Chicago: customers are advised to allow extra travel time

Leaf & I tried the deep fried snickers bar. I think that might have been the only on-a-stick food we ate that year.

I could go for a Big Mac right now. On a stick.

Now I'm hungry. I ate those little Morningstar Farms "buffalo blobs" for lunch. They're pretty good for junk food, I guess, but they're not really enough.

I had delish NY stylee pizza, all thin and floppy and greasy and nom nom nom

Last night I decided to fucking relax, not to go the gym, and have a burger & fries for dinner. It was nice but I still don't feel very relaxed.

I don't think asking for a guarantee was out of line, but I suppose it depends on how much you asked for.

xpost tonight: black tar heroin

My lunch:
http://www.kvue.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/01-07/0116amysbean.jpg
and a side salad

Tastes much, much better than it looks.

Part of the reason we wanted a guarantee was that it was a Sunday night.

you weren't relaxed, jordan, because you forgot to add BEER.

Dammit. I'm at Argo and I think I'm going to wind up eatin a choco croissant.

The crazy lady just left. She spent time doing her drawings of spaceships and then took a moment to sob into her hand before pacing furiously with her wheely luggage.

too true

Today is Leaf's last day at work & so we may celebrate but he hasn't decided the "how" yet. Getting a six pack & playing the wii (maybe renting a new game) is on the table.

I think we asked for $100? We had never asked for a guarantee before but it looked like kind of a weak show and on a Sunday night and they wanted us to headline so basically we were hoping to have some reason to justify playing the show so we asked for the money. We ended up playing the show anyways, with no guarantee, and it sucked and I think we got paid $20. We're trying to be more selective with our shows now.

Dan, when your band is ready to play shows let us know and maybe we can set up a casual show somewhere fun like Hotti Biscotti or the Mutiny or something. I want to try and alternate between doing shows at clubs we like, like the EB and the HO, with just fun shows at scuzzy bars with lots of friends and beer and partying.

And I wasn't trying to be condescending, like oh let us help your band or you're not worthy to play at HO or EB, it's just that when we manage to get shows at clubs we like we don't usually have any control over who we play with. So that's why I want to have a casual show at a scuzzy place, because we could pick the whole lineup.

Hahaha it's ok. I know we're not worthy! I'm totally down.

We can start a SCENE

Amanda's buffalo blobs have me watching speed runs of A Boy & His Blog on youtube.

I kinda wish I was in a band with dudes who all live in the same city and who didn't need $$ to play a fun show.

who didn't need $$ to play a fun show.

$50, no touchy-touchy

I liked Hotti Biscotti the one time we saw the Sh#rks and Nu3va C@ts there but they have some weird policy about how there has to be one acoustic act on each bill or something? At least they used to.

Oh hi Eric.

We're all whores.

http://steelturman.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/22/prostitutes_and_taxes_in_germany.jpg

I remember that show! It was raining sharks and cats.

Guys can I be in yr scene? I play three instruments! Two of them badly!

The concept of a "fun show" as distinct from other shows is sort of alien to me. The two poles for us are usually money vs. prestige.

I'm leaving in a minute for a gig, because they give us $200 "extra" if we show up super early to soundcheck.

For me there's usually an inverse relationship between fun (club shows) and money (weddings, corporate, anything where the audience is captive but there for some other reason than to hear your band) gigs.

xp - Woe is you dudes.

I'm reminded of Baby Teeth Abraham's Reader letter last week, talking about the "creeping professionalism" of indie rock.

Now that I think about it, though, there are shows that are more fun to play than other shows. But I'm not sure the venue has much to do with it.

I guess Simon's is an example of a place that's really casual and fun to play in the same way that I imagine Mutiny or Hotti Biscotti is (never actually been to either), but I also can't imagine we'd ever play there if they didn't pay us like $300.

Then we must bring Funzone! to Hotti.

the "creeping professionalism" of indie rock.

Sort of an inevitability if you want to make a living at it, though. Which I don't, but some people do.

Well hopefully all of our shows are "fun shows." But some are fun because they are casual and playing with friends, and some are fun because we get to play somewhere exciting or with a band we like or for more people than usual. We almost never make any real money, so that generally isn't a consideration.

"Things were more awesome when everything sucked!"
T or F

Someone saw me playing a show at Phyllis's that resulted in playing a bunch of shows that were $250 for 75 minutes each in a coffeeshop (this was an XRT/Starbucks promo a while ago), and other house shows and little shows have been better other weird confluences and opporunities (and CD sales, etc.), so I'm of the mindset that one show is not better than the other.

i predict sh4rks will have a house party show at new sh4rks hq

Some friends of mine have had a band for years now, have DIY toured all over the midwest and northeast, and still can't get a show booked here because they don't have an agent, don't have a label of any kind (until very recently) and generally can't get a break. They've expressed their frustrations with this situation many times. This is the same band that rw and Max came and saw in a garage in Pilsen, and I know if they got a gig at the Bottle or Logan Square that people would love the shit out of them.

wait is this the hardcore band with the two drummers? i liked them!

I figure these are the good old days of seeing the Sh4rx and FFs playing bar shows, just as the good old days were seeing Neko and Andrew Bird play for their friends at the H-out in 2001.

xpost Yup. They've gone to the traditional 3-piece lineup for the most part now, but they still put both kits on stage for a song or two.

Simon's is a rare example of a place that pays extremely well and is also fun in the sense that they don't charge a cover and so your friends just come by and have a few beers and sing along. As far as other money gigs go, street festivals aren't too bad, either, especially if you can entice some of your fans to lead the crowd into paying attention. But private parties or corporate gigs or benefits are often pretty weird -- it's just hard to let loose in environments like that.

The best crowds to play for, though, are clubs where you're headlining -- and thus you know everyone's there to see you -- or where you're opening for a really big, well-drawing band and so there's already a good-sized audience out there when you go on and you have the potential to win a bunch of people over. That latter example is pretty ideal, because if you can win them over, you end up selling a bunch of merch, too, so it's like the trifecta of money, new fans, and prestige. (I'm thinking of us opening for Sloan at Double Door or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in Madison.)

I know I said "you" throughout this post, but this is just my experience.

wow, i just looked at the entertainment listing and def leopard + styx at the MN state fair costs $54! which is more than anyone else playing. doesn't that seem a lot for nostalgia?

Police tickets cost, what, $300-ish? People who get excited about Styx likely have real jobs by now.

<snooty voice>I assume you're referring to Def <i>Leppard</i></snooty voice>

Def LEPPARD

btw: I have come around to the Nerves version of "Hanging on the Telephone," and... I kinda like it better now.

I hate being wrong.

I'd still love to hear Sarah sing the "Blondie" version, though.

http://a4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/13/l_262623d6ed6b86afac54376a5aa599eb.jpg