG MEAT. So I spent my time reading, listening to music and trying not to be sick from the Korean Air version of Bi Bim Bop.

Landed in Tokyo at 3:00pm, met Dustin (the other comic on the tour) - who seems to be a great guy, by the way (his first tour). Then we hopped a bus (they called it Limo) to Heneda Airport. The bus ride was a little over an hour. From here we waited at the Heneda Airport for about 2 hours before catching our flight to Hiroshima. We finally board, and take out 1 and 1/2 hour flight to Hiroshima.....this flight, interestingly enough, had about 19 babies on it apparently training for the "Scream Olympics". All I ask for is a Diet Coke. Did I ask for a warm Diet Coke? No. But guess what Dan got? I wanted so bad to splash the warm Diet Coke into the faces of the screaming babies.....better yet, into the faces of the parents of the screaming babies.

Once in Hiroshima, we went though baggage and met our military escort that would be driving us to base. He was right on time which was nice. What wasn't nice is that the ride to base was another hour and a half. I'm not sure if the driver knew we were exhausted, or of he just got a bonus for going over 95 MPH, but he was cruising nonetheless. Also, I think his understanding of English was of the selected hearing-type. He seemed to understand everything we said EXCEPT, "Can we stop to go to the bathroom?".

But it all came to a happy ending when we got to our barracks, where Dustin and I each got our own officers suite where we officially checked in at 10:45pm. I believe that puts my total travel time at about 29 total hours. I went to sleep immediately and got a good 8 hours of sleep. So now I am at the Library at Camp Iwakuni (a Marine Air Base) for about 48 hours. We have our first show tonight, and a day off tomorrow! I will be exploring and introducing Dustin to the infamous 100 Yen store (Like a high end 99cent store).

That's all for now. That's some Sake for that ass.

Take care everyone!
Dan

5:30 PM - 6 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Fuck Birds!
Current mood: aggravated

On the way to a show a while back, my buddy and I passed by an ostrich farm. For those of you that have seen an ostrich in real life, you know that ostriches are mean fuckin' birds. They spit, kick and all kinds of shit. So I told my friend that I thought I could beat the shit out of one ostrich. He didn't think I could do it....he said they kick a lot. Big deal! All you have to do is give 'em a good leg-sweep....and when their little ostrich head comes down you PUNCH them right in the ostrich eye! My friend was debating me, too. He said they have big, heavy wings that they can flap in your face. I said that they are made out of feathers!!! What...like I've never been hit with a fuckin pillow?!?! Fuck birds! Look...an ostrich has a brain the size of a walnut. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a walnut-sized brain bird get a kick in on me. You know what? Fuck all flight animals. 

8:22 PM - 11 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Check out my COMEDY DVD and CD !
Current mood: amused

Finally, after several years in the biz, my first comedy DVD is out. I'm very proud of it. I'd love it if everyone checked out the trailer....

http://www.dansmith.com/store.html

On my DVD, you not only get an hour of comedy, you also get TWO 1/2 hour documentaries from my trips to Afghanistan and Iraq! They are hysterical. PLUS, there are special features, too!
Thank you!!!

Visit my site @ http://www.dansmith.com

9:01 AM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment