Second US Tour of 2011 – blog #1 (Day 8)
Driving Stats:
Miles Driven - 1272
Average Speed - 55 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 32
Ah man, it's hard to update this blog when I'm playing every night... at least I'm getting to it now!
About a month ago, this tour looked like it was going to be my least-busy tour (with about 14 shows in 20 days) since the very first one I tried to book back in 2004. But since then, the music gods have smiled upon me and allowed the musical floodgates to open. Now, this tour is a 20-day, 24-show whirlwind! I want to send a special thank you out to my new booking assistant, who was somehow able to line up 7 shows in an amazingly short amount of time. And the gigs she got lined up have all been worthwhile ones so far. She has already done more work than the previous 5 or 6 booking agents that I've had "work" for me since I moved to Nashville.
I am only about a month away from the end of my 1st US Tour, which was the busiest one of my life so far. This second tour was rather difficult to book, due to the fact that my booking time was limited while I was on tour the first time. But thankfully I've got a full, busy schedule for this one.
This tour is kind of exciting because I am hitting some areas that I haven't been to in ages (namely Buffalo and Rochester, NY), and playing many venues that I've never performed in before. I have to prove myself to new audiences...which is slightly nerve-wracking, in a good way. Of the 24 shows I am doing, 16 are in brand new venues for me.
The tour began in Columbus, OH - a solid 300-mile drive from Nashville. My Berklee friend Michelle Lewis was kind enough to see about adding me to a bill that she was on with a local artist, Angela Perley. I opened up the show, and there was a nice little crowd there, especially considering it was a Tuesday night. I wound up selling 5 cds, all to new listeners. I drive through Columbus several times a year, so I will hopefully see some of you when I come back! I got some venue recommendations from one of the new listeners, as well. Columbus has been a bit of an enigma to me, so that should be helpful for future tours.
I stuck around for Michelle's set, and the beginning of Angela's set - but I had another 3 hours to drive to Pittsburgh, where I would be sleeping that night. I stopped into a Sheetz (a gas station chain in the northeastern US) on the way, and bought a delicious pina colada smoothie. I think it helped make the drive not take too long.
I don't remember when I woke up on Wednesday, but I'm sure it was late in the morning. I unfortunately woke up to the news that my dad had backed into my car on the way to work. The damage wasn't substantial, though, and the car is running fine. The driver door handle was busted a bit, but my handy dad was able to come up with a fix for it. I would later learn that Michelle (who was also playing in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night) got a flat tire on the way to her show that very night. A weird coincidence, I do say.
That night, I would be making my first visit to an open mic as the "Featured Performer". I am really thankful that many open mic series have features. It's a helpful weekday option for touring musicians to get a worthwhile performing opportunity on nights where it might otherwise be difficult to find other attractive options. And many open mic series are very well supported, getting scores of music-friendly folks out to either perform or just listen throughout the night. This series was very well-supported, and ran all the way from about 8:30 until ??? (I left around 11:30, and it was still going strong). I sold a few cds, and made some new friends, one of whom came out for a full show last weekend. It was a nice low-stress environment to play in after a long day of driving he previous day.
Well... I need to head out to SPoT Coffee here in Buffalo, NY for another show at one of those new venues that I mentioned. But hopefully I will be able to find some more time to type this week (and get a few pics up here)!
Thanks for joining me on this second tour of the year!
Miles Driven - 1272
Average Speed - 55 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 32
Ah man, it's hard to update this blog when I'm playing every night... at least I'm getting to it now!
About a month ago, this tour looked like it was going to be my least-busy tour (with about 14 shows in 20 days) since the very first one I tried to book back in 2004. But since then, the music gods have smiled upon me and allowed the musical floodgates to open. Now, this tour is a 20-day, 24-show whirlwind! I want to send a special thank you out to my new booking assistant, who was somehow able to line up 7 shows in an amazingly short amount of time. And the gigs she got lined up have all been worthwhile ones so far. She has already done more work than the previous 5 or 6 booking agents that I've had "work" for me since I moved to Nashville.
I am only about a month away from the end of my 1st US Tour, which was the busiest one of my life so far. This second tour was rather difficult to book, due to the fact that my booking time was limited while I was on tour the first time. But thankfully I've got a full, busy schedule for this one.
This tour is kind of exciting because I am hitting some areas that I haven't been to in ages (namely Buffalo and Rochester, NY), and playing many venues that I've never performed in before. I have to prove myself to new audiences...which is slightly nerve-wracking, in a good way. Of the 24 shows I am doing, 16 are in brand new venues for me.
The tour began in Columbus, OH - a solid 300-mile drive from Nashville. My Berklee friend Michelle Lewis was kind enough to see about adding me to a bill that she was on with a local artist, Angela Perley. I opened up the show, and there was a nice little crowd there, especially considering it was a Tuesday night. I wound up selling 5 cds, all to new listeners. I drive through Columbus several times a year, so I will hopefully see some of you when I come back! I got some venue recommendations from one of the new listeners, as well. Columbus has been a bit of an enigma to me, so that should be helpful for future tours.
I stuck around for Michelle's set, and the beginning of Angela's set - but I had another 3 hours to drive to Pittsburgh, where I would be sleeping that night. I stopped into a Sheetz (a gas station chain in the northeastern US) on the way, and bought a delicious pina colada smoothie. I think it helped make the drive not take too long.
I don't remember when I woke up on Wednesday, but I'm sure it was late in the morning. I unfortunately woke up to the news that my dad had backed into my car on the way to work. The damage wasn't substantial, though, and the car is running fine. The driver door handle was busted a bit, but my handy dad was able to come up with a fix for it. I would later learn that Michelle (who was also playing in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night) got a flat tire on the way to her show that very night. A weird coincidence, I do say.
That night, I would be making my first visit to an open mic as the "Featured Performer". I am really thankful that many open mic series have features. It's a helpful weekday option for touring musicians to get a worthwhile performing opportunity on nights where it might otherwise be difficult to find other attractive options. And many open mic series are very well supported, getting scores of music-friendly folks out to either perform or just listen throughout the night. This series was very well-supported, and ran all the way from about 8:30 until ??? (I left around 11:30, and it was still going strong). I sold a few cds, and made some new friends, one of whom came out for a full show last weekend. It was a nice low-stress environment to play in after a long day of driving he previous day.
Well... I need to head out to SPoT Coffee here in Buffalo, NY for another show at one of those new venues that I mentioned. But hopefully I will be able to find some more time to type this week (and get a few pics up here)!
Thanks for joining me on this second tour of the year!
posted by Jeff Miller at 5:52 PM
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