2011 Fall East Coast Tour - blog #4 (day 24)
Driving Stats:
Miles Driven - 2382
Average Speed - 39 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 31.5
Man, it's been a good while since the last post. That's because I was way too busy with shows to get around to it. The past week has been very good; thank you for asking. However, I think this Tour has earned the subtitle "Sleep Deprivation Tour". Whether from doing multiple shows in a day, doing earlier lunchtime shows, doing shows that have caused me to get up early to drive long-ish distances, or staying with families that have young children, this tour has been the most exhausting one I can remember. I may cut this post short in order to rest before I hit the road for Baltimore (a nice, short drive from where I am staying now).
We left off almost two full weeks ago - after I played an open mic in Rochester, to advertise for the show I would be doing that Wednesday. After performing, I headed to the home of my brother-in-law and his wife, where I would be staying the next couple of days. I ate a very late half dinner and hung out with them a bit before it was time to retire for the night.
The following morning, I helped my in-lawed brother's father-in-law construct a workbench in their garage, and helped move shelving materials to their shed in the back yard. I really can't remember much else about this day, other than the evening's show. I think I did some booking work online, and tried to spread the word about a newly added Philadelphia area show (this Wednesday! Steel City in Phoenixville!).
I returned to the venue of the previous evening's open mic for that night's show. As I mentioned, it was a pretty cool room. But again, it was unfortunately a pretty noisy environment again. At least I was sort of expecting this after the open mic. The tip jar was passed around the room, and I at least did okay with that, thanks to a couple of tables that dropped twenties into the jar. They should have bought CDs... ah well. The staff seemed really into it, and they said they'd try to put me on some bigger bills in the future, so I guess it was a decent first visit, all things considered. Unfortunately, I developed a little tickle in my throat that has lasted in some fashion all the way until now.
On Thursday, I went out to lunch with my brother-in-law, who had most of the day off. We went to a nearby Pizzeria Uno. That place has changed a lot. They used to be all about pizza. Now they have at least 4 different soups every day, salads, sandwiches, and who knows what else. We managed to get some pizza somehow, though, and it was pretty good. There was some left over for my lunch, the next day. So that was a double bonus. After lunch we took my car over to a mechanic, for them to try to figure out what was up with my heater. I was afraid of a costly repair, and a decision as to whether I would even want to have it done if it cost too much.
- I had to save the post here, and head out to Baltimore for the show on the 10th. I got a chance to add to the post from south of Baltimore, before heading out to NY City. We continue...-
Thankfully, though, the part was just a little motor that turns a door that determines the mixture of cold and hot air via the temperature dial on the control panel. On top of that, they only charged me for an hour of labor, though they spent more than 2 hours looking at and taking apart my car to get to where the part was.
***Picture to be added later***
As soon as I picked up my car from the mechanic, I was headed back to Buffalo for a coffee shop show at SPoT Coffee. I played there twice during my May tour. When I got there, they had no advertisement of the show displayed anywhere (the previous time, they had failed to post the fliers that were sent, but at least made a prominent sandwich board display). I was given the name of two managers who were supposedly privy to the details of the evening's show, but neither of them were in the building that night. The manager I spoke to said she didn't realize that there was going to be music that night... as you can imagine, it's a pretty big downer to play a place where they don't even know you're coming. From Nashville. Anyway, it was a weird show - this coffee shop is huge, and most people don't seem to pay attention, but it's hard to tell. I sold a few cds by the end of the night, and a friend brought out about 5 people to catch the music, so I at least knew that I had a handful of people on my side. At the end of the night, I went back to the manager to get paid before hitting the road. She told me that they don't pay musicians, and that they never had. Remember, I played here twice in May, and was paid for each of those performances. I showed her the details that I was given for the event, and she did wind up paying me, but it was an unfortunately awkward situation. I don't understand how absolutely nothing about the show was communicated to anyone who was going to be on staff that night.
This brings us to the second Friday of the tour... another open date (and I think the only open Friday during a tour that I have ever had in over 7 years of touring). So this meant looking for open mics again. I went to my 5th open mic in just 14 days. As I think I mentioned before, this is the most open mic appearances I've made in such a short span of time. At least this time, there were a handful of people who wanted to listen. I managed to sell a couple cds, and the venue might be worthy of consideration for future tours.
Thus ends the western NY portion of the tour. I am actually about to hit the road for New York City in about 30 minutes, so I need to get ready and get the car packed again.
I should be able to post again fairly soon, when I shall revisit the western PA shows of last week, when I did 13 shows in 8 days.
Miles Driven - 2382
Average Speed - 39 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 31.5
Man, it's been a good while since the last post. That's because I was way too busy with shows to get around to it. The past week has been very good; thank you for asking. However, I think this Tour has earned the subtitle "Sleep Deprivation Tour". Whether from doing multiple shows in a day, doing earlier lunchtime shows, doing shows that have caused me to get up early to drive long-ish distances, or staying with families that have young children, this tour has been the most exhausting one I can remember. I may cut this post short in order to rest before I hit the road for Baltimore (a nice, short drive from where I am staying now).
We left off almost two full weeks ago - after I played an open mic in Rochester, to advertise for the show I would be doing that Wednesday. After performing, I headed to the home of my brother-in-law and his wife, where I would be staying the next couple of days. I ate a very late half dinner and hung out with them a bit before it was time to retire for the night.
The following morning, I helped my in-lawed brother's father-in-law construct a workbench in their garage, and helped move shelving materials to their shed in the back yard. I really can't remember much else about this day, other than the evening's show. I think I did some booking work online, and tried to spread the word about a newly added Philadelphia area show (this Wednesday! Steel City in Phoenixville!).
I returned to the venue of the previous evening's open mic for that night's show. As I mentioned, it was a pretty cool room. But again, it was unfortunately a pretty noisy environment again. At least I was sort of expecting this after the open mic. The tip jar was passed around the room, and I at least did okay with that, thanks to a couple of tables that dropped twenties into the jar. They should have bought CDs... ah well. The staff seemed really into it, and they said they'd try to put me on some bigger bills in the future, so I guess it was a decent first visit, all things considered. Unfortunately, I developed a little tickle in my throat that has lasted in some fashion all the way until now.
On Thursday, I went out to lunch with my brother-in-law, who had most of the day off. We went to a nearby Pizzeria Uno. That place has changed a lot. They used to be all about pizza. Now they have at least 4 different soups every day, salads, sandwiches, and who knows what else. We managed to get some pizza somehow, though, and it was pretty good. There was some left over for my lunch, the next day. So that was a double bonus. After lunch we took my car over to a mechanic, for them to try to figure out what was up with my heater. I was afraid of a costly repair, and a decision as to whether I would even want to have it done if it cost too much.
- I had to save the post here, and head out to Baltimore for the show on the 10th. I got a chance to add to the post from south of Baltimore, before heading out to NY City. We continue...-
Thankfully, though, the part was just a little motor that turns a door that determines the mixture of cold and hot air via the temperature dial on the control panel. On top of that, they only charged me for an hour of labor, though they spent more than 2 hours looking at and taking apart my car to get to where the part was.
***Picture to be added later***
As soon as I picked up my car from the mechanic, I was headed back to Buffalo for a coffee shop show at SPoT Coffee. I played there twice during my May tour. When I got there, they had no advertisement of the show displayed anywhere (the previous time, they had failed to post the fliers that were sent, but at least made a prominent sandwich board display). I was given the name of two managers who were supposedly privy to the details of the evening's show, but neither of them were in the building that night. The manager I spoke to said she didn't realize that there was going to be music that night... as you can imagine, it's a pretty big downer to play a place where they don't even know you're coming. From Nashville. Anyway, it was a weird show - this coffee shop is huge, and most people don't seem to pay attention, but it's hard to tell. I sold a few cds by the end of the night, and a friend brought out about 5 people to catch the music, so I at least knew that I had a handful of people on my side. At the end of the night, I went back to the manager to get paid before hitting the road. She told me that they don't pay musicians, and that they never had. Remember, I played here twice in May, and was paid for each of those performances. I showed her the details that I was given for the event, and she did wind up paying me, but it was an unfortunately awkward situation. I don't understand how absolutely nothing about the show was communicated to anyone who was going to be on staff that night.
This brings us to the second Friday of the tour... another open date (and I think the only open Friday during a tour that I have ever had in over 7 years of touring). So this meant looking for open mics again. I went to my 5th open mic in just 14 days. As I think I mentioned before, this is the most open mic appearances I've made in such a short span of time. At least this time, there were a handful of people who wanted to listen. I managed to sell a couple cds, and the venue might be worthy of consideration for future tours.
Thus ends the western NY portion of the tour. I am actually about to hit the road for New York City in about 30 minutes, so I need to get ready and get the car packed again.
I should be able to post again fairly soon, when I shall revisit the western PA shows of last week, when I did 13 shows in 8 days.
posted by Jeff Miller at 1:18 PM
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