Day 51 - May 1st 2009
Electric Six was amazing last night. They’re in Boston with the Camaro tonight. I’ll admit it’s weird knowing that Bang Camaro’s playing a show and I’m not gonna be there. There’s a big part of me that misses those guys. But I’m focused on the present and immediate future and that involves having some kind of money coming in.
With virtually no decent jobs in the world of AV available at present moment my attention turns to booking. The plan; find a few rooms put bands in them and help them draw a crowd. If I do it right I’ll make enough money to pay the bills maybe even be able to put some away for future stuff.
I started booking almost four years ago, essentially it was out of necessity. I had been playing gigs in Philadelphia for a few years and was tired of outside bookers taking all of the money, so I decided to do it myself. I’d round up my friends that had other bands and we’d do a show together. Ever since then I’ve been doing my own shows under the name the HYPE! In different places around Philly. With my Wed night shows at O.N.E. at Rittenhouse all but dried up since I went on tour, it was time to try to find some other spots. I had two meetings today, one at Lickety Split and another at Zot two bars in Philly, Lickety more established, Zot, a place that has had difficulty establishing itself as an original music powerhouse. I believe that I can put asses in seats in both places.
I spent some time on the phone with Jake (My Bassist) and Rob (My Drummer) and we scheduled a rehearsal for Tuesday at Noon. It feels like forever since we last played together so I’m really looking forward to it.
First things first. I hadn’t touched my electric guitars, two Fender strats mainly (I have a Les Paul that I hardly play) Dagger (A modified white lefty strat) and Maverick (A Black Strat, my first electric guitar, I switched the pickups out a while back) in quite some time and I was pretty keen on doing that so I went down to go over some stuff and just play. I’m a lot rustier than even I thought. I suck horribly. My brian hasn’t thought about lead guitars in two months, not to mention I’ve has to press really har donly playing my acoustic during downtime on the road. I got a long way to climb and three weeks to do it.
A quick shower and I get a 10PM time for my Zot meeting so I schedule 11 for Lickety Split. I need a shower before I hit the town. My folks come in around 6, they have a party to go to. It’s been a little strange going back to the daily routine. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time together since California but I’m sure we’ll get to that.
Headed out to Zot. I’ve always been a pretty focused driven guy as a musician. As a business man I’m even more so. I love music and working with bands but I’m in it to make money, especially now that this is my only job. I get there 20 mins early. I’m handed a beer and told that Gina would be out in a minute. She comes out contract in hand. We talk briefly and I sign on the dotted line. We officially have a show on may 8th. I turn my focus to Lickety Split
Lickety Split was a place my band played every Friday from the fall of 2007 till the end of the year. We had a First Friday gig as well before I left for tour. I had walked in Wed and DanI Mari mentioned that they might need help booking Wed nights. So I went there tonight to solidify that. Looks like a start may 13th and they would tell me what Fridays I have later. I ran into one of the kids I used to teach when I ran a Performing Arts camp in high school. She has two kids now and was out with a friend of hers. Weird to see them grown up.
I got a pickup and headed home. Lots of stuff to figure out. Goin with my buddies to see Amy Reagan tomorrow. Very excited.
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