blog| Riding Down the Track | |
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I took a longer hiatus than usual at the beginning of this year. Right after the big holiday tour, I gave myself the usual break from gigging in January and February. I didn't start gigging until April this year. During the hiatus I got to thinking about the years before, gigging once or twice a week--sometimes three times a week. This year I didn't feel like carting all that baggage down the road, so I slowed my schedule way down from years past, gigging only once or twice a month. Some of my "gig fatigue," I think, was because my teaching schedule was humongous--53 students at one point. But having lost my studio to exorbitant rent, and my wife having her job cut from the California budget... well, things are obviously different, particularly since we moved from Humboldt County, California, to Philomath, Oregon (just outside Corvallis). This is still Smalltown USA, but in the two months that I've tried to drum up students, nothing has hit. Upon arriving here in the corn belt of the Pacific Northwest, I started busking the farmers markets, just to keep my hands and fingers tuned. That started to hit. Then I started to seek gigs. And that is starting to hit. I came to the Willamette Valley thinking to recreate what I had in Humboldt--a modest studio with tons of students. Funny how expectations often turn out to be pipe dreams. I am now thinking that I need to shift my thinking: go to fewer students and gig more. Like most non-touring musicians, I've got a day job to pay the bills. Fortunately, I work at the most awesome music store in the valley. I'm meeting a lot of local musicians. I'm meeting a lot of folks who need bandmates. Humboldt was Humboldt, and it's way back at the station. The train is already running down the track, and I should probably take a good long look at the view to determine which ticket I need to keep on riding. |
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| New Place of Livin' | |
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Living so long in Arcata, I didn't worry about gigs; someone either called, or the gig was a set event, recurring each week, month, or special occasion. Well, for the time being that comfort is over. No one knows me here in the corn belt of Oregon, so lately I've been walking the streets with my dobro, busking when there's time and hob-knobbin' with the folks in the music stores. What I miss most is teaching. I got used to having 46 or more students a week, and right now I'm doin' a lot of sittin' around with my dogs, just practicing... though I've also been hoofin' it around Corvallis looking for a 9-to-5. It's gonna be a while before I can establish the kind of teaching schedule I had in Arcata. Since I'm the new kid on the block the music stores will most likely overlook using me as a referral for awhile. The music scene here, though some of the folks around here say that it isn't what it used to be, seems pretty hot to me. There are more places to play than there were in Arcata, it sounds like most gigs around here actually pay money, and so far folks have been enjoying my performances. I'm look forward to being where I am now. |
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| Long Road | |
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I'm tired, but I'll be getting back to the music now that all the boxes are unpacked and I've found places to play. Oh yeah... since rents are so affordable here in my new neck of Oregon, I'm looking into creating a "storefront" studio in an historic building where I can expand my teaching business beyond what I had in California. Sometimes, what looks like darkness is just another avenue for possibility. |
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| Whiteline | |
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I've been thinking a lot these days about how I can always count on things to change. Right now I'm refueling the truck. Once I put my foot on the peddle... it's on down the road. |
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