Jeff's First US Tour of 2011 – blog #2 (day 11)

Miles Driven - 1455 (approximately)
Average Speed - 48 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 32

We left off in the wee hours of Sunday morning, the 20th of March. We arrived in Blacksburg, where I would be staying with a high school friend and his wife. We took them out for brunch on Sunday, and then went to Rita's for dessert. Rita's Italian Ice locations give out free regular ices on the first day of spring. This would be the second year in a row that we would partake of this magnificence while on tour.

We would watch the Penguins lose to the Rangers that afternoon. The Penguins are doing remarkably well this season, given the myriad of injuries that have befallen them. They are threatening to win the top seed in the Eastern Conference, with just about 5 or 6 games left in the regular season.

On Sunday night, I performed at The Cellar. Sunday nights at this place are an enigma. A couple shows there have been good, but some of them have been scanty in the attendance department. This night was unfortunately of the latter ilk. But every time I play there, there are at least a couple people who are really into the music. This was no exception. A couple was there to listen, and even came back to my show a couple nights later. At least there was that... but this has been the worst show of the tour so far. Sometimes Sundays aren't the best. But here's a cool pic:

On Monday, I was a bit wary of the gig that I would be doing. I used to perform at Starbucks locations pretty regularly back in the day. Many locations used to pay performers, and it was actually a pretty decent venue for live music. Ever since I started touring on a regular basis, both of those aspects started changing. Paying locations dropped, and it was very hard to tell if anyone was paying attention. I would still sell cds, but it always took me by surprise because no one would applaud after the songs. The lack of response is one of the worst things a performer can experience. Thankfully, I seldom play in these types venues any more.

I was set to play at the Starbucks in Christiansburg, which is a stone's throw from Blacksburg. The manager was excited to have me play, and he used to live in Nashville. Unfortunately, the response was nearly typical of most Starbucks shows for that night's show. It started off with some decent applause after songs, but that tapered off, song by song, until there was none. But I could tell that people were paying attention, as several people tipped, and I sold 4 cds. It's just a weird thing to have the same people who weren't clapping be interested enough to buy an album or two. So it went well, and they fed us dinner, too, in the form of breakfast food (Starbucks sells breakfast sandwiches now). I was asked to come back for a shorter morning/lunch performance on that Wednesday, and since I wasn't doing anything else, figured I would give it another go.

On Tuesday night, I would perform at a hookah lounge near Virginia Tech, called She-Sha.

When we got inside, I immediately noticed that they had an 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System set up. They offered to move it for the show, but I liked it, so it stayed.

Tips and cd sales were rather slim, but the room was almost full of people who came out specifically because I was playing. So it was a good night emotionally, if not financially. The couple from The Cellar came out, as well as someone from the previous night's Starbucks show, and a VT student who saw me a year or so ago.

Wednesday the 23rd would be out last day in the Blacksburg area, and would be my first of several 2-show days. We went back to Starbucks around 10:30 am, to set up for an 11 am start. This time, I had a couple in the audience who had looked me up online, and came out to hear me. They had come the previous day (which I was originally scheduled for), and came back on Wednesday after the date was changed. I apologized to them, and assured them that it wasn't my fault. So it was good to have people on my side for the start of that gig. I believe there was some form of clapping after every song I played. I played for about an hour, and sold 6 cds. So it was definitely worth the return visit. We were also fed some breakfast sandwiches again, this time for lunch.

Laundry was done for the first time on Wednesday, and we had to sort clothes from the dryer and repack before heading out from Blacksburg. That evening, I performed in the small town of Forest, Virginia. It's near Lynchburg. There is a well-sized coffee shop out there called The Good Cherry. A student from the nearby Liberty University, named Todd Picht, opened up for me. He brought some folks out, and it was a nice, intimate show for about 10-15 people. I think a return to this venue in the near future is likely. I sold 6 cds. This tour has been going surprisingly well in the cd sale department. People always talk about cd sales plummeting, but they seem to be getting better for me (knock on wood). CDs have much better sound quality than mp3s (at least the standard ones available on iTunes, for example), they can include lyrics and liner notes, as well as other artwork, and they can be signed. They also can include a whole album's worth of material. The move to mp3s is largely killing the concept of the album, as artists are putting out singles more and more these days. It's like we're back in the early 1960's. Anyway, I am on pace to overwhelmingly beat my old record for cd sales in a single tour. Eat that, mp3s!