so where were we. . .

everybody was telling me you gotta get on the road to make it (this idea of "making it" has changed over the years for me - we'll cover that in future blogs).  1st i'm married, 2nd we owned a place in chicago - these were 2 potential road blocks.  My wife and i had been wanting a change in the scenery anyways - she went to school for acting and i went to school - as it turns out for nothing / haha.  So we hatched a plan - Kate (my wife) would head out to Los Angeles - i would sublet our place and then hit the road for a bit.  This plan seemed completely sane at the time - looking back it seems the whole universe fell into line for a moment.   Kate got a great job and found a studio in Hollywood and started her own adventure - you can read about it on her blog That's So LA.  And i stayed behind - finished up washing windows, painted the condo, killed spiders - and sold everything we owned.  Dressers, couch, bed, dining table and chairs (the tv was also for sale - but i solved that problem when i dropped it -haha)
Our life over night had become very simple.  We had become gypsies.

During the time another little project had begun - booking this tour.
i'd had never done anything like this before - i had a music manager at the time and we tackled the booking - getting any gig, anywhere, anytime :)

So it began - with a map on the wall - we planned and planned - No gig was to small - a coffee shop on a saturday morning and then a gig at a bar 100 miles away the same night.  i looked at it like i would a job - the only way i'd pay for this was playing - so i wanted to play as many times in the 2 1/2 months that i was on the road as i could.  i've documented the tour on this page in previous blogs - with pictures documenting various states of lack-of-sleep and twizzler hangovers. 

So after months of emailing and filling holes in the tour - i set off.  it was scary, crazy, fulfilling, and freeing all wrapped up into one.  i had saved a little money, and the car was in good shape ("good shape" is such a flexible term)  - drive and play and drive and play - that was it . . . i began to loose touch with days and a regular work schedule - i would drive all day, sometimes all night - no longer thinking of days of the week, but more like Madison, then Marquette, then Grand Rapids . . .



Quick Sidenote - i had removed the passeger seat in my car (threw it in the dumpster) - this was i could sleep in my car when needed.

So i drove, slept at friends houses along the way, caught naps in rest areas up and down the east coast, ate more powdered donuts than any doctor would recomend, talked to many of you by phone, by email, and at shows, took pictures, wrote songs in my head, listened to the ipod for days while the miles went by in a blur, and lived a dream!!

Things i learned - this world is stilled filled with generous people, subaru makes a very good car, and i like making music.  For musicians out there - when booking a tour - i know it's tempting to say yes to every gig - but look at a map.  Nobody told me this - haha - i mean we knew i'd have to drive from Ohio to Wisconsin overnight and then back to Ohio the next day - i'm not sure what i was drinking when i thought this was a good idea :)
But it built character - at least that's what somebody told me.

In the end - we sent out hundreds of emails, and mounds of press kits, and  pieced together a tour on a shoestring.  i ended up losing around $200 total on the whole tour.  This includes all the gas, food, car repairs, and motel stays / set against / cd sales, and a few paid gigs.   In the end - i think i could have made it into the black - if i would have been a bit more deliberate in the mapping out of the tour.  But you just don't know at the beginning - there isn't a book for this kinda stuff and i think i like it that way.

 Next Up - Tour 2006 -Round 2 . . .