Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 237

Day 236 - November 3rd 2009

DAMNIT!

I wake up at 6 this morning to news that SEPTA has gone on strike…again.

For those of you who might be reading this and are unfamiliar with Philadelphia, SEPTA (or The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) is the sole mass transit system in town serving Philadelphia, it’s suburbs, and even as far north jersey as Trenton. It’s not as vast as New York’s system but you can basically get anywhere you wanna go in Phillly with relative ease by using SEPTA. For someone like me that doesn’t drive I rely on SEPTA to get me everywhere but full band shows. I am not unique, many use SEPTA because it’s faster than traffic.

So when these assholes decide that it’s a good idea to go on strike they basically cripple the city. I’m not sure of the exact numbers but I’ve been told that the union was offered a 5 year contract with an 11% raise and they only have to pay 1% into their Health Insurance, basically the same package that they got last year, a pretty fair deal in an economy where the employment rate is hovering around 10% and the union basically just shat all over it and decided that because they can, that they were going to take a vacation. Usually I’m for union and stuff but not in this case.

It hits us musicians particularly hard because most of us rely on SEPTA to get to open mics and shows and what have you. Philly Rising may suffer until these guys pull their heads out of their asses.

I had to get a ride into Center City from a family friend to go into Jefferson and get my Swine Flu shot. I don’t like needles so sufficed to say I was whining like a girl the whole time. My sister was able to drop me off at Word Café Live early so I go there around 5. I used the time to hang up Philly Rising Posters around the area. We need to start pushing again if we want people to be aware of it. So I don’t mind going around the city and putting posters up wherever musicians might be to see it.

Tonight is the monthly competition for Philly Rising for September and October. I had to get there early because I’m loving the diversity that we’ve been getting lately with The Monthly Competitions. It really reflected in our September winner Shon Penn (of Making the Band 4 no less) and Joe Jordan, a black Heavy metal Artist that is really getting it cracking in the scene again. His mom is his drummer and she kicks ass.

I hit the bed wondering what I’m going to do about getting around while SEPTA’s on strike.