I put tour in quotes because it doesn’t feel genuine. I’m
ready to play, I have all the equipment, and I rented a car. But it’s really
pretty slap-dash. It’s exactly how you’re not supposed to plan a tour. So I put
it in quotes.
I’ve always wanted to do a tour, ever since I was a kid,
travelling and playing music are my two favorite things and it just so happens
that they go together like a little prepackaged candy bar. A little Taylor
candy, except whenever I passed those vending machines I tended to be out of
quarters or in a rush to get to some other vending machine. Usually one shilling
out an overpriced diploma or ones distributing dollars needed to fill the other
machine.
But in a night of bacchanalian ecstasy celebrating the end
of a long contracted summer, I became aware that I didn’t need to work
immediately. While I had been aggressively applying to jobs in the Bay Area, I
didn’t really need the cash flow and it would be the perfect and maybe only
time to finally go on tour. So with about three weeks’ notice, I started trying
to book gigs.
I booked Pittsburgh fast and easy, which gave me the
confidence that I could fill out the whole week, but ever since then I’ve been
struggling to find anywhere to play at all. In fact I shouldn’t be writing
about this, I should be trying to find an open mic somewhere in the cow fields of
Pennsylvania. That’s the sad part, I’m barely rounding out half of my expected
tour with open mics I can’t even confirm are real.
But I’d rather fling myself into failure than not be flung
at all. At least you go somewhere.
Right now I’m flinging to:
