Second US Tour of 2011 – blog #4 (Day 18)
Miles Driven - 2765
Average Speed - 50 mph
Miles Per Gallon – 32
Ah man, we are way behind now... I finished off at the end of the first weekend of this Tour, after an unusual Sunday which included the biggest tip I had ever received. But I have a good chunk of time while I chill before doing a show here in Charlottesville, VA, so I should be able to recap a good portion of the tour now.
The next week would consist almost entirely of shows in western NY (Buffalo and Rochester), thanks to the efforts of my new booking assistant. In lining up these shows, she has already proven to be more effective than any of the other booking “help” that I've had over the past 7 years.
On Saturday night, at my first public show in Buffalo since 2004, I sold my last remaining copy of the first press of my third album, Seesaw.
This is the first time that I have sold out of an album while on tour. Before I departed for this tour, I had reordered the discs, and they were supposed to be shipped to Pittsburgh, where they would arrive while I was still in town doing shows. But as timing would have it, the arrival date was off by 2 days. So I asked my Buffalo hosts if it would be okay to have the 1000 discs sent to their house, and they graciously said that it would be fine. So I had to go a few days without any copies of Seesaw available.
On Monday night, I performed at Tea Leaf Cafe in Amherst. I had the honor of being their very first musical act to perform. It was a great place to play, the staff and owner were almost excessively nice to me, but unfortunately attendance was a bit on the low side. I would later learn that school (there is a college campus very close) had just let out the Friday before...so that couldn't have helped. But the people who were there were into the music, and I sold a few albums. I will hopefully be returning to Tea Leaf Cafe during my Fall Tour, when we should be able to expect a better crowd.
As I left, I ordered a bubble tea to go, which would be my first NY bubble tea experience (I play at a tea place in OH that also makes these delicious drinks). The owner told me to stop by again at any point for a free bubble tea if I wanted to. I told him I just might take him up on the offer.
When I got back to my hosts' home, they were watching the season finale of The Fringe. I had never seen a single episode, so I was completely lost (which is another show I've yet to see). But the popcorn was pretty good.
On Tuesday, I had checked the tracking for the second pressing of Seesaw, and saw that it had arrived in Buffalo. I called UPS to see if I could go to their center and pick it up myself (the company that pressed the disc informed me that they'd let me do this). It wasn't scheduled to be delivered until Wednesday, and I figured they'd be happy to save the gas, and I'd have the disc available for more shows. But after spending 5-10 minutes on the phone, I was told that I could not come out to pick up the discs. I was pretty surprised.
That afternoon, instead of getting the discs, I spent some time doing some booking work and I believe I was able to post a blog entry that day, as well.
On Tuesday night, I had my first of two shows at SPoT Coffee. SPoT is a chain of coffee houses in western NY. I have actually known about them for years now, but had never played in one. They had me come out and play on Tuesday and Wednesday night. This is unusual for a number of reasons: 1) Coffee shops usually only have music on weekends; 2) They paid me (and fed me) to perform each night; 3) We scheduled these shows with very little advance notice; 4) They had me perform on back to back nights. They made up this nifty sign for me, which was the first thing I saw when I walked in the door:
The location that I performed in was huge. They had asked me to perform acoustic, or with just a small amp. I was a little surprised as I walked into the building. But it has high ceilings, and brick walls, and the sound carried in an amazing way. I travel with a small amp that I usually use as a monitor for my looper, and this was what I used to perform at SPoT.
Coffee shops make me nervous. Sometimes, they are good venues to perform in, where the people who want to listen are able to, because it's a quieter environment. But sometimes, they are full of people with their heads stuck in their laptops or cell phones or school work or other work. But there has been a strange phenomenon lately that usually holds true: the less that people seem to be paying attention, the more CDs will be sold, and tips given. This Tuesday night was no exception. I had a few people on my side throughout the show, but with the size of the place, and the number of people in the building, it was a less than encouraging atmosphere. But I would wind up selling 5 cds by the end of the evening. I even got a couple people to get up and dance. Ca razy.
On Wednesday the 18th, I would have my second two-show day. This was also the day that the newly-pressed CDs were scheduled to arrive. As I expected, they didn't arrive until I needed to leave for the first show. Oh well.
The first show was at an interesting coffee shop, which had two rooms, one of which had a stage set up in a corner. When I arrived, they didn't expect me to be there. They said they thought I was coming the previous week. I asked if I could still play, and the owner was fine with it. When I checked out the other room, there were only 3 people in there. I set up my amp (it was another brick room that carried well) and merch table, and a couple of other people had arrived by the time that I began playing. This would end up being my smallest audience for any show on the tour: 4. I played a few songs, and the 2 men who had arrived while I was setting up finished eating and left. With only 2 people left, I decided to finish just one more song, and pack up early. To my surprise, would up selling 3 cds (one to the owner). With only 5 people listening, I consider that a pretty good ratio of cds sold to people in the audience. Imagine if 200 people were there! I would have run out of cds!
I packed up the car and headed back out to SPoT for the second show there. This show was a little different from the first one, in a number of ways. There were slightly fewer people there, but more people seemed to be paying attention (and more people clapped after songs). But I only sold one cd, and made about 15 bucks in tips. Sta range. I sold more cds at the show that only had 5 people in the audience. You never know what's going to happen. I gave up trying to figure out why things turn out the way they do a long time ago.
Thursday night would bring me out to Rochester for a show, so I drove out that way after the second show on Wednesday night. But I made a stop at Tea Leaf Cafe for another delicious bubble tea to enjoy during the drive.
Well, I think this might be a good stopping point. Thanks for checking in here! Perhaps I will get another entry in tomorrow.
Average Speed - 50 mph
Miles Per Gallon – 32
Ah man, we are way behind now... I finished off at the end of the first weekend of this Tour, after an unusual Sunday which included the biggest tip I had ever received. But I have a good chunk of time while I chill before doing a show here in Charlottesville, VA, so I should be able to recap a good portion of the tour now.
The next week would consist almost entirely of shows in western NY (Buffalo and Rochester), thanks to the efforts of my new booking assistant. In lining up these shows, she has already proven to be more effective than any of the other booking “help” that I've had over the past 7 years.
On Saturday night, at my first public show in Buffalo since 2004, I sold my last remaining copy of the first press of my third album, Seesaw.
This is the first time that I have sold out of an album while on tour. Before I departed for this tour, I had reordered the discs, and they were supposed to be shipped to Pittsburgh, where they would arrive while I was still in town doing shows. But as timing would have it, the arrival date was off by 2 days. So I asked my Buffalo hosts if it would be okay to have the 1000 discs sent to their house, and they graciously said that it would be fine. So I had to go a few days without any copies of Seesaw available.
On Monday night, I performed at Tea Leaf Cafe in Amherst. I had the honor of being their very first musical act to perform. It was a great place to play, the staff and owner were almost excessively nice to me, but unfortunately attendance was a bit on the low side. I would later learn that school (there is a college campus very close) had just let out the Friday before...so that couldn't have helped. But the people who were there were into the music, and I sold a few albums. I will hopefully be returning to Tea Leaf Cafe during my Fall Tour, when we should be able to expect a better crowd.
As I left, I ordered a bubble tea to go, which would be my first NY bubble tea experience (I play at a tea place in OH that also makes these delicious drinks). The owner told me to stop by again at any point for a free bubble tea if I wanted to. I told him I just might take him up on the offer.
When I got back to my hosts' home, they were watching the season finale of The Fringe. I had never seen a single episode, so I was completely lost (which is another show I've yet to see). But the popcorn was pretty good.
On Tuesday, I had checked the tracking for the second pressing of Seesaw, and saw that it had arrived in Buffalo. I called UPS to see if I could go to their center and pick it up myself (the company that pressed the disc informed me that they'd let me do this). It wasn't scheduled to be delivered until Wednesday, and I figured they'd be happy to save the gas, and I'd have the disc available for more shows. But after spending 5-10 minutes on the phone, I was told that I could not come out to pick up the discs. I was pretty surprised.
That afternoon, instead of getting the discs, I spent some time doing some booking work and I believe I was able to post a blog entry that day, as well.
On Tuesday night, I had my first of two shows at SPoT Coffee. SPoT is a chain of coffee houses in western NY. I have actually known about them for years now, but had never played in one. They had me come out and play on Tuesday and Wednesday night. This is unusual for a number of reasons: 1) Coffee shops usually only have music on weekends; 2) They paid me (and fed me) to perform each night; 3) We scheduled these shows with very little advance notice; 4) They had me perform on back to back nights. They made up this nifty sign for me, which was the first thing I saw when I walked in the door:
The location that I performed in was huge. They had asked me to perform acoustic, or with just a small amp. I was a little surprised as I walked into the building. But it has high ceilings, and brick walls, and the sound carried in an amazing way. I travel with a small amp that I usually use as a monitor for my looper, and this was what I used to perform at SPoT.
Coffee shops make me nervous. Sometimes, they are good venues to perform in, where the people who want to listen are able to, because it's a quieter environment. But sometimes, they are full of people with their heads stuck in their laptops or cell phones or school work or other work. But there has been a strange phenomenon lately that usually holds true: the less that people seem to be paying attention, the more CDs will be sold, and tips given. This Tuesday night was no exception. I had a few people on my side throughout the show, but with the size of the place, and the number of people in the building, it was a less than encouraging atmosphere. But I would wind up selling 5 cds by the end of the evening. I even got a couple people to get up and dance. Ca razy.
On Wednesday the 18th, I would have my second two-show day. This was also the day that the newly-pressed CDs were scheduled to arrive. As I expected, they didn't arrive until I needed to leave for the first show. Oh well.
The first show was at an interesting coffee shop, which had two rooms, one of which had a stage set up in a corner. When I arrived, they didn't expect me to be there. They said they thought I was coming the previous week. I asked if I could still play, and the owner was fine with it. When I checked out the other room, there were only 3 people in there. I set up my amp (it was another brick room that carried well) and merch table, and a couple of other people had arrived by the time that I began playing. This would end up being my smallest audience for any show on the tour: 4. I played a few songs, and the 2 men who had arrived while I was setting up finished eating and left. With only 2 people left, I decided to finish just one more song, and pack up early. To my surprise, would up selling 3 cds (one to the owner). With only 5 people listening, I consider that a pretty good ratio of cds sold to people in the audience. Imagine if 200 people were there! I would have run out of cds!
I packed up the car and headed back out to SPoT for the second show there. This show was a little different from the first one, in a number of ways. There were slightly fewer people there, but more people seemed to be paying attention (and more people clapped after songs). But I only sold one cd, and made about 15 bucks in tips. Sta range. I sold more cds at the show that only had 5 people in the audience. You never know what's going to happen. I gave up trying to figure out why things turn out the way they do a long time ago.
Thursday night would bring me out to Rochester for a show, so I drove out that way after the second show on Wednesday night. But I made a stop at Tea Leaf Cafe for another delicious bubble tea to enjoy during the drive.
Well, I think this might be a good stopping point. Thanks for checking in here! Perhaps I will get another entry in tomorrow.
posted by Jeff Miller at 7:17 PM
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