Tour

I had an odd dream a couple of nights ago. As you may be aware, I'm doing a "tour" in the very near future; I have a total of five dates set up outside of Pittsburgh. In the dream, I kept managing to make it to my destination on the day I was supposed to be there, but managing to miss the actual performance. It was as if I was late getting into town or anything - I'd simply arrive in the municipality I was supposed to be at, and become distracted until way past the time I was supposed to arrive at the venue.

I woke up cursing my subconscious for dumping that little bit of irrational paranoia into the realm of waking awareness. If you are a musician who wants to be unofficially blacklisted in short order the best way to do so is to go through the trouble of getting booked to play and then simply not show up.

As it stands, I have no desire to screw myself over that way. I have my trip planned out so that I have a few hours of "buffer" time in case I encounter herds of orange barrels or an unexpected early season snowstorm (which is more likely in New York and Vermont than it is in Pennsylvania).

I'm actually somewhat uncomfortable with referring to my brief excursions outside of my place of residence as "tours." To me, "tour" as always implied something big that lasts for months, if not a whole year or more. Based on those parameters, my five days of shows in three states doesn't really qualify. Then again, if one defines a "tour" as a series of shows in different locales set in a row...but it is hard to get out of the "major label" mindset. U2 tours; I - Illusion of Joy - play a handful of shows in places I don't live which just so happen to come one after another with no gaps in the days.

I really shouldn't be obsessing over the semantics so much as there are more important things to focus on. Not that I haven't been focusing on said things. Wednesday is when it all starts. That afternoon, I pick up a rental car, load up said rental and drive up to Potsdam, New York for a show the next day. Friday morning I'll be heading back down to Buffalo, a city I'll have passed by two days prior on my way to Potsdam for a show that evening. Halloween Saturday will see me heading towards Albany (incidentally, passing by Rochester for a third time). I switch states on Sunday for Pittsfield, Massachusetts and then switch states once again on Monday to finish in Burlington, Vermont.

I didn't intend on a route which crossed over itself so much. In fact, had I finished with Potsdam, instead of starting there, my route would have made a nice loop. However, there is something to be said for doing towns grouped by state - it appeals to my sense of order by groupings. Also, on my way back I'll have some leeway to take a different route home. A drive straight from Burlington to Pittsburgh takes about twelve hours. While I can endure long drives with few issues, I refuse to shoehorn myself in a car for that long. As such, I'm dividing my return trip into two days (which had the added advantage of making my car rental a full week, ironically renting a car for only six days is more expensive than renting it for a full week). Since I have the extra time, I'll be able to explore some routes I haven't taken as much. Frankly, going the same way all the time bores me.

So, as I sit here sipping my coffee, I'm quite convinced that I won't be missing any performances. I'm more concerned with whatever little details need to be addressed before Wednesday. Overall, I think things will go quite smoothly. I've done this before, and I plan on increasing the frequency that I do it.