On Tour
all poster art by @danielaslezakova.art
The writer Eudora Welty spoke of two kinds of people returning from the grocery store, one who simply returns with a bag of groceries and one who returns with new stories to tell. I'm not sure if I was born a storyteller and observer or if it developed over time. I know that I have always been curious about every detail of every thing and every one around me, and through music that curiosity has taken me around the world. There's such a lot of world to see.
As a tourist, you are simply passing through and never really leaving home, but as a performer, you are invited into the fabric of whatever locale you happen to be in, and in some way, the whole world becomes your home.
I love playing music, of course, but my favorite part of traveling is meeting people and hearing their stories. Stories create a structure, some kind of meaning to life if that's possible. I've heard it said that a piece of music or art has no meaning, it just is, but that is an obfuscation. Probably the true meaning of life is the act of giving and receiving love. Creating music is an act of love, and the musician is a messenger.
I've had people ask me, "Do you find it to be exhausting?" No, I find it to be exhilarating, but yes, occasionally I take a few days off, find a hotel, and do nothing but sleep.
I grew up in a small city and my parents would have been happy if I'd stayed there close to them. My mother's dream was that I work for the State of Maine. That, however, was not my dream. I wanted to write songs. I have no idea why, and my mother would ask me, "What makes you think you have any special talent for music?" I'm not sure that I did, to be fair, but I was fascinated with stories and I taught myself to set them to music. I love to read and write but those are solitary acts, whereas playing live music is a social action, a way of connecting with others.
On my first European tours, a booking agent would arrange the flights, hotels, and tour schedules. The result was horrible hotels, 5:30 a.m. flights, no nights off, and no time for wandering and discovering the cities and towns I might be playing in. Half the time I didn't know where I was and what difference did it make anyway. Now, with the help of others, I arrange my own schedule. Yes, there are ofttimes early morning flights, but nicer hotels at least, and always time to explore whatever city I'm in.
Lisbon, Portugal is more or less my home away from home in Europe. During the pandemic, I spent four hours a day in a classroom there studying Portuguese. I still have a long way to go with that, but it certainly makes interacting with the Portuguese a lot more fun. Wandering Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Paris, Prague, Barcelona, London...big fun.
"How smooth is it, being on tour", you ask, not very. I estimate that 1 in 10 shows go without any issues. That leaves 9 out of 10 shows with problems ranging from minor issues to complete disaster. What could possibly go wrong? Flight delays, a missed connection to a connecting flight, a show cancellation on the day of show, no promotion = no audience... I did a show to a full house and at the end of the night the promoter said that he had no money and offered up "time with his wife" instead of payment. I am not making this up.
I'll choose one excursion as an example. I got a call about playing a show in Utah. The pay was reasonably good and all travel accommodations were taken care of. It was to be one show and I asked the promoter to arrange a second show since I was flying all that way, and he did. My flight connection in New York was without incident and I arrived in Las Vegas. Hertz had told me the exact amount necessary to pick up my car rental, but they hadn't said that I would need an additional amount for a security deposit. Ok, so I called my bank to transfer funds, but it would take 24 hours, and Hertz does not accept cash or debit cards. Lesson # 1, always travel with a lot of extra credit on your credit card(s), or travel with a road manager who takes care of these problems.
After an initial panic attack, I was referred to a local company that would accept my debit card for a security deposit. On my way, I went. Next up, traffic was at a dead stop for over an hour. At this point, I am asking myself "Why are we doing this!?" I made a mental note, search for an alternate route when returning to the airport after the shows. Next up was a beautiful drive through the amazing rock formations of the Wild West. Very inspiring, once I relaxed a bit.
I arrived in the small American city which mostly looks like all American cities. McDonald's, Home Depot, Pizza Hut. Well, Lar, let's not be a prima donna, not everywhere is going to be Paris, France.
The hotel had no reservation under my name. I waited in the lobby for an hour or so until the promoter arrived. He is a very nice person and a true music lover. He had Covid. I wasn't particularly Covid paranoid, but I'd rather not get it. It had been a long travel day, but finally, I went to bed and fell asleep.
The next day was the added show. It was about 50 miles away. Not bad. The town was a small Wild West cowtown. This is Mormon territory. They don't drink and they don't go out to party on weekends. The promoter brought a sound system which I helped load in. It was my job to set it up. I haven't done that since I was a teenager in a rock band. There were four people in the audience. For some reason, I was in a very good mood. The sound was beautiful in the old restored theater. I told the audience of four to talk with me in between the songs if they felt like it, and I had fun playing.
Two of the four people in the audience were from Paris. They were riding horses in the American West and happened to see my show advertised in the local newspaper.
They were very nice and told me that they had a friend in Paris who is a promoter. Long story short, I ended up playing two shows in Paris because of them, in the best of circumstances. I'll write more about that at another time, but lesson #2 is "always give it your all no matter what." You never know who is in your audience. I don't need to be told that. I love playing music, and I always honor it. It is never about the money or the size of the audience. Music is a sacred thing.
The show the next night was to a full house and a lovely responsive audience. The promoter pulled a wad of hundred dollar bills from his sock and paid me, and the next morning I got up early and drove through the golden light, past the rock formations and the desert floor, back to Las Vegas. At this point in a trip I feel no stress, there is no deadline for getting home. That’s good because the plane ended up parking on the runway for a very long time. There was an argument between the stewards and an unhappy group of impatient travelers. Racist comments were made. We returned to the gate and the police came on board and removed the disgruntled passengers.
Hours later I arrived at New York’s JFK. I had missed my connecting flight. In a first for me, the airline shuttled me to a hotel, gave me a breakfast voucher, and off to sleep I went. The next morning fully rested, I flew home.
Here’s to more adventures ahead.
