Year Two Day 9 - March 18th 2010
Today's the big day.
We'll there's a bigger day looming but today was significant. Today would be the first promo day for The Philadelphia Invasion Showcases. Most of the acts would be flying in today to help out.
From Philadelphia To Austin to Timbuktu promotion is important for any sort of entertainment event. People won't show if they don't know so you have to make sure you find a way to make yourself visible and appealing. Everybody and their mother has a day show at SXSW so we need to be bale to stand out. Walking up and down the street handing out flyers wasn't going to do the trick, not the way we needed it done so the solution was...busking. I didn it last year and made quite a bit of money, today we'd use it to grab attention for ourselves and pass out these flyers. We found a spot and started playing while rob handed out our flyers.
There are a few things you hope for doing something like this. One that people stop, Two that they take the flyer, three that they don;t throw them on the ground. I've got 2500 flyers I'd like ot get rid of, Joe Brady of Brady and The Bear fame met up with us, and we got to work. Trading off songs as people walked by. People stopping to talk to us, snapping pictures, I even got interviewed for Public Radio. Joe and I got got interviewed for a documentary about street musicians. People even threw money in the case. We ran into Catherine Prewitt's mom, for some reason I thought she was Katherine Mundy's mom. I was pretty psyched she had come ti support her daughter. I was even more psyched to see Catherine. I gave her some flyers and she faded off into the crowd.
Jake got word about a show featuring a bunch of New England Bands that ahd free pizza and beer. Two opportunites, one to eat free pizza and drink free beer, two an opportunity to really talk to some musicians and music lovers that live close to us followed by handing them a flyer. Nothign beats a conversation, my enthusiasm has a chance to rub off on people. We ended up staying for most of the show, the bands were awesome and we passed out a lot of flyers (fingers crossed) Dani Mari met us there, again good to see her.
I ended up seeing Sean who was running around reviewing bands for his blog, it was good to see him.There are certains points where I miss the Camaro guys, Sean lives in Philly and I don't see him nearly enough. Dani and I went to pee in a piano bar and ran into a guy with an accent, I recognized it as Doz's accent and figured he was from new Zealand. So amped up that I knew he bought me a drink...which sent me hurdling over a line I didn't want to cross tonight.
We met up with everyone else and headed over to Jakalope where Alex was. I see Alex as sort of a big brother. Growing up in a house under the protection of older siblings, I tend to seek that out when I'm in strange situations, he and I got really close, from the first gigs with Camaro, to the time I broke the house in Austin tothe time I broke the toilet in Kansas City. I learned a lot from him and Bryn last year. I say it often, but probably not often enough. Our conversation went a lot smoother than usual, we sort of always speak in spirts with silence in between, tonight it was flowin like the nile. He told me how proud he was of me, that meant a lot.
We were meeting Mayte but my phone was dead and Rob and I went to the van so that I could charge it enough to call her.We walked from 6th to 11th and I did just that. I close the door
Rob: Did you lock the door
Me: I didn't
I Lock the door
Rob: Arm the alarm
I search for the keys
Me: Shit!
Rob: What?
Me: I don't have them
Rob: Are you serious?
Me: Unfortunately yes.
Rob: Not again.
The not again referrs to an incident in Detroit where I locked the keys in the van. I'm absent minded and I do stuff like that. It's a high pressure situation, I've been drinking, and sometimes for no reason I do stuff that's stupid. I call home
Me: Mom
Mom (Groggy): Yes.
Me: Dad up?
Mom: What's wrong?
Me: Looks like I locked the keys in the car.
Mom (snickering) What? Again?
Me: Don't need this right now, can you call Allstate?
Mom (Laughing): Sure.
She calls back and says they'll be there in 30 minutes. Rob and I have a chance to bond. 28 minutes go by I look up and look towards the corner for the All State Agent I hear an all to familiar Woop Woop Sound
Rob: Andre
I turn around and there Rob is holding the keys. Apparently I had given them to him while still the car (cause hey I have a history) and he put them in his pocket, and somehow int he middle of all the excitement. I forgot I gave him the keys, and he forgot I gave them to him. We walked to the bar lamenting at how simple we both are. We met the crew and walked back to the van and went home and hit the bed.
The real big day is tommorrow
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