2011 Fall East Coast Tour - blog #2 (day 8)
Driving Stats:
Miles Driven - 923
Average Speed - 47 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 33
I am typing this entry to you from the location of my first House Concert of the Tour, in Cleveland, Ohio. I'll be doing the first of two House Concerts here in about an hour.
So... we left off after my last show in Cincinnati on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I would visit one of my favorite spots in OH - Night Sky in Troy.
(I guess they really want you to remember that Ohio is part of The United States of America.)
I got there early to eat dinner, and set up the stage area to perform. There was a decent crowd there by the time that I started. But after my second or third song, a table with a big party including small children got up and left. And shortly after they left, it seemed like over half of the restaurant filed out. It was kind of strange. I finished my first set, and waited around to see if any more people might trickle in. A couple, who for some reason decided not to clap after my songs, wound up buying 2 CDs. One of them was a local high school band director. I think I will always be confused by people who like the music enough to buy an album or more, but don't applaud. I just don't get it.
I packed up my gear, and as I was mostly done with that, a few people came in. As it was getting close to closing time, I didn't re-set up anything. But as I continued to pack up my gear, a few employees came by to check out CDs, and I wound up selling 6 CDs there. Not bad, considering the number of people who were there.
One of the employees told me about an open mic that was happening that night at a bar a couple of blocks away. I figured it would only make sense to check it out, since I was right there. It didn't seem very promising at first, but as I waited around, more people arrived at the bar. I decided to play a mini set. It wasn't the most attention-paying crowd, but there were a few people paying attention, one of whom bought a couple CDs after I finished playing. So it was definitely worth stopping by, and that night wound up being much better than I was fearing it would be!
Thursday was mostly a relaxing day. I got up, took a shower, and headed back to Night Sky, where I was invited to grab lunch. I did so, and also had my first chance to use a computer with a keyboard since the tour began. I tried to catch up a bit on some booking, and composed the first blog entry of the tour, as well. I got back to where I was staying, relaxed for about 30 mintues, and then packed the car again, for my drive to Ohio Christian University in Circleville, OH (maybe 40 miles south of Columbus). During this drive, I noticed that the heater in my car didn't seem to be working.
The school was feeding and housing me, and I was told that I needed to get there before 7 if I wanted to grab dinner there. I arrived shortly after 6:30. Oh, I was also told to go to "The Cafe", and that I'd have no trouble finding it, because the campus is small. Well, the campus is pretty small, but I found no such building called "The Cafe". I did find something with cafe in its name, but there was no one inside that room, and it was certainly not set up for dinner. Then I went to a building that looked a bit like a student center to me. Again, not a soul to be found. I walked around, hoping to just find one person to talk to, so that I could go to this Cafe which I was searching for.
My third stop (it was about 6:50 or so at this point) was at the campus welcome center. It seemed like I was about to strike out, when I found an office with a few people in it. One of them called one of the student activities people for me, and I was directed to where I would need to go. It was really close to 7 at this point, and they had locked the doors for the dining area. We were let in, and though food was not being prepared any more, there was some pizza and salad bar food left out still. So that had to suffice for my dinner.
I hung out for a bit after eating, until it was time to start the show. The parameters were really loose - I think they only expected me to play for about an hour, because some of the kids seemed surprised that I had 2 sets worth of material. It was a pretty fun show, and a good number of kids came out. Unfortunately, I only sold one CD, because most of the kids didn't have cash on them. Several of them asked me if I could take credit card payments. Does anybody out there know how much a merchant account would cost me? I have an iPod Touch that should be able to use the app for accepting payments, but I haven't looked into the logistics of accepting credit card payments in a while. Last I checked, the costs of setting up and running an account were a little too high to justify getting one.
It turned out that I would be staying in that same building that I first went inside upon arriving at the campus. It was a really nice apartment that is usually used to house missionary families. The folks at Ohio Christian treated me really well, and it looks like I'll be making some return trips there on a regular basis.
I had my first two-show day yesterday (Friday the 23rd). The first of these was in the small town of Berlin, OH. The owner had indicated that they have a great lunch crowd in the late afternoon. I started about 10 minutes late, because of some driving delays on one lane country roads that I should have been able to go 55 mph on, but got stuck at about 40 mph for good portions of. I set up my PA in record time. I noticed on my way in, and after walking around the place, that no fliers had been posted for the show, though they had been emailed out twice. That is often a bad sign, because it indicates that the venue doesn't really care about having live music. The baristas didn't seem to be aware that I was going to be playing that afternoon, and when I asked about the lack of fliers, I was told that the owner doesn't always inform them of things. Great. In addition to this, there was no built-in lunch crowd. For my first set, I played to maybe 7 or 8 people, all of whom weren't there to sit and stay or eat. I made a dollar in tips, and one of the employees picked up a CD as she left when her shift was over. I took a break to eat lunch (I hadn't eaten, since I had arrived later than I wanted to), and somewhat reluctantly got back up to play another once I noticed several people walk in the front door. A woman and three kids sat right in front of me, which was interesting, because this place was rather large, and there were tons of open seats. They were the only people who really seemed interested in the music, and the woman bought a CD before they left. Once they left, I played another song or two, and got ready for another drive for my second show.
This drive was relatively short, but longer than I expected it to be, because of a road closure and because I had to drive through Extreme Amish Country. It was insane. I have always known Lancaster, PA to be the Amish capital of the world, but this area destroyed Lancaster (I've driven through Lancaster several times). There were Amish people everywhere; at points, I'm pretty sure there were more Amish people than non-Amish, or "English", as I think they refer to us. There were Amish people on foot, Amish people on bicycles, Amish people on horseback, and Amish people on horse-drawn buggies on 55 mph roads. There were buggies to the left.
There were buggies to the right.
At points, there were even buggies on both sides. Sorry, no picture; you'll have to take my word for it.
I made it to Sonnets in Wadsworth, OH (a small town outside of Akron) a little later than I anticipated, but this time with enough time to eat dinner before performing. But, as with the first show, there were no fliers posted. I asked someone about it, and he said he was sure he saw the fliers somewhere, and that he thought they had been posted. What can you do? This show was a little better than the other one, and a few people even came out early, in ancticipation of the show. I wound up selling 4 CDs at that show, 2 of them to a family that included a mom with a brain tumor. My wife and I had recently watched a movie about the importance that music plays in our brain functioning (The Music Never Stopped), and this woman connected with the music in much the same way that it was portrayed in the movie. It was pretty neat to be a part of that, and an honor to get to meet that family. They told me that I was the best musician to play on the stage there, and that they've been coming out at least once a week for a while now.
There was a photographer on hand for the show, as well as a curious high school couple - they had a handheld video recorder, and recorded about 2/3 of one of my songs, and then got up and left. I don't know if it will be up on YouTube, or what their story was. Curious, I tell you.
The first House Concert is about to start. Gotta go!
Miles Driven - 923
Average Speed - 47 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 33
I am typing this entry to you from the location of my first House Concert of the Tour, in Cleveland, Ohio. I'll be doing the first of two House Concerts here in about an hour.
So... we left off after my last show in Cincinnati on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I would visit one of my favorite spots in OH - Night Sky in Troy.
I got there early to eat dinner, and set up the stage area to perform. There was a decent crowd there by the time that I started. But after my second or third song, a table with a big party including small children got up and left. And shortly after they left, it seemed like over half of the restaurant filed out. It was kind of strange. I finished my first set, and waited around to see if any more people might trickle in. A couple, who for some reason decided not to clap after my songs, wound up buying 2 CDs. One of them was a local high school band director. I think I will always be confused by people who like the music enough to buy an album or more, but don't applaud. I just don't get it.
I packed up my gear, and as I was mostly done with that, a few people came in. As it was getting close to closing time, I didn't re-set up anything. But as I continued to pack up my gear, a few employees came by to check out CDs, and I wound up selling 6 CDs there. Not bad, considering the number of people who were there.
One of the employees told me about an open mic that was happening that night at a bar a couple of blocks away. I figured it would only make sense to check it out, since I was right there. It didn't seem very promising at first, but as I waited around, more people arrived at the bar. I decided to play a mini set. It wasn't the most attention-paying crowd, but there were a few people paying attention, one of whom bought a couple CDs after I finished playing. So it was definitely worth stopping by, and that night wound up being much better than I was fearing it would be!
Thursday was mostly a relaxing day. I got up, took a shower, and headed back to Night Sky, where I was invited to grab lunch. I did so, and also had my first chance to use a computer with a keyboard since the tour began. I tried to catch up a bit on some booking, and composed the first blog entry of the tour, as well. I got back to where I was staying, relaxed for about 30 mintues, and then packed the car again, for my drive to Ohio Christian University in Circleville, OH (maybe 40 miles south of Columbus). During this drive, I noticed that the heater in my car didn't seem to be working.
The school was feeding and housing me, and I was told that I needed to get there before 7 if I wanted to grab dinner there. I arrived shortly after 6:30. Oh, I was also told to go to "The Cafe", and that I'd have no trouble finding it, because the campus is small. Well, the campus is pretty small, but I found no such building called "The Cafe". I did find something with cafe in its name, but there was no one inside that room, and it was certainly not set up for dinner. Then I went to a building that looked a bit like a student center to me. Again, not a soul to be found. I walked around, hoping to just find one person to talk to, so that I could go to this Cafe which I was searching for.
My third stop (it was about 6:50 or so at this point) was at the campus welcome center. It seemed like I was about to strike out, when I found an office with a few people in it. One of them called one of the student activities people for me, and I was directed to where I would need to go. It was really close to 7 at this point, and they had locked the doors for the dining area. We were let in, and though food was not being prepared any more, there was some pizza and salad bar food left out still. So that had to suffice for my dinner.
I hung out for a bit after eating, until it was time to start the show. The parameters were really loose - I think they only expected me to play for about an hour, because some of the kids seemed surprised that I had 2 sets worth of material. It was a pretty fun show, and a good number of kids came out. Unfortunately, I only sold one CD, because most of the kids didn't have cash on them. Several of them asked me if I could take credit card payments. Does anybody out there know how much a merchant account would cost me? I have an iPod Touch that should be able to use the app for accepting payments, but I haven't looked into the logistics of accepting credit card payments in a while. Last I checked, the costs of setting up and running an account were a little too high to justify getting one.
It turned out that I would be staying in that same building that I first went inside upon arriving at the campus. It was a really nice apartment that is usually used to house missionary families. The folks at Ohio Christian treated me really well, and it looks like I'll be making some return trips there on a regular basis.
I had my first two-show day yesterday (Friday the 23rd). The first of these was in the small town of Berlin, OH. The owner had indicated that they have a great lunch crowd in the late afternoon. I started about 10 minutes late, because of some driving delays on one lane country roads that I should have been able to go 55 mph on, but got stuck at about 40 mph for good portions of. I set up my PA in record time. I noticed on my way in, and after walking around the place, that no fliers had been posted for the show, though they had been emailed out twice. That is often a bad sign, because it indicates that the venue doesn't really care about having live music. The baristas didn't seem to be aware that I was going to be playing that afternoon, and when I asked about the lack of fliers, I was told that the owner doesn't always inform them of things. Great. In addition to this, there was no built-in lunch crowd. For my first set, I played to maybe 7 or 8 people, all of whom weren't there to sit and stay or eat. I made a dollar in tips, and one of the employees picked up a CD as she left when her shift was over. I took a break to eat lunch (I hadn't eaten, since I had arrived later than I wanted to), and somewhat reluctantly got back up to play another once I noticed several people walk in the front door. A woman and three kids sat right in front of me, which was interesting, because this place was rather large, and there were tons of open seats. They were the only people who really seemed interested in the music, and the woman bought a CD before they left. Once they left, I played another song or two, and got ready for another drive for my second show.
This drive was relatively short, but longer than I expected it to be, because of a road closure and because I had to drive through Extreme Amish Country. It was insane. I have always known Lancaster, PA to be the Amish capital of the world, but this area destroyed Lancaster (I've driven through Lancaster several times). There were Amish people everywhere; at points, I'm pretty sure there were more Amish people than non-Amish, or "English", as I think they refer to us. There were Amish people on foot, Amish people on bicycles, Amish people on horseback, and Amish people on horse-drawn buggies on 55 mph roads. There were buggies to the left.
There were buggies to the right.
At points, there were even buggies on both sides. Sorry, no picture; you'll have to take my word for it.
I made it to Sonnets in Wadsworth, OH (a small town outside of Akron) a little later than I anticipated, but this time with enough time to eat dinner before performing. But, as with the first show, there were no fliers posted. I asked someone about it, and he said he was sure he saw the fliers somewhere, and that he thought they had been posted. What can you do? This show was a little better than the other one, and a few people even came out early, in ancticipation of the show. I wound up selling 4 CDs at that show, 2 of them to a family that included a mom with a brain tumor. My wife and I had recently watched a movie about the importance that music plays in our brain functioning (The Music Never Stopped), and this woman connected with the music in much the same way that it was portrayed in the movie. It was pretty neat to be a part of that, and an honor to get to meet that family. They told me that I was the best musician to play on the stage there, and that they've been coming out at least once a week for a while now.
There was a photographer on hand for the show, as well as a curious high school couple - they had a handheld video recorder, and recorded about 2/3 of one of my songs, and then got up and left. I don't know if it will be up on YouTube, or what their story was. Curious, I tell you.
The first House Concert is about to start. Gotta go!
posted by Jeff Miller at 3:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home