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.
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.
posted by Jeff Miller at 1:34 PM
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