Second US Tour of 2011 – blog #5 (Day 20)
Driving Stats:
Miles Driven - 3085 (approximate)
Average Speed - 50 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 32
We were nearing the end of my week in western NY when we last left off. I made a 4 mile detour to visit Tea Leaf Cafe and get another bubble tea to keep me company during my drive to the Rochester area. That night, I stayed at my brother-in-law's and his wife's house. They have a very big yard. It was my first visit to their house. I feel like I'm writing a 1st grade English assignment. The sky is blue. Sometimes clouds are in the sky. They are white, but not all of the time. Angry clouds are grey.
I have to go to the bathroom.
Okay - I'm back. Where were we? Ah yes, angry clouds are grey. It rained pretty much every day during the first two weeks of this tour (and it is a three-week tour, so that's a large portion of the days). During most of the week in NY, the highs were somewhere between the low fifties and 60 degrees. It didn't rain much on Thursday, and that was one of the nicer days of the week.
The show that evening wasn't so great. In fact, it was one of the worst ones of the tour. As I say, they can't all be winners. The first set actually went moderately okay, with at least one table of people paying attention to the show. They picked up a couple of cds, but unfortunately left during my break. For most of the second set, it was as though I wasn't even there. My brother-in-law and his wife clapped after songs, but it was a bit of a struggle to get through that set. During my last couple songs, a man came in and sat near the stage area. He sat by himself and was obviously paying attention. He clapped after the songs. I finished the show and started packing things up. We talked a bit, and he said, loud enough for the other people in the room to hear, "these people just don't get it, man." He was very encouraging, and seemed even more upset by the lack of response than I was. I was glad that he showed up. There's a verse in the New Testament about entertaining strangers who were, unbeknownst to us, angels. That's kind of how I feel about this guy, in retrospect. He was scruffy, and no one seemed to pay attention to him while he was there. He stuck around for my last few songs, and then left after talking to me for a moment. I don't even remember him getting coffee or anything while he was there.
So I left that gig in somewhat better spirits than I may have otherwise.
Friday (the 20th) was a good ending to my week of shows in the Empire State. It stayed dry for the majority of the day, and the temperature got warm enough that I was able to go out for my first run of the year. I would like to run year round, but my throat/lungs have some serious issues when the temperature is lower than, say, 62 degrees or so. This weather was just right. It's difficult fitting in days to run or exercise while on tour, because I usually need to make those days match up with when I will be doing laundry. I also notice that I seem to have less control with my singing voice on days that I run... I'm not sure what that's about, but I assume it has something to do with more forceful breathing that might aggravate my throat just a bit. Anyway, I was happy to be able to get a run in. I'll be playing Ultimate Frisbee all summer, and want to have gotten some running in before hitting the field.
That evening, I would return to Buffalo, to play more of a bona fide music show, to an audience that was there specifically for the show. Finding parking was a nightmare, which included: 1) someone pulling up right behind me as I was signalling to back up for a parallel parking situation; 2) someone pulling right in front of me as I signaled to pull forward into a spot that I was waiting for someone to pull out of; 3) someone driving the wrong way down a one-way street that I actually had to back up for, to let out onto another street; 4) one of the concert attendees getting a spot that I was circling around to try to get. After 3 times around the block, I decided to look elsewhere. I luckily found a spot that wasn't too far away, but it was kind of annoying, carrying all the gear and other stuff. I was a little bit later to sound check than I wanted to be, but it didn't effect anything else that evening, so all was well. I was just a bit rushed.
For this final show, I would be opening for a local Buffalo group called Shambu. The room we played in was the back room of a cafe/restaurant. It was a cozy, but good room to play in. We packed it pretty well, which is always a good thing.
Here are the guys in Shambu:
I sold several cds that night, and stuck around to catch half of Shambu's set. They were quite good. If you live in the Buffalo area, check them out. I would have stuck around the whole night, but was going back to the Rochester area to sleep that night, and had a 5 1/2 hour drive the next day. Someone in the audience recorded my entire set in HD, so we should have some new high-quality videos up on the YouTube page very soon!
I did, however, make another quick detour to Tea Leaf Cafe for my third and final bubble tea of the tour. My booking assistant got to have her first-ever bubble tea experience, as well as meet the owner, with whom she had communicated to set up the show I did earlier in the week.
Saturday was a bit of a blur, but I believe it was the first day of the tour without rain up to that point. I played in Bryn Mawr, PA that night. Bryn Mawr is just west of Philadelphia. Several fans in the area came out for the show, and it was good to see them again. A couple new fans came out, too, as the result of some word-spreading by a Nashville friend. Thanks, Doug! I say it at shows all the time, but it bears repeating here: Word of mouth is probably the independent musician's biggest ally. I can't over-stress how much of a help it is when fans spread the word to their friends about my shows, or talk to venues on my behalf, or do a little work to help set up shows. It's a huge help, and I appreciated it greatly.
Saturday was the first post-rapture day, I think. I didn't hear about any of my loved ones getting taken up. An Americana group out of Boston opened up for me, and as luck would have it, they have an interesting niche: they play old traditional Appalachian folk songs that deal with death, often on older instruments. They were pretty decent.
I decided to start the majority of the rest of my shows with "Can't Take It With You" from that date on.
I had a bit of a drive, to the Harrisburg area, after the show. Lots of driving that day. I got gas for $3.67(9) a gallon that night, which was the cheapest price I had seen it for up to that point during the tour. (I got some for $3.42(9) on Friday the 27th.)
Alright - I am off to the final engagement of this Second US Tour of 2011 now. I'll be making the long drive home to Nashville tomorrow, and hopefully doing a final blog post to recap the last week of this tour within the next several days.
Miles Driven - 3085 (approximate)
Average Speed - 50 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 32
We were nearing the end of my week in western NY when we last left off. I made a 4 mile detour to visit Tea Leaf Cafe and get another bubble tea to keep me company during my drive to the Rochester area. That night, I stayed at my brother-in-law's and his wife's house. They have a very big yard. It was my first visit to their house. I feel like I'm writing a 1st grade English assignment. The sky is blue. Sometimes clouds are in the sky. They are white, but not all of the time. Angry clouds are grey.
I have to go to the bathroom.
Okay - I'm back. Where were we? Ah yes, angry clouds are grey. It rained pretty much every day during the first two weeks of this tour (and it is a three-week tour, so that's a large portion of the days). During most of the week in NY, the highs were somewhere between the low fifties and 60 degrees. It didn't rain much on Thursday, and that was one of the nicer days of the week.
The show that evening wasn't so great. In fact, it was one of the worst ones of the tour. As I say, they can't all be winners. The first set actually went moderately okay, with at least one table of people paying attention to the show. They picked up a couple of cds, but unfortunately left during my break. For most of the second set, it was as though I wasn't even there. My brother-in-law and his wife clapped after songs, but it was a bit of a struggle to get through that set. During my last couple songs, a man came in and sat near the stage area. He sat by himself and was obviously paying attention. He clapped after the songs. I finished the show and started packing things up. We talked a bit, and he said, loud enough for the other people in the room to hear, "these people just don't get it, man." He was very encouraging, and seemed even more upset by the lack of response than I was. I was glad that he showed up. There's a verse in the New Testament about entertaining strangers who were, unbeknownst to us, angels. That's kind of how I feel about this guy, in retrospect. He was scruffy, and no one seemed to pay attention to him while he was there. He stuck around for my last few songs, and then left after talking to me for a moment. I don't even remember him getting coffee or anything while he was there.
So I left that gig in somewhat better spirits than I may have otherwise.
Friday (the 20th) was a good ending to my week of shows in the Empire State. It stayed dry for the majority of the day, and the temperature got warm enough that I was able to go out for my first run of the year. I would like to run year round, but my throat/lungs have some serious issues when the temperature is lower than, say, 62 degrees or so. This weather was just right. It's difficult fitting in days to run or exercise while on tour, because I usually need to make those days match up with when I will be doing laundry. I also notice that I seem to have less control with my singing voice on days that I run... I'm not sure what that's about, but I assume it has something to do with more forceful breathing that might aggravate my throat just a bit. Anyway, I was happy to be able to get a run in. I'll be playing Ultimate Frisbee all summer, and want to have gotten some running in before hitting the field.
That evening, I would return to Buffalo, to play more of a bona fide music show, to an audience that was there specifically for the show. Finding parking was a nightmare, which included: 1) someone pulling up right behind me as I was signalling to back up for a parallel parking situation; 2) someone pulling right in front of me as I signaled to pull forward into a spot that I was waiting for someone to pull out of; 3) someone driving the wrong way down a one-way street that I actually had to back up for, to let out onto another street; 4) one of the concert attendees getting a spot that I was circling around to try to get. After 3 times around the block, I decided to look elsewhere. I luckily found a spot that wasn't too far away, but it was kind of annoying, carrying all the gear and other stuff. I was a little bit later to sound check than I wanted to be, but it didn't effect anything else that evening, so all was well. I was just a bit rushed.
For this final show, I would be opening for a local Buffalo group called Shambu. The room we played in was the back room of a cafe/restaurant. It was a cozy, but good room to play in. We packed it pretty well, which is always a good thing.
Here are the guys in Shambu:
I sold several cds that night, and stuck around to catch half of Shambu's set. They were quite good. If you live in the Buffalo area, check them out. I would have stuck around the whole night, but was going back to the Rochester area to sleep that night, and had a 5 1/2 hour drive the next day. Someone in the audience recorded my entire set in HD, so we should have some new high-quality videos up on the YouTube page very soon!
I did, however, make another quick detour to Tea Leaf Cafe for my third and final bubble tea of the tour. My booking assistant got to have her first-ever bubble tea experience, as well as meet the owner, with whom she had communicated to set up the show I did earlier in the week.
Saturday was a bit of a blur, but I believe it was the first day of the tour without rain up to that point. I played in Bryn Mawr, PA that night. Bryn Mawr is just west of Philadelphia. Several fans in the area came out for the show, and it was good to see them again. A couple new fans came out, too, as the result of some word-spreading by a Nashville friend. Thanks, Doug! I say it at shows all the time, but it bears repeating here: Word of mouth is probably the independent musician's biggest ally. I can't over-stress how much of a help it is when fans spread the word to their friends about my shows, or talk to venues on my behalf, or do a little work to help set up shows. It's a huge help, and I appreciated it greatly.
Saturday was the first post-rapture day, I think. I didn't hear about any of my loved ones getting taken up. An Americana group out of Boston opened up for me, and as luck would have it, they have an interesting niche: they play old traditional Appalachian folk songs that deal with death, often on older instruments. They were pretty decent.
I decided to start the majority of the rest of my shows with "Can't Take It With You" from that date on.
I had a bit of a drive, to the Harrisburg area, after the show. Lots of driving that day. I got gas for $3.67(9) a gallon that night, which was the cheapest price I had seen it for up to that point during the tour. (I got some for $3.42(9) on Friday the 27th.)
Alright - I am off to the final engagement of this Second US Tour of 2011 now. I'll be making the long drive home to Nashville tomorrow, and hopefully doing a final blog post to recap the last week of this tour within the next several days.
posted by Jeff Miller at 3:41 PM
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