Post by Gene on Feb 29, 2012 16:29:13 GMT -5
Howza goin', chuckleheads? I hope you're beating the post-holiday wintertime blahs in some creative way.
I don't have a lot shakin' right now, as most players in this area don't, but there IS some barely-breathing movement with my music anyway:
SAT, MAR 3: Harley's, Ramada Inn, Marquette, 9:30pm-1
SAT, MAR 17: Dixie Saloon, Mackinac City, 9pm-1
The Harley's gig in Marquette is the result of them liking me when I played there on a lark a month ago, when I was dropping my daughter off at NMU. I decided to do a gig there, and they asked me back, and I didn't have much goin' anyway, so why not? I get to see my daughter, have some good food, shop, and make a buck, too!... St. Patricks Day lands on a Saturday this year, so getting a gig that day was pretty easy. I chose the Dixie, since I wanted to give them a reminder that I'd be a good fit there for summer. This ended up to be sound thinking, but I'll tell ya more about that later!...
As I said, I played at Harley's in January. It went well, obviously, and my daughter and a couple friends came out to fill it up a bit. My cousin, Chris, came out too, and unfortunately he got pulled over for drunk driving after he left my gig. That's the one thing that DIDN'T go right... I played at the Driftwood in St. Ignace during the pond hockey tournaments in February. It was an early shift, from 2 to 6, but it was a great, rowdy crowd. I sure am happy I got that gig rather than the one the city has in a tent out on the ice at that time; Tricky Dicky and Cedar Straits claim it's an uncomfortable gig, and I find that easy to believe!...
So far, my April is completely empty, and I haven't decided if I want to do something about that, yet. April is no doubt the slowest month of the twelve, and I'm not sure I want to pound the pavement to chase a bunch of gigs that aren't there, or else gigs that have been scooped up by all the starving career musicians in the area. It might be a good time to "sharpen the saw" and learn some new material. I've only learned about a dozen new songs this off-season, so I feel a bit behind with that.
From mid-May on, though, is quite a different story! I've got a couple debut gigs at the Village Inn on the Island, which has just been taken over by the Grand Hotel. It may lead to a few more, since my record is pretty good with a try-it-and-see method of sales, but even if it doesn't catch fire, it's fine, since playing on the Island a lot is a pain in the butt anyway. The Island is funny with me: I want to play there just enough for it to be fun, but not a chore. The city of St. Ignace is squaring up a few opportunities too, which don't pay huge, but I like doing them out of a buy-local spirit (and the transportation overhead is practically nothing!...). The BIG news is that The Dixie wants me to play every Wednesday ALL SUMMER LONG! Being a "house performer" is a hallmark of a career musician, and quite a commitment for a day-job guy like me, but I think I can swing it. I'm going to arrange to come in to work at 10am on Thursday mornings regularly to do this. I don't think I'll get a burning-the-candle-at-both-ends feeling with this; I just have to budget smart with time. So, my summer is shaping up quite nicely, since I already have a comfortable load scheduled by March. The sales end of this seems to get easier every year, which is great, 'cause that's the part of this I dislike the most!
I usually try to do open mics this time of year, and there are SOME things to report on that: The Bombshelter in the Soo is giving them a try on Thursdays, lately. I timed some business at International Bridge to attend one, but it just happened to be the kick-off of the spring break of the college in town there, so attendance for participants was slim. Well, not really "slim", but more like non-existant; I was the only one there! It was hostless with just a set-up PA, and I ended up playing two hours there. I was appreciated and all, but it would have been more fun to have other kindred spirit musicians there. I was assured that other weeks had a few contributors, but just not the week I went. Oh well, maybe another time... I hear that the Wig Wam near Indian River is considering a night like this, and is going to decide on it in the next week or two. I hope it happens, since there are no open mics at all north of Boyne besides the Soo one I mentioned, which is too far away for most folks I know. There's an outside chance that I may host it, since they asked me about it and I offered a small fee to do it. I suspect that even the little bit that I wanted to host it was too much for them, since it's a hard-to-find place that looks to be struggling. We'll see how that all turns out...
An un-musical thing I've just gotta mention, since it's just so awesome!: Killing time before the Bombshelter open mic was to start, I went down the the casino to spin a little video poker. I've been dinking with quarter video poker for about 15 years now, and I know Basic Perfect strategy (living in St. Ignace, with only the casino to amuse locals in the off-season, you might as well...) Anyway, I've never hit "the big one", the royal flush, in all my years of playing. That night, though, I hit it! Not only that, I got two 4-of-a-kinds and a straight flush (ANOTHER high hand I've never gotten). When it was all over, I was up $180! I was WHITE HOT that night, man; I couldn't be stopped! Good karma, or something; I don't know!...
While at the casino, I picked up some tickets to see The Gin Blossoms for Saturday, April 28. I love "janglepop" bands, and this one definitely in my top 5. Okay, they may not be up there with R.E.M., Tom Petty and Hootie And The Blowfish, but then again, you're not likely to see any of those guys play in the U.P. anytime soon... I'm looking forward to a great show!
The only other bands I got to see since the last blog entry was The Elastic Waist Band (twice) and Cedar Straits, which I've seen and written about before. Two of these three gigs I saw at The Keyhole in Mackinaw City. I'd like to play there myself sometime, but they have a short attention span there, and I can't seem to time the asking of my question just right... Maybe someday...
The slow season is conducive to doing a project, and yes, I do have one: I've been working on what I'm calling a "solo gig rig". I've been getting tired of setting up and breaking down my rig, which has grown to be considerable in complexity. I've designed and built a rig which you can just roll in, "unfold", and you're good to go, all set up, with one trip to the truck. It has on it a floor pedalboard, a music stand, a mic stand with a boom, a monitor, a paper trough for already-performed song sheets, and a cup holder. It's hard to explain without a picture, but it elaborates on a two-wheeled hand truck as its core. It has these hinged "wings" which are two halves of a folding metal sawhorse. When you open it up, it basically makes a semi-circle of all these things I've described around the performer. When it's time to pack up, just fold it back up and roll it back to the truck, again in one trip. If I may say so, this thing is VERY clever! I believe I've built this thing so good and it's so useful and problem-solving that I think that there may be a market for this product idea. So, I think I'm going to pursue getting a patent on it. I plan on gigging with it the next few times to work bugs out of the prototype, but I hope to have some pictures of it to offer on my website soon. Even if it goes nowhere as a commercial endeavor, I'm certain that I will personally save about 40 minutes a gig using it. I always find new, creative ideas inspiring, and I'm very excited about this one, so be careful if you come to one of my shows soon and strike up a conversation with me; I am likely to just go on and on about it!
Hope you're doing well!
--Gene.
I don't have a lot shakin' right now, as most players in this area don't, but there IS some barely-breathing movement with my music anyway:
SAT, MAR 3: Harley's, Ramada Inn, Marquette, 9:30pm-1
SAT, MAR 17: Dixie Saloon, Mackinac City, 9pm-1
The Harley's gig in Marquette is the result of them liking me when I played there on a lark a month ago, when I was dropping my daughter off at NMU. I decided to do a gig there, and they asked me back, and I didn't have much goin' anyway, so why not? I get to see my daughter, have some good food, shop, and make a buck, too!... St. Patricks Day lands on a Saturday this year, so getting a gig that day was pretty easy. I chose the Dixie, since I wanted to give them a reminder that I'd be a good fit there for summer. This ended up to be sound thinking, but I'll tell ya more about that later!...
As I said, I played at Harley's in January. It went well, obviously, and my daughter and a couple friends came out to fill it up a bit. My cousin, Chris, came out too, and unfortunately he got pulled over for drunk driving after he left my gig. That's the one thing that DIDN'T go right... I played at the Driftwood in St. Ignace during the pond hockey tournaments in February. It was an early shift, from 2 to 6, but it was a great, rowdy crowd. I sure am happy I got that gig rather than the one the city has in a tent out on the ice at that time; Tricky Dicky and Cedar Straits claim it's an uncomfortable gig, and I find that easy to believe!...
So far, my April is completely empty, and I haven't decided if I want to do something about that, yet. April is no doubt the slowest month of the twelve, and I'm not sure I want to pound the pavement to chase a bunch of gigs that aren't there, or else gigs that have been scooped up by all the starving career musicians in the area. It might be a good time to "sharpen the saw" and learn some new material. I've only learned about a dozen new songs this off-season, so I feel a bit behind with that.
From mid-May on, though, is quite a different story! I've got a couple debut gigs at the Village Inn on the Island, which has just been taken over by the Grand Hotel. It may lead to a few more, since my record is pretty good with a try-it-and-see method of sales, but even if it doesn't catch fire, it's fine, since playing on the Island a lot is a pain in the butt anyway. The Island is funny with me: I want to play there just enough for it to be fun, but not a chore. The city of St. Ignace is squaring up a few opportunities too, which don't pay huge, but I like doing them out of a buy-local spirit (and the transportation overhead is practically nothing!...). The BIG news is that The Dixie wants me to play every Wednesday ALL SUMMER LONG! Being a "house performer" is a hallmark of a career musician, and quite a commitment for a day-job guy like me, but I think I can swing it. I'm going to arrange to come in to work at 10am on Thursday mornings regularly to do this. I don't think I'll get a burning-the-candle-at-both-ends feeling with this; I just have to budget smart with time. So, my summer is shaping up quite nicely, since I already have a comfortable load scheduled by March. The sales end of this seems to get easier every year, which is great, 'cause that's the part of this I dislike the most!
I usually try to do open mics this time of year, and there are SOME things to report on that: The Bombshelter in the Soo is giving them a try on Thursdays, lately. I timed some business at International Bridge to attend one, but it just happened to be the kick-off of the spring break of the college in town there, so attendance for participants was slim. Well, not really "slim", but more like non-existant; I was the only one there! It was hostless with just a set-up PA, and I ended up playing two hours there. I was appreciated and all, but it would have been more fun to have other kindred spirit musicians there. I was assured that other weeks had a few contributors, but just not the week I went. Oh well, maybe another time... I hear that the Wig Wam near Indian River is considering a night like this, and is going to decide on it in the next week or two. I hope it happens, since there are no open mics at all north of Boyne besides the Soo one I mentioned, which is too far away for most folks I know. There's an outside chance that I may host it, since they asked me about it and I offered a small fee to do it. I suspect that even the little bit that I wanted to host it was too much for them, since it's a hard-to-find place that looks to be struggling. We'll see how that all turns out...
An un-musical thing I've just gotta mention, since it's just so awesome!: Killing time before the Bombshelter open mic was to start, I went down the the casino to spin a little video poker. I've been dinking with quarter video poker for about 15 years now, and I know Basic Perfect strategy (living in St. Ignace, with only the casino to amuse locals in the off-season, you might as well...) Anyway, I've never hit "the big one", the royal flush, in all my years of playing. That night, though, I hit it! Not only that, I got two 4-of-a-kinds and a straight flush (ANOTHER high hand I've never gotten). When it was all over, I was up $180! I was WHITE HOT that night, man; I couldn't be stopped! Good karma, or something; I don't know!...
While at the casino, I picked up some tickets to see The Gin Blossoms for Saturday, April 28. I love "janglepop" bands, and this one definitely in my top 5. Okay, they may not be up there with R.E.M., Tom Petty and Hootie And The Blowfish, but then again, you're not likely to see any of those guys play in the U.P. anytime soon... I'm looking forward to a great show!
The only other bands I got to see since the last blog entry was The Elastic Waist Band (twice) and Cedar Straits, which I've seen and written about before. Two of these three gigs I saw at The Keyhole in Mackinaw City. I'd like to play there myself sometime, but they have a short attention span there, and I can't seem to time the asking of my question just right... Maybe someday...
The slow season is conducive to doing a project, and yes, I do have one: I've been working on what I'm calling a "solo gig rig". I've been getting tired of setting up and breaking down my rig, which has grown to be considerable in complexity. I've designed and built a rig which you can just roll in, "unfold", and you're good to go, all set up, with one trip to the truck. It has on it a floor pedalboard, a music stand, a mic stand with a boom, a monitor, a paper trough for already-performed song sheets, and a cup holder. It's hard to explain without a picture, but it elaborates on a two-wheeled hand truck as its core. It has these hinged "wings" which are two halves of a folding metal sawhorse. When you open it up, it basically makes a semi-circle of all these things I've described around the performer. When it's time to pack up, just fold it back up and roll it back to the truck, again in one trip. If I may say so, this thing is VERY clever! I believe I've built this thing so good and it's so useful and problem-solving that I think that there may be a market for this product idea. So, I think I'm going to pursue getting a patent on it. I plan on gigging with it the next few times to work bugs out of the prototype, but I hope to have some pictures of it to offer on my website soon. Even if it goes nowhere as a commercial endeavor, I'm certain that I will personally save about 40 minutes a gig using it. I always find new, creative ideas inspiring, and I'm very excited about this one, so be careful if you come to one of my shows soon and strike up a conversation with me; I am likely to just go on and on about it!
Hope you're doing well!
--Gene.
