Touring Pt.3: Asheville and Epilogue
Well, well. Here’s the last post for our little tour out east. We made our way down to Asheville, NC last weekend, did some busking, patronized a few restaurants, and played one last show before driving home. Asheville is a sort of hippy town in the same general vein of Madison, except perhaps a bit more compact. Our short time there suggests to me that Asheville is a Janus for performers. Here’s why.
First, looking to the bright future: People in Asheville love street performers, and I dare say they like double bass players, especially when playimg in the classical style. We set up on the corner Saturday night and Sunday afternoon and played a few sets. Long story short, we paid for the gas it took to get there from Maryland and sold several CDs on the street. Oddly, people thanked us just for being there, and waitresses seemed very friendly and interested in our musicianly exploits. We got a hefty tip from one generous listener, which we blew at a Cuban restaurant where I talked to a waitress who was apparently considering moving to New York, and to whom I sadly did not give my email. She looked like the singer from Flyleaf, too. Oh well.
Anyway, the place loves music and we were very glad to be a part of that for a while. There were a ton of musicians out there, which makes the level of acceptance of buskers more surprising to me.
The all-too-familiar past: We thought it’d be a bright idea to do some flyering in advance of the show. Again, a very surprising response – people thanked us for the hand bills, as opposed to what usually happens up north, where people (including myself) usually ignore you. I had high hopes, but sadly, only 1 flyer did its prescribed duty. A few other people dropped by for the set (sitting outside the venue and looking through the door, rather than coming in), but we rocked their faces off even from that distance. So, our scheme didn’t work, but the weekend taken as a whole was quite successful. Asheville is alright with me, and if that waitress should happen to read this, here’s hoping she uses this fine website to get in touch.
Anyway, here’s the usual video, a bittersweet performance on a lonely ukulele:
Epilogue:
This being my first tour, I learned a lot about what the experience is like, and we as a band learned a lot of lessons on how to position ourselves in such endeavors. There was a lot more bathing in gas stations than I expected, and about as many groupies as I anticipated (0). Evidently, having done all the math,we estimate our total profits from this trip…to have covered the gas it took to get there and back. We’re hoping to come back in a few months to try again. We got several email addresses and mailing addresses, so you (my fragile ego requires me to assume that the people we met are actually reading this blog) will hear from us soon about when we’ll return.
Until then, keep checking in for more performance videos from a benefit tour we’ll be doing in the midwest this July, and from Nakamacon, which will be happening this weekend. And, I said I’d try to use my powers of erudition to write a little piece about the steampunk scene, so hopefully we’ll get that up too.
Mike D
