2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog # 7 (day 28)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven      - 4312
Average Speed   - 48 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 44.5
Total Driving Time - 90 hours, 34 minutes (3 days 18 hours, 34 minutes)

We left off after I passed the strange pickup truck / motorcycle accident near Uniontown, PA.  I was en route to my first show at Cristina's Cafe, and my first visit to the small town of Strasburg, VA.  This was almost two weeks ago; I am way behind now.

The venue is very cool, and I hope to return.  But this show did not go well, unfortunately.  The local high school's homecoming football game was that same evening, which I am sure did not help.  That's just one (among many a) thing that makes planning tours more difficult than it already is.  Especially in small towns, one seemingly common event on the weekend can virtually eliminate any chance for a decent crowd.  Nevertheless, there was a good number of people there, eating dinner, during the opening act's set.  The opener was a Chapman Stick player who went by the name of Flint Blade.  I am nearly certain that it is a stage name, though he continued to go by Flint for the entire time that I interacted with him.

I usually don't do shows with other acts on the bill (and was originally the only act for this evening), but the owner of the venue suggested that adding another act would be good for everyone.  Flint played for about 80 minutes, and I grabbed dinner during his set, while I listened to him.  As he was reaching the end of his set, people were already beginning to head out the door, as they had finished eating dinner.  I tried to set up as quickly as possible, with the hopes that I would start while some people were still around.  One group, as they headed out the door, asked me where I was based, and after I said "Nashville", they voiced their disappointment at having to miss the set.  They said that they were on their way to something else... maybe the game.  But they probably assumed that I was a country artists, so maybe it was a good thing that they didn't stick around.  Unfortunately, almost nobody stuck around.  I think I played 2 songs, and then did a quick explanation of what looping is.  After that, there were only three people in the room, not including me.  And Flint and his girlfriend were two of them.  I was going to cut the set short, but a couple people came in, and instead of sitting across from each other, sat on the same side of a booth in order to be able to face the stage.  One of these women had an expression on her face most of the time that they were there that I can only describe as a seemingly-excited smile, one that indicated that she knew me (and I felt like I was supposed to knew who she was, and was trying to think of who she might be while I continued playing).  I never figured out who she was, and I don't think she knew me, either.  I played a few more songs, and the women came up to check out the CDs.  They grabbed a copy of the latest disc.  So, considering that only three non-performing listeners were in the audience, 33% was an okay result.  I just wish that more of the people would have stuck around, as there were about 25 people there at the start of the show.  I guess you can't win them all, but it was a pretty big dud of a show, especially for a Friday night.

But the venue was great, and definitely has potential, as long as I can try to be sure that nothing else is going on in town.  The owner of the venue also puts the artists up in her house, which is hugely helpful.  I wish more venues would offer this to touring acts, and am, frankly, a bit surprised that they don't.  Thankfully, I have a great network of friends and fans who continue to offer a place to stay, so this is usually not a concern while I am on tour (thanks, tour hosts!).  In addition to putting us up Friday night, the owner told me to stop by for breakfast on Saturday, on the house.  I gladly took her up on the offer after waking up and packing up again to hit the road.  I spent a couple hours there, eating a huge breakfast (it was closer to lunch time) and catching up with some things online and making plans for the upcoming drives for the tour.

My show on Saturday the 13th would require another long drive - one from Strasburg to Princeton, NJ.  I decided to drive through Harrisburg, PA in order to avoid the DC area.  DC traffic is the traffic that I hate the most.  It's the worst, and though the distance for the trip via DC and Baltimore was a little bit less than the route I took, it could have made the trip at least an hour longer, depending on what was going on in the area.  As it was, the trip took about 5 hours.  I was instructed by some friends to get dinner at Hoagie Haven upon my arrival in Princeton.  But there was a long line for ordering (out the door), and no available seating (it was pretty chilly that night).  So I went next door to A Slice Between, and got a couple slices of pizza.  Some day I will partake of a Hoagie Haven hoagie.

The last time that I performed at Small World Coffee was at least 4 years ago.  I played on a Thursday, and there were very few people there throughout the evening.  This time, it could not have been more different.  I was luckily able to snag a parking space almost at the door of the venue (it's on a fairly busy street that was completely full, but someone was pulling out of the spot as I waited at a red light).  Thanks to this parking miracle, I had ample time to unload my gear to set up for the show.  I needed my PA system, which obviously requires more set up time.  The place was packed, and it is large for a coffee shop.  The staff had to ask a group to relocate in order for me to set up in the corner of their upper level.  It was pretty loud there before I started.  I think this is due mostly to the number of people there and the material which makes up the surfaces on the inside.  I was a little bit concerned that it was going to be more like a bar gig with all of the noise.  But a woman and her daughter came up to me to ask when I would be playing, which was encouraging.  I started maybe 5 minutes after the scheduled start time, and as I began, the volume became a little bit less of an issue.  It was still loud (especially for a coffee shop - it was the loudest room of the tour up to that point), but it was obvious that there were tables of people that wanted to listen.  I sold 6 cds by the end of the night, including two to a student who was doing work, and was on the first level of the coffee shop, in an area that was one of the worst places to be able to hear the music.  He asked me why I was playing coffee shops and not bigger clubs.  I am flattered by these comments, but I never know what to say.  I just told him that I gotta do what I gotta do, and that it's not easy for an independent artist to set up and get people out to shows at bigger venues.  If any readers know the secret, I'm all ears.

After finishing up the show and talking with some listeners, I ordered a chai latte for the road.  Small World makes there own chai mix, and it is the spiciest chai that I've ever had.  The barista told me that she'd weaken it for me, but it was still very spicy.  My throat wasn't feeling the best (it rarely does after shows in loud environments, as I tend to over-sing in those situations), and I wasn't particularly enthused by the idea of consuming a very spicy chai.  I had about a 40-minute drive to my hosts' home, and finished the chai during the drive.  It was still very spicy, but it actually made my throat feel much better.

I stayed with friends of my wife's family that evening.  I assumed that they waited up for me, but they were more awake than I was, so they might be night owls.  Speaking of animals, I had this waiting for me on the bed where I would be sleeping:

I caught up with my hosts over a slice of pumpkin pie, and got ready for bed, as I had to hit the road again on Sunday morning, to make a drive to Maryland for an afternoon vineyard show.

2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #6 (Day 22)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven        - 3243
Average Speed     - 47 mph
Miles Per Gallon  - 44.4


On Wednesday the tenth, I had my only three-show day of the tour.  On Thursday, I would have my first night off of the tour.  But I did have an afternoon show, to conclude my week of shows in western PA.  It was at the University of Pittsburgh, for the Emerging Legends series put on by Calliope.  I've played for the series twice previously.  There is usually an attentive crowd, a mix of many ages, some students, some not, and some there specifically to listen to music.

There was a good group there again, including some old friends and other familiar people.  The went fine, but I only walked out with 4 dollars in tips.  In the past, this was an album-purchasing crowd, so I was a bit surprised to not sell a single one.  But the people were very nice, and a couple of them even went out of their way to offer positive feedback.  One man came up to me as I was packing up, and said that he majored in music.  He said that he couldn't figure out how to make a go of it, and that he was impressed that I was able to.  He told me not to give up.  I get similar comments from people during most of my tours.  I've lost track of the times that someone has come up to me at a show, and explained how much they wanted to do music, but something got in the way.  I wonder if these people tell me to keep at it mostly because they wish they had...  I'd probably make similar comments to people if I wasn't still doing it now.

Enough of my philosophical waxing.  Here's a photo a high school friend took at the show.

I ate a late lunch at my parents' place after the show, and hung out with my wife and baby.  Having that Thursday night off worked out well, especially since I was in Pittsburgh.  The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the Thursday night game on the 11th, so it probably would have been a bad show if I scheduled one.  My wife and I headed over to my brother's house to watch the game.  A good high school friend of mine was also able to come over.  It was a great night, except for the loss that the Steelers managed to surrender.  They are already very badly beat up this season, though, so I give them a pass.

On Friday, I had the first long drive since Saturday the 6th.  This one was about 4 hours long, and this would be getting back into the more extensive ground covering of the tour, as this past week has been full of driving.  I refueled for the journey, and about an hour into the drive, I saw one of the strangest things that I've ever seen in my entire life.  And I'm pretty sure, looking back at the route, that I would have missed this site if I had stuck to the route that I originally intended to take.  I was going through a smaller town in PA; I believe it was Uniontown.  I came around a bend, and had to brake, somewhat unexpectedly.  There was an apparently recent accident in the opposing lane of traffic, and someone was directing traffic, letting groups of cars take turns using the one open lane.  The accident was right in front of a school which had just let out, so buses were also part of the mix, coming from the school's lot.  With all of this waiting for my turn to pass, I got a good look at what had happened, though I still have a lot of unanswered questions about the whole situation.  Here is what I saw:  a truck had wrecked into the back of a motorcycle.  Yes, it sounds terrible.  But here's the catch.  The motorcycle was still upright, and the back end of the the motorcycle was wedged underneath the front of the truck.  From what I could see, there were no injuries.  The driver of the truck was there, and was trying to dislodge the bike by running his truck in reverse.  It was not working.  A cop was there, as was the man directing traffic and a fourth man.  There was no ambulance, and I never heard any sirens or saw any other emergency vehicles in the vicinity.  The fourth man and the cop were trying to help to dislodge the bike by holding onto its handlebars (or perhaps pushing forward on the handlebars) while the man in the truck was running the truck in reverse.  Insane.  Has anyone in the area read anything about this?  I am so curious.  I managed to snap a picture, but it was as I was driving by, so I couldn't aim my iPod well enough to get a full picture; I just rolled my window down, point the iPod out the window, and hoped for the best.  I only managed to capture the front part of this meeting of vehicles, so you might not believe my story.  In retrospect, I should have tried to snap two pictures quickly.

I have to hit the road again.  I hope I don't see another motorcycle accident.  But if it's like this one, I'll try to get a better photo.

2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #5 (Day 18)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven     - 2588
Average Speed   - 47 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 44
Total Driving Time - 55 hours, 44 minutes (2 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes)

This will probably be a short entry, as I am sitting here at 49 West Coffeehouse, with just about an hour before setup time for tonight's 12 Voices show.

After finishing the second show on my first two-show day of the tour, my wife and I split an order of nachos at the Burrito place in Morgantown, so as to maximize our food intake and minimize our food costs.  We got back to Pittsburgh pretty late, and hit the hay.

On Tuesday, I performed for a third time at a great Tuesday night music series in the small Pennsylvania town of Blairsville.  Attendance was a little on the thin side, but it was still a good audience for the night.  I somehow managed to sell 8 cds by the end of the night, even though there were no more than 16 audience members there.  The first person to grab a cd made a point to tell me that he heard me perform there last year, and that he'd rather listen to me than to Phil Keaggy.  You may not be familiar with Phil Keaggy, but he is my favorite guitar player, so this was quite a thing to hear from someone.  I don't know what it is (well, actually it may be the sheer number of shows that I do), but while I'm on tour, I am much more consistently encouraged than when I do shows in the Nashville area.  The people that run the series are great, the venue owner and the staff are great.  I hope to return many more times.

On Wednesday, 10/10, I had three shows to perform.  I do my best to do as many shows as possible whenever I am away from home, but 3-show days make me a bit concerned about my voice at times.  And on the previous Friday, I was noticing that my throat was feeling a slight bit ragged.  I think it may have been the cold temperatures overnight that had moved into the area with the fall.  But the not-ideal throat feelings lasted all the way until two nights ago, so I was more keenly aware of them on Wednesday.

The first show was at another community college campus in Pittsburgh.  This performance went more as expected: virtually no evidence of people paying attention, and only one instance of anyone clapping after a song.  But I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to get paid to perform during lunch time, and thus have a chance to fit two (or three) shows in on a day.  I made a few dollars in tips by the end of the set, and as I was getting things packed up, a staff person who was sweeping up the floors made a point to check out my cds and talk to me.  He said that he plays violin and keys and sings.  He made a comment about being disturbed by the current state of music production, and said "whenever I see people like you, it gives me hope."  What a grand thing to say about my seemingly-unappreciated performance at the local community college.  There was something about the way that he said it, and I don't know if I'll ever forget it.  It's easy as an artist, to feel like my work is only important to me.  I guess it's partially why touring is a necessary evil.  Kicking around in a music-saturated town, or just in the same town for too long, can compound the negative feelings.

I grabbed lunch after taking to Dantae the Encourager, and packed my car back up to head to my folks' place for a couple hours, before I needed to hit the road for show #2.  This show was at a bar that is connected to a theatre, and is kind of a pit stop for patrons before they take their seats.  It doesn't usually tend to gather appreciative listening audiences.  It was a similar case on this occasion, but during my last 20 minutes of playing, a couple of women came up to the bar, dancing while I played, and seemed to act like they knew who I was.  I don't think they actually did, and I don't even think that they were drunk.  They were funny, though.  They grabbed a couple of cds at the end of the show, and I told them that I though that they were funny.

I ate dinner at the venue, and slowly packed things up, as it would be another 90 minutes before I would perform again.  There would be no point in driving somewhere else first, so I basically just had time to kill.  We moved the carseat from my car to my dad's car (my parents came out for the second show, as did my wife and our babe), and I went on, solo, to Arsenal Lanes in Lawrenceville.  I arrived there much earlier than my start time, and their internet connection wasn't working, so I just walked around and watched the Wednesday night league bowlers bowl and yell at each other in Pittsburgh accents.  After League Bowling, there is "Rock 'n Bowl", during which a weekly act performs two 30-minute sets, one at 10 pm, and a second at 11.  It's a really low-stress gig, as I don't expect people to pay attention, so I have no acceptable reason to get upset if it isn't like a normal show.  I got there just before 9, and shortly after 9, I noticed that my cousin and his girlfriend were getting shoes at the desk.  I went over to greet them, and they invited me to join them for a game.  So I got a game in before my first set.  I am not much of a bowler.  In fact, I have week wrists, and decided not to bowl sometime around my college years (I'd go, and just hang out with friends and watch them if they went).  But a couple of years ago, I developed an approach that doesn't hurt my wrist so much.  I let the ball hang in my right hand, with the back of my hand facing forward (the ball is released with backspin as a result, and I am forced to bowl pretty much straight on, without sidespin.  Anyway, I am not very good.  I bowled a 107, with a couple strikes, and a few spares.   Here's my cousin in a crappy picture from the stage, taken with my iPod.

Thanks for coming out, you two; it made my night.

2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #4 (Day 16)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven     - 1994
Average Speed  - 46 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 43.7
Total Driving Time - 43 hours, 45 minutes (1 day, 19 hours, 45 minutes)


We left off after a show at a small coffeehouse just a bit northwest of Pittsburgh last Friday.  On Saturday the 6th, I performed at a large coffeehouse a good distance east of Pittsburgh, in the central PA town of Huntingdon.

It had been about 3 years since my last performance at Standing Stone, and it was just my third show there.  It's a pretty great place.  A lot of places still call themselves "coffeehouses", even after they expand their menus to offer a variety of meal options and non-beverage options.  This place can hold at least 50 people without a problem, and it doubles as a laundromat.  It was rather crowded when I got ready for the first set, around 7:30 that night.  It was so crowded that it was a bit like a bar show (often, at typical bars, it gets so loud that it's difficult to tell if anyone is even paying attention).  But it wasn't quite to that point.  I could tell that there were a good number of people there specifically for the music.

I took a break after the first set, and a few people came up to check out CDs.  Even more people left the venue.  This is always a risk associated with taking breaks.  Usually, it's not an issue.  But I remembered my previous performance at Standing Stone, where the crowd vanished when I took a break, and the building stayed empty for the second set.  Fortunately, this was not the case tonight.  As I mentioned, most of the patrons left the building, and as I started the second set, there were maybe 10-15 people there (mostly the people that I could tell were paying attention during the first set), but a bunch of people arrived shortly after I began set number two.  It wound up being a great return visit, and I hope to get back there again before too long.

My wife, baby, and I headed to Greensburg, to stay at the home of my mother-in-law.  On Sunday the 7th, I performed at my favorite bar: North Country Brewing Company in Slippery Rock, PA.  This is a place that boasts a regular music calendar, and an appreciative audience (and staff) to go along with it.  We went up early, to grab lunch and catch the Steelers / Eagles game.  My performance was rescheduled for after the game.  It's futile to compete with football, especially in the Pittsburgh area.  The Steelers won by a point, and I began to play shortly afterwards.

It went well, as usually, and seemed to pass very quickly for a 3-hour gig.  My wife's brother was in town for the game.  He lives in the Rochester, NY area, and he stopped by for dinner on his way back home.  That was nice.  Really nice.

I wound up selling a few CDs, and also sold the first shirt of the tour to someone on staff.  I am still on pace to break the record for CDs sold in a tour, but the average took a hit with a few less-than-stellar shows at the end of this current week, and is currently only at 4 2/3 cds per show.  With three house concerts during the final week of the show, I expect that the record will still be broken.

On Monday, I had my first two-show day of the Tour.  I also played in two states on that day.  The first show was at one of the campuses of a network of community colleges in the Pittsburgh area.  I had stopped playing at this particular campus, mostly because the students had become a bit too annoying (e.g., heckling).  Lunch shows can be difficult to begin with, because students often aren't paying attention (I understand that they are eating and studying / reading / etc.).  But after a two-or-so-year hiatus, I decided to give them another try last semester.  I was happily surprised when I went back in April.  The students were very receptive, and I sold several CDs and a shirt.  On top of that, the school had acquired a sound system in the meantime, which meant a lot less work setting up and tearing down.  On this occasion, the results were very similar, and I sold 6 CDs to another warm and receptive group.  I'm glad that this venue has made a triumphant return to my tours.

That evening, I had a show in Morgantown, WV, at a great Burrito place / bar.  This would be just my second performance there, after visiting in late July.  The show in July (also on a Monday), went remarkably well, and I was told to expect a better crowd during the school year.  'Twas not the case, though.  It ended up being a really good night, though.  But it did not start out so well.  Pretty much every single venue that has a menu feeds performers (usually on top of paying, too).  Such was the arrangement here, as well.  In July, they also fed my wife after I told them that I don't drink during shows (the deal was food and drinks).  It was agreed that it would be the same on this evening.  I was setting up on stage, and checked in with a staff member to make sure that it was okay for my wife to eat as well.  When he came back after inquiring about this, he not only informed me that she would have to pay, but also said that performers' meals were no longer on the house.  Now, I guess it's the venue's choice whether or not they want to include feeding as part of their deal, but it should at least give some sort of heads up about it, and not inform the performer of a change in policy only on the night of the performance.  It might sound like a little thing, but I coordinate where I will be eating whenever I am traveling to certain places.  And it's easy for food costs to pile up if I don't plan well.  So, while I do hope to return to perform here many more times in the future, I probably won't plan to eat there all the time (though their food is delicious).  One cool thing about this show is that 3 people (only one of them native to WV) that I knew came out for the show.  And none of them knew each other.  Crazy stuff, this touring business.

Speaking of crazy stuff, I made the mistake of booking back-to-back-to-back shows that will involve over 3 1/2 hours of driving to get from show to show.  3 1/2 isn't that bad.  But yesterday's drive was 4 hours long, and today's will be about 5.

I guess I do what I gotta do.

I'm sorry that there weren't any pretty pictures in today's post.

2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #3 (Day 12)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven      - 1528
Average Speed   - 49 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 44.3
Total Driving Time - 31 hours, 30 minutes (1 day, 7 hours, 30 minutes)


The second week of the tour has almost come to a close.  It's gone by very quickly.  Aside from the excellence of the shows (having bad shows almost certainly makes a tour seem to drag at points), I had the good fortune of being able to spend the past week with my wife and our 7 1/2 month-old, Keenan.

All three of us were driving to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, October 3rd.  I reached the Burgh first, as I had a shorter distance to drive, as well as a show to perform at.  There is an open mic in the neighborhood of Brookline (in the South Hills of Pittsburgh) that is one of the best-supported open mics that I have witnessed.  They have a featured performer kick off the night with a 30-minute set most weeks.  I have had the pleasure of opening the night three times now, I believe.  It's always a great experience playing for the audience there.  It's a good mix of people on the schedule to perform and people who come just to listen.  I managed to sell 5 discs, including a couple to a member of a band that used to tour with and open for the likes of Sonic Youth and Archers of Loaf.  Anywho, Cannon Coffee's got a good thing going.

I got to my parents' place around 9:30 pm, and my wife and son arrived a couple of hours later.  I don't remember too much about Thursday's events, prior to the show at Carnegie Mellon University; I think we hung out with my parents for some family time.  I unfortunately had to drive into Pittsburgh at rush hour, so a 15-mile drive took about 75 minutes.  But I planned accordingly, and got there with plenty of time to grab dinner and get everything set up for the show at 8.  While the tech-savvy students of CMU don't tend to buy CDs, the shows there have nevertheless gone well.  This one started out a little ominously, however.  After my first few songs, no one clapped, and the audience seemed a bit disengaged.  But I noticed a student come into the room who was obviously paying attention, and after the next song, he made a point to clap.  And when he did, most of the rest of the people in the room followed.  I am thankful that he arrived.  That's usually all it takes to not only get most of the audience to applaud (it's a horribly anticlimactic end to a song when no one claps), but people also started to be interested in the show.  It's strange how that one moment was a very clear turning point in the show.  More people arrived, including some people from previous years' shows, and people sat in the front row as well.  It turned out to be another great CMU show, thanks in part to the anonymous brave clapping student.

I grabbed a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream, got a chance to chat and hang out with some of the student activities people, and called it a night.  I got a signed poster from the Student Activities folks, too, which is a first!

On Friday, I had another coffeehouse show.  This coffeehouse is a great little place that is actually a house, too; the owners live upstairs.  The weekend shows here usually go really well.  But this venue is in a small town with a college, and on this particular evening, two college-related events were going on, including a concert.  So........ attendance wasn't the best.  I played a little bit of a shorter show than I may have otherwise, in the interest of preserving my vocal health.  The people there were very receptive, though, and it was still a decent night.


I think we're going to call this a blog entry here.  I've got a baby in my lap, and we're about to hit the road.

2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #2 (Day 8)

Driving Stats:

Miles Driven     - 882
Average Speed   - 50 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 45.1
Total Driving Time - 17 hours, 31 minutes


A complete week is now in the books for the 2012 Fall Tour.  This has been perhaps the best first week of a tour in 9 years of touring.  I am always surprised and thankful when each year is better than the previous one.  This is largely due to two factors: 1) I am more anxious about things than I should be.  If something can go wrong, I half expect it to.  This may be a semi-good thing, as I can be pleasantly surprised when certain things go well, and not be overly disappointed whenever something goes wrong.  I don't think that I would endorse this outlook, though.  2) The dwindling popularity of the Compact Disc.  It just "officially" (whatever that means) turned 30 years old on October 1st.

 

More portable forms of carrying music have been taking over for a good decade now.  But I have somehow managed to continue to sell more CDs from year to year (or at least from Fall Tour to Fall Tour, which is my general method of tracking my progress from year to year).  I am extremely thankful for this.  I think the main thing is that I am playing more shows where die-hard music fans are in attendance.  Or perhaps it's a mix of die-hard music fans and listeners who believe that artists should be directly compensated for the work that they do.  Whatever it is, I am thankful for it.  Especially with services like Spotify (which pays me a whopping 1/5 of a penny per song stream) planning to take over the music world, you can see how this can be a subject of concern for many songwriters.

So far, after 7 shows (out of at least 33), I have been able to sell 44 cds.  I don't expect this rate to continue, but if it does, the total would be 207 for the entire tour, which would blow my previous tour record out of the water.  The current record (ah, get it? Record?) is 139, set during last year's Fall Tour, which was a week longer than this one, and had at least 9 more shows).  So even if the pace doesn't continue, a new record should be set.

Speaking of CDs, I only have about 120 copies of my most recent album (Can You Hear the Music?) available.  Along the lines of CDs being a matter of concern for artists, I need to make the decision of when to reorder another set of that disc once it sells out, and figure out how many to reorder.  But I suppose this is a good problem to have.

Ah, where did we leave off in the last blog entry?  Okay... the beginning of this tour was very interesting, because I stayed with the same host for five nights, and had shows exclusively in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas of OH on each of those five nights.  Except for stints in the Pittsburgh area (my hometown), I rarely stay in the same place for more than two nights.  It was nice to have a temporary "home base".  On Sunday the 30th of September, I would head back to Cincinnati to make my first visit to the LEO Coffeehouse, which isn't really a coffeehouse, but rather a great listening room run by a folk music group called the Queen City Balladeers.  It is held in a Church, which is usually a good sign that it's going to be a good show.  There were about 30 to 40 people in attendance.  There was no pay involved in this show, but I had the honor of being one of the 2 featured acts on the evening.  And Sunday nights can be difficult to find any shows, let alone one in front of a captive, appreciative audience.  I did a short set of about 25 minutes, and hung out to talk to people and catch the main act, a local bluegrass group called Red Cedars.  I wound up selling 11 cds that evening, so it was absolutely a Sunday night well spent.

On Monday, I had another show in Dayton.  This one was at a coffeehouse that is actually on the same road as the venue that I performed at two nights prior.  It was a nice intimate room with great acoustics.  My hosts and members of their family came out for the show, and there was surprisingly a good group of other listeners in attendance, as well.  Mondays and Tuesdays may be worse than Sundays as far as lining up good shows is concerned.  And it was a very rainy Monday night, which I thought might discourage people from coming out (if you ask me, a rainy night is a perfect setting to catch live music at a coffeehouse).  This was also my first visit to Ghostlight Coffee, and I set it up kind of as a low-stress show that would allow me to get to know the room a little.  I'm almost certain that it won't be my last visit.  I was able to sell 5 discs that evening, which I will take on almost any Monday evening.  Heck, if I averaged 5 cds sold per show, that would still break the record.

Tuesday would be my final night in Ohio, and it ended at a newer venue back in Cincinnati; one that I have grown very fond of.  The staff there is very nice to me, and it's always great to return.  Unfortunately, there weren't many listeners in attendance on this particular Tuesday, though I was apparently good enough to catch the attention of one audience member, who was visiting the venue for the first time.  She picked up a couple of cds before I packed up to hit the road back to Dayton for the evening.  If just one person grabs a cd at a show, I feel like I must be doing something right.

Well, I think this entry has reached a good length, and this is a good stopping point, as well.  We'll pick up with the beginning of the western PA leg of the tour when I get a chance to report again.

Thanks for following along on the ride.

2012 Fall East Coast Tour Blog #1 (Day 4)

Hello, friends!  Thanks for checking in to follow me on this, my biggest tour of the year.

We will begin with my current driving stats after 3 full days on tour:

Miles Driven       - 455
Average Speed    - 55 mph
Miles Per Gallon - 46
Total Driving Time - 8 hours, 16 minutes


The Tour began with a House Concert in Cincinnati, Ohio.  A wonderful thing about this tour is that there are four House Concerts on the schedule.  The other three will occur during the final five days of the Tour.  To begin and end with House Concerts makes me a happy singer/songwriter, as these are my favorite type of show.

If the concept of House Concerts is foreign to you (or if you'd like to host House Concerts), feel free to get in touch with me about it, and you can also check out my profile at Concerts in Your Home.

I hit the road just after 11:30 am central time in Nashville, after doing final packing of the car, and getting some food packed as well.  I was hoping to leave no later than 11:30, as it was a 290 mile drive to the house, and I wanted to be there around 5:30.  It turned out that it didn't matter, as there was nearly no traffic along the route, even during rush hour heading through Cincinnati.  I arrived in the driveway at about 5:35 pm.

The host's father greeted me at the door, and helped me unload my car to get things set up for the show.  The house was beautiful, with unusually-open rooms and a big main hallway on the first floor, that runs straight from the front door to the back door.  I got all of my PA gear set up and sound-checked in perfect time, finishing just as the first few guests arrived.  As I noticed the number of seats set up in the room where the concert would take place, I could tell that this was going to be a special show.  Most House Concerts are special anyway, but I would put this one in the top 5 that I've done so far.  Here's a picture of about a third of the audience that evening.  I always think (after the fact) about trying to piece pictures together to make one larger panoramic shot.  Thus was the case tonight, as well.

There were about 40 people in attendance for this first show, and there was a pot luck dinner prior to the show.  I got to meet some great people, and also had my first Cincinnati Chili experience.  I didn't think much of it.  If you are not aware of this kind of chili, it is runny ground meat chili on top of spaghetti noodles, topped with shredded cheddar cheese.  Other toppings are also sometimes available.  I didn't hate it, but I don't see myself wanting it again.  I have since been told that it takes three tries before people get hooked on it.  I don't buy it, though.  There was no problem eating well that night, though, and I was also given food as I left the house.  It was a great night; I wish every show on every tour could be half as encouraging and have audiences that are half as supportive.

I drove about 50 miles north to Dayton, where I have been staying during these western OH shows.  A huge music fan that I have become fast friends with offered to put me up for these 5 days, which has been wonderful, as I usually am packing and unpacking and repacking my car every day or two when I am on the road.

I had a show in Dayton on Saturday night.  This show was at a bar/restaurant, and though a decent number of people came out to listen (I'd say around 15), it was still a noisy bar environment.  I think this was largely due to the construction of the building, as well as the shape of it.  These types of venues are difficult, because I have a hard time hearing myself, even with help of a monitor speaker on stage.  Trying to EQ things was very tricky - all the bass tones seemed to get over-amplified, so I was tweaking the mixing board in a manner that I usually don't.  I was originally asked to play for four hours (which I almost never do), but as I got there, the manager informed me that this amount of time was not required, as long as I played at least 2 sets.  The staff was very nice, and I was fed as well as paid for my services, so I don't have anything to complain about, I guess.  But the environment was not really one that was conducive to listening.  Hence, I sold zero cds at this show.

I don't know if I've ever gone from selling 21 cds at a show to selling 0 the following night.  I would say that Friday night's show more than made up for Saturday's, though.

It is time for me to eat some dinner and head out to set up for another Dayton show tonight.  This one will be in a listening room environment.