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.
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.
posted by Jeff Miller at 6:51 PM
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