The First Tour of 2012 - blog #3 (day 13)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven       - 1505
Average Speed   - 46 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 42.6
Driving Time       - 32 hours, 52 minutes (1 day, 8 hours, 52 minutes)


So we have recapped the first week of this two-week tour.  On Sunday the 22nd, I would return to what may be my favorite bar-type venue in the world: North Country Brewing Company in Slippery Rock, PA.

The reason I love this place is that people actually come out to hear the music, and even the staff stops to listen, and buy cds and spreads the word about shows.  At most bars, the music is an afterthought, with the musicians being put in the corner, competing with any number of flat screen tvs playing any sort of random sporting event that gets most people's attention, even if they don't care about the game.

That being said, there was a Penguins hockey game scheduled for my original show time, so we changed my start time forward a few hours.  My wife and Keenan and I headed out early, to catch the majority of the game (the wheel a TV out for Pittsburgh sports games, but put it away when the games are over.  I don't know of any other place that would be willing to do that.  This place is magical, I tell you...and haunted, but that's another story.

Well, the Pens lost, ending their very short post-season run in what was predicted to be a big Stanley Cup run for them this year.  The show went pretty well, but ended up getting a little too crowded - which is great for the venue, but makes it more difficult for me to get listeners' attention.  But things still went well.  I sold a CD and a shirt, and several familiar faces were in the crowd, including two families who have seen me perform in Ocracoke, NC (an island town that is part of The Outer Banks).  It's always really neat to see people in different areas of the country at shows.  Speaking of Ocracoke, I've just finished booking shows for the week in July when we will be returning there for the fifth year in a row.  It's become a tradition, and Keenan will get his first taste of island life this time around.  If you're interested in discovering this spot where you really can get away from it all, consider making the trip when we'll be there!  You can check out my official site for the dates.

After the show, all three of us would head to my parents house in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, and would be together for the rest of the tour.  I think we rented a movie Sunday night.... um, this one:
























It was pretty good.  I'd recommend it.

Okay, Monday.... Monday was my first day without a night time show.  I played a lunchtime show at a local community college campus.  I used to perform at this location maybe once a semester, but it had been years since I had last visited.  These lunchtime shows can sometimes be trying.  They pay decently, and allow me to still book a night show if I want to, but these students 1) are eating lunch, studying, and socializing and don't usually have live music going on during lunchtime hours and 2) often try to be funny by heckling the performers.  This second issue can be more apparent or prevalent when the performer is a solo one.  But this visit was a great one - probably the best one at this particular location.

The weather was getting unfriendly by this point, with temperatures in the upper 30s and light precipitation.  Two things took me surprise as I was in the process of unpacking my car and bringing things to the stage.  The first thing I noticed was that, on the school's promo material for the day's show, I was advertised to be starting at 11 am.  In my communication with the school, and in the invoice (and on my website and other online sites), the start time was set for 11:30 am.  I arrived at the campus with plenty of time to spare for an 11:30 start, but not for an 11 start.  The second thing that I noticed, though, was that the school had acquired a sound system, and it was all set up by the stage.  In previous years, I had to set up my own sound system, which takes a good half hour.

So ... now I was in a hurry, but not nearly as annoyed or rushed as I would have been had I still needed to empty my car of my PA system gear.  I started performing a few minutes after 11.  After the oh-so-funny "Free Bird" request early in the set, things turned for the better.  Kids close to the stage actually paid attention, and several of them clapped after the songs (a rarity at lunch shows of any kind).  I got to talk to some of them, too, which is also a rarity.  If I am unable to personally connect with people in the audience, the show is much less enjoyable, and I feel like I might as well be a jukebox, so this was nice, especially in this setting.  I ended up selling 3 CDs and a shirt by the end of the set; I'm happy if just one person is interested enough to pick up a CD at one of these shows.

Tuesday was supposed to be another 2-show day, but I had a late cancellation, due to a change in ownership at the venue.  The early show was another lunchtime community college show, at a different campus.  This one went more as expected, though I did manage to sell a CD.  This is a smaller campus, and the number of people eating lunch when I play here changes each time.  I finished playing, and grabbed lunch (the biggest taco salad I have ever had.  I didn't finish it.)

It was huge.

Really, really big.

(And Keenan wasn't as close to the edge of the table as he might appear to have been.  And his mom's hands were just out of the frame to the left.)


That evening, a bunch of family and friends went out to dinner for my dad's birthday, but also kind of for mine (but it was 6 weeks ago) and my wife's (it's in a little over a week).  It was yummy, but I didn't come close to finishing it.

I finished it for lunch on Wednesday, as I did not have a third lunchtime show.  I did have two shows, though.  The first was an early dinnertime show in the theatre district of Pittsburgh.  It is a really great room with good sound, but the time is a little unusual for people to come out (5 to 7:25 pm), so I generally don't get a crowd out to see me.  Thus was the case again this time.  Some more people started to come out around a quarter to 6, but they weren't really there to listen.  Close to 7, I started hearing music bleeding through from the other room, so I ended a tad early, maybe around 7:15.  I grabbed dinner there with my parents and wife (and Keenan).  I had a late show, so the 4 of them and I parted ways for the rest of the night.

I headed out to Arsenal Lanes, maybe a short 8 miles away.  Every Wednesday, they host Rock and Bowl, where you can rock out while bowling.  I make an effort to only play my upbeat and rocking material.  These shows are pretty cool, because I have absolutely no expectations.  People are bowling, after all.  I always introduce by asking people to please refrain from bowling while I am playing, just to see if anyone is listening.  Tonight's audience was very kind (much nicer than the unusual heckling that I happened to receive in the fall.  You can fish through the earlier posts to read about it, if you'd like to.), and I ended up selling a CD, which I consider to be a positive accomplishment when playing in front of a room of bowlers.

I had an interesting drive back to my parents' house late that night, which included witnessing the aftermath of a rear-end car wreck that rendered the faulting party with a horn honk that wouldn't stop, and a reckless driver that decided to use a turning lane to pass three cars, only after driving for a block in the opposing traffic lane.  It probably saved him about 6 seconds of driving time.

Okie Dokie.

I'm going to hit the road for the final show of this First Tour of 2012.  Then we'll make the long trip back to Nashville on Sunday.  Who knows how long it will take with the newest Miller in tow.  These past few days have been pretty good, and I'll probably get a chance to recap the final events once we land safely back home.

The First Tour of 2012 - blog #2 (day 9)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven - 1391
Average Speed - 50 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 43.3
Driving Time - 28 hours, 6 minutes (1 day, 4 hours, 6 minutes)


At the end of the last entry, I was heading out for the first Pittsburgh show of the tour, on Thursday night. It was at a place called Cadillac Ranch. It's not exactly a concert venue, so I wasn't expecting too much. But I usually expect there to be some portion of the audience that claps after songs. Aside from my parents, who headed home after the first set, it was a no-applause sort of night. The venue paid well, so it's a worthwhile gig, but those shows can be emotionally draining. So I finished the gig, and got ready to pack things up. A table of women were actually paying attention from time to time, and one of them bought two cds after I finished playing. And the manager came up to me to say that he wanted me back, and that a lot of people were making good comments to him throughout the night. I guess people don't want to be bothered to slap their hands together any more...

Well, I guess that depends on the venue, because Friday night's show was wonderful. It was a fundraiser, so I wasn't guaranteed any compensation. But the audience is such a music-loving crowd that it is worth the gamble to perform there. I wound up selling 10 cds that night, after playing for only 30 minutes (and not having to set up a sound system and pack and unpack all my gear in my car). It's a difficult thing for me to take non-paying gigs, because it leaves me with an uncertainty as to what I might earn for those shows. But there is the flip-side situation, where some of these shows are in front of the audiences that I need to be playing for. It's a difficult thing to balance and figure out from city to city.

On that Friday afternoon, I was also reunited with my wife and baby son, Keenan. They've been coming out to most of the shows. I unfortunately had to leave both of them at my mom-in-law's place east of Pittsburgh after Friday's show, while I had to (or thought I had to) head to the South Hills so that I would be closer to the venue for my Saturday lunchtime show. There is overnight construction happening at the dreaded Squirrel Hill Tunnels, which made what should have been an hour drive take about 30 minutes longer, and put me to bed later than I was hoping. Here's a photo from the interwebs.

Saturday was to be my first two-show day of the tour. The first show was in the cafe area of a popular supermarket chain. I arrived early enough to unpack my car and set up my PA. About fifteen minutes before my set time, a woman arrived, carrying some music gear as I was plugging my mic in and getting ready to sound check. This results in one of the worst feelings that a performer (especially a touring one) can have, as I figured that the date was double-booked. I had my iPod on me, and was able to access the emails I had sent and received for booking the date, so I figured that all was well. The woman who arrived didn't have access to any of her emails or other correspondence. But a staff person came out to talk to us, and told us that it probably wasn't actually an accidental double-booking, but rather a deliberate double-booking, with each of us playing opposite ends of the location (it's a very large place, so there wouldn't be any overlapping sound). This staff person called a manager, however, who came and immediately told me that I was not on the schedule and would therefore not get paid. I explained to him that I had the confirmation email, and that I was on tour from Nashville, but this made no effect on the man. He said he would call the woman who booked us, and come back with a final verdict. In the meantime, several of my friends had begun gathering, as they had come out to catch a set or two. The only thing making this uncomfortable situation more uncomfortable was having to go through it with a bunch of people looking on.

So, it took about 30 minutes (we were now over 20 minutes into the performance time), and the woman and I (and everyone else) were just waiting. I didn't want to take down all my gear, in case I was still going to perform. But I had a very bad feeling. Since the manager seemed to be taking a while, I decided to call the contact I had for the show. She was apparently on vacation, so I left a message. This show was the first (and probably the last) one that I had booked through this person, who works for an entertainment agency in Pittsburgh. The woman who was also booked for the show informed me that it wasn't the first double-booking that she had experienced for this venue. When the manager came back, he said he talked to the booking person (the contact that I had booked through), and she told him that I was not on the schedule. Meanwhile, I had left her a message, explaining that I had the confirmation email up on my iPod. Anyway, I was told that I would not get paid for the show (the more understanding venues pay both performers on a double-booking the amount that was agreed upon, and have them both perform). It would have been nice if someone had stopped me before unloading my car and setting up my PA. So I proceeded to unplug all of my gear and undo the setting up that I had done. While I was unplugging things, I got a call back from the booking person, who tried to tell me that the situation was my fault. She said that I should have followed up with her closer to the date of the event to be sure that I was on the schedule, even though we had confirmed the date. She mentioned that her computer crashed in February, and she lost all of her spreadsheets. She wouldn't have lost our emails, though, and even if she did lose her spreadsheets, I don't see how that would be my fault. This was not a good first gig-booking experience with this contact. I asked her if I would be getting any compensation, and she said she would "see about getting me something." This means, of course, that I won't be getting compensated.

I went out to an early lunch with my parents and brother, and drowned my sorrows in some pasta. Then I headed back to my mother-in-law's to be with the rest of my family. Keep in mind that I didn't even have to leave them the previous night because of the double-booking situation.

Thanks for letting me vent. I deal with a decent amount of inconvenient back-and-forth driving due to show availabilities when I'm on tour, so to have to do it for no reason is very frustrating. Speaking of, this whole first tour has been a pretty frustrating one. Along with Saturday's double-booking turned cancellation, I had two other cancellations just weeks before the start of the tour (which means that I had next to no chance of refilling those dates). One cancellation was due to an ownership change, which happens from time to time, and is somewhat unavoidable. Another one was due to construction in the area of the venue - another unavoidable situation. But in this case, the people I booked through knew about the situation for a month before they told me about it. In fact, I had to call them to get someone to tell me about it, and when I called, I was told that it was on their calendar to call me the week prior, but that they just didn't get around to it. I generally have about 2 cancellations a year, so to have 3 for a two-week tour is kind of infuriating.

Hopefully we're just getting all of this nonsense out of the way now, instead of throughout the rest of the year.

That night, I performed at what has become my regular venue east of Pittsburgh - Pizza Siena in Greensburg.

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My wife and Keenan and I headed out early to grab dinner there, and to set up. A number of familiar faces came out for the show (or maybe just to meet Keenan for the first time), and it was a decent night, though I was still pretty bummed out by the events of earlier in the day.

The First Tour of 2012 - blog #1 (day 4)

There is a new driving stat to introduce to my regular blog postings. That stat is Total Driving Time. This will probably be a depressing stat for me. I know that I often drive for more time than I perform during most tours, but this stat will make that fact more obvious. The new car keeps track of this stat in the instrument cluster, which I guess is kind of cool. I don't know... whatever. I realized, as it occurred to me that I had a new driving stat, that I could have easily figured out the driving time by simply dividing my miles driven by my average speed. Oh well.

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven - 964
Average Speed - 58 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 44.5
Driving Time - 16 hours, 36 minutes


The Tour began on Monday in Dayton, OH. The drive is a long one - about 340 miles. I prefer to not drive more than 3 hours on the way to a show, but sometimes it's necessary, as in this case. For some reason, I could count on zero fingers how many good shows I've had in Kentucky so far. Oh wait, I take that back. I just remembered some shows from years past - a really good show in Bowling Green at a place that closed shortly after I performed there, and some decent shows in Hopkinsville, but when they stopped paying, it didn't make financial sense to return. It's not that I haven't looked or done shows in the Bluegrass State, but I just haven't found anything worth returning to. If you live in KY and want to throw me a bone, I'd be grateful.

The venue I performed at was recommended by a fan/friend who was putting me up that night. The people who run it are pretty easy to deal with, and the compensation is decent. The time for music was scheduled from 8 to 11 pm, and I was told that I could get one opener if I wanted to. Long story short, I did find someone to perform as an opener, but he showed up about an hour late. I was actually plugging my gear in and was about to start without him as he walked in the door. He had a bunch of extra things to set up and plug in, and was taking a while to set up, so a manager came up to tell us to get things going, as it was past 8:30 by this time (he was supposed to start at 8). The artist I got to open said that all the places he plays are cool with people starting late. I was already pretty annoyed before he said that, and I told him that most of the places I play expect music to start when it's advertised to start. I wanted to tell him more than that; for example, that he would likely not be welcomed back to many venues if that was the attitude that he took when it came to doing shows. Not only did I not end up telling him that, but he started giving me advice about how to present myself and how to book shows. Maybe he will read this and get the message here, rather than from another venue that gets turned off by his tardiness.

All of this of course reflects poorly on me, but I did my best to insure the powers that be that I did not know the opening act personally, and that I had no control over his timing. I already have another date booked here for my Fall Tour, but I was a little bit afraid that they were going to say that they'd rather not have me back. All this worrying was unwarranted, however, once I began playing. The staff seemed really into it, and once the night was over, they asked me to come back any time. I thanked them, and told them that I would do my best to get a local opener the next time around.

This is why I usually don't do shows with other acts on the bill, unless it's at a bona fide music club, or unless I know the other musicians personally. I've had numerous requests from artists through the years, asking to join a show that I've set up. I usually say no, running the risk of seeming like a jerk. But I think that I will be keeping that policy.

Anyway...all things considered, I guess Monday was actually a good night, even though I was slightly nervous for much of it. I ended up selling a few CDs, too, which I'm always happy with on any given Monday. And when I arrived back at my hosts' place after the show, this was what my fuel economy meter read:

(The meter on the new car actually reads a little high. This is just like how the Malibu Maxx behaved. It seems to me that this should be illegal, but I guess the car manufacturers' argument would be that the reading is not an exact calculation. It seems that the new car is off by about 5 to 7 percent, and I take this into account when I report my driving stats, by subtracting 6 percent from the mpg result that my instrument cluster displays.)


Tuesday did not involve a 6+ hour drive, which was nice. I returned to a non-profit coffee shop in Cincinnati, where I had played twice previously. I have come to know a few people on the staff, and it's a great, welcoming place. I arrived early to set up and eat dinner there. As I was getting ready to sound check, someone I knew from the internet walked in. No; it wasn't Al Gore. I had "met" a fellow looping guitarist about a month ago, and saw that he lived in Cincinnati. I told him about the show, and he said he'd make it out. It was pretty cool that he came out, and kind of weird to see someone in real life that I had only previously seen on his YouTube channel.

So Tuesday was a pretty good night, too. Mondays and Tuesdays are probably the hardest days to find good gigs, so I am thankful for how these ones went. One of the owners, after buying a cd, gave me some gas money to boot, which I was not expecting.


Wednesday was a pretty long day. I hit the road about 20 minutes later than I wanted to, and had a 320-mile drive to Mercyhurst University in North East (near Erie), PA. I was expecting to increase my fuel economy, but I lowered it by having to drive faster than I wanted to. I try to drive close to or under the speed limit on the highway, in order to maximize the fuel economy. On Tuesday, however, I did somehow manage to increase my fuel economy, even though I drove through a decent amount of traffic on the way to Cincinnati.

The show at Mercyhurst was okay. I really can't complain, though, because it almost didn't happen at all. It's another long story, but someone who wasn't authorized to book the show decided that he was going to go ahead and book the date with me. He didn't tell anyone else that he had done this, and to top it off, he apparently quit a couple weeks before the show was supposed to happen. To his credit, he did tell me that he quit, so I knew that it would behoove me to contact someone else to be sure that everything was okay. It turned out not to be okay (ie, no one else at the University had any idea that the show was even lined up), but the student activities coordinator is such a high-quality human being that she told me that they would make the date happen, because it wouldn't be okay to cancel it after the work I had done to set it up. I am very thankful that she is charge, because most venues would not take the same stance.

The nature of the show was changed - it was originally going to be more of an actual show, in a small theatre on campus. But it was changed to a dinner time performance in their dining hall. These types of "shows" almost always end up the same, unfortunately - none of the students really pay attention, and no one claps after songs or comes up to check out CDs. Aside from a couple walk-bys of the merch table, the only person who came up to look at CDs wanted me to be giving them away. He asked very loudly if they were free. Eh. But I really can't get away with complaining about this show. A couple of students helped me load and unload gear, and I did give each of them a CD to say thanks. If only he stuck around to help me carry gear...

A good friend of mine who I hadn't seen in years came out, and I got to catch up with him shortly after I was done performing, but then I had another drive - about 2 1/2 hours - to my parents' place near Pittsburgh. The Penguins are doing poorly in the first round of the NHL playoffs, and I was hoping to catch the majority of the game during the drive. I couldn't get a good signal for about 45 minutes, though, and I thought that I'd only be able to listen to part of the third period. But it turned out to be a very high-scoring game, and I was able to listen to more than half of the second period along with the final one. The Pens beat the Flyers by a football score of 10 to 3. It's only the second time that the Penguins have scored ten goals in a playoff game.

I arrived at my parents' house shortly after the end of the game.

And now it's Thursday. I have my first show in Pittsburgh of the tour tonight, and have to pack the car.

The First Tour of 2012

Greetings, Citizens of Cyberspace.

It's been a good while since my last entry, and a lot has happened. I'll spare you most of the details, but my wife and I had our first child at 4:01 a.m. on Friday, February 24th. His name is Keenan Elliot. Here he is sleeping (errrr, listening intently) at one of my shows last month:

Keenan and my wife were all set to come out with me for this tour until yesterday, when we found out that Keenan has to have his hips checked out (he was a breech baby, and may need some hip alignment help) next Thursday. It's probably not a big deal. Apparently it's something that they are okay waiting a week to check out, but not okay waiting two weeks for. Anyway, thanks to a grandparent making a round trip to pick them up, Keenan and the wife will be around for the latter 2/3 of the tour. Maybe you can meet the baby if you come out to a show.

I usually do about 15 shows a month on average, but as of Wednesday, I've only done 16 shows this entire year. The number of total shows on the year will almost double during this tour, though, as I will be doing 15 shows in 13 days. I would have done 17 in those same 13 days, if it weren't for a pair of late cancellations.

Another big addition that has joined us in the meantime is my new set of tour wheels. I'm still excited about this vehicle, the Jetta Sportwagen:

We made a trip all the way to Karen Radley VW in the Washington, DC area, because we got such a good deal on this bad boy. And we were in Pittsburgh for the holidays, so it wasn't as bad as driving straight from Nashville. I told the folks at Karen Radley that I didn't really think I'd have a chance to refer anyone to them since we didn't live in the area, but that I'd spread the word if I could. I guess I'm doing that now. They beat the other prices we found by a longshot, so much so that I didn't hesitate with the decision to make the trip out there to pick it up. This model has a diesel engine, and as you already know, I'm a fuel economy nut. With the recently retired Chevy Malibu Maxx, I was averaging somewhere around 32 or 33 mpg per tour. I expect to get around 45 mpg with the new set of wheels. I definitely won't have to stop for fuel as often, which will be nice.

Okay, without further ado, here is the show schedule for my first tour of 2012! This tour is a bit smaller than normal, because I was trying to figure out how to make it so that our whole family could make the trip. The dates:


Monday, 4/16: The Trolley Stop - Dayton, OH
Tuesday, 4/17: Refuge Coffee Bar - Cincinnati, OH
Wednesday, 4/18: Mercyhurst University - North East, PA
Thursday, 4/19: Cadillac Ranch - Pittsburgh, PA
Friday, 4/20: Coffeehouse at Mill Creek - Ligonier, PA
Saturday, 4/21: Giant Eagle Market District Cafe - Bethel Park, PA
Saturday, 4/21: (Later That Evening) Pizza Siena - Greensburg, PA
Sunday, 4/22: North Country Brewing Company - Slippery Rock, PA
Monday, 4/23: CCAC Boyce Campus - Monroeville, PA
Tuesday, 4/24: CCAC West Hills - Oakdale, PA
Wednesday, 4/25: Backstage Bar at Theatre Square - Pittsburgh, PA
Wednesday, 4/25: (Later That Evening) Arsenal Lanes - Pittsburgh, PA
Thursday, 4/26: The Map Room - Pittsburgh, PA
Friday, 4/27: Cannon Coffee - Pittsburgh, PA
Saturday, 4/28: Beaver Falls Coffee and Tea - Beaver Falls, PA


Hopefully I'll see you soon. Please spread the word, and check back soon as the updates finally start again for 2012.