Booking: A Peek Behind The Curtain

I get a lot of questions about my booking practices, from other musicians and from venues that I work with. Like many of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms, I've basically worked out a process that suits my own style/needs. Let me offer some insight, in the form of a completely fabricated interview. ;)

How far in advance do you book shows?

Let's see... I usually have bookings about a year in advance. There are openings in the schedule, of course; sometimes I'll pick up shows a few days out. Occasionally I can do a same-day fill-in. But I try to maintain a schedule that has months-deep predictability for me, just so I can be sure I don't have to go out and get a desk job.

Do you use contracts?

No, generally not. I always feel like I should, especially when a venue has to cancel at the last minute. But in my experience, handing a bar owner a contract doesn't go over well; there are a ton of bands/musicians who will book on a handshake, and the venues don't feel the need to take the added risk. Which, of course, puts the risk on me. So I get a little nervous when I book outdoor shows that are weather-dependent, or shows at new/untested venues. 

Every now and then I play a show at a venue that gives ME a contract, and I'm always grateful to get it. These are usually the larger venues, which I don't play nearly as often.

Do you have a 'standard rate'? 

Kind of. But not really. I have a general formula, which is affected by the length of the show, the required equipment setup, travel, the size of the venue, that sort of thing. I never want to take money out of the till; it's important to try and hit a fair number for me and the club. That said, my pay is rarely associated to the 'door'. Usually it's a set rate.

There are a few rooms I know of that 'charge' bands to play, either by making them pay for the house sound man, or by buying tickets to the show which they must then try to resell. I don't play these rooms. This particular interpretation of 'sharing a calculated risk' doesn't sit well with me. 

You play many different types of shows, by yourself and with several bands. What kind of show is your favorite?

I'm lucky to do what I love in a bunch of different and enjoyable ways. That said, playing my original material gives me the most satisfaction. At those shows, I can usually tell stories, and interact more with the audience. My solo shows are best for this, and The Midweeklings have a bunch of fun originals too.

Granite State Of Mind.

Hi. How have you been! Oh good. Me? I've been busy, you know. I was on the radio recently, with my friend Holly Furlone. You can check it out here!

Song Fight! Live 2014

This past weekend, I drove to DC with Holly Furlone to take part in Song Fight! Live 2014. The event couldn't possibly have happened at a better time for me; I needed a couple days of musical fellowship on the road. Travel was easy, the weather was beautiful, and the city was inviting. While we were in town, I treated myself to a growler of pale ale from the Right Proper Brewing Company, and we took a walk to the White House.

The shows went well too; Holly and I played our sets on Friday night, and we competed in the live fight on Saturday. (We didn't win - Manhattan Glutton won with a song I'm pretty sure he was still writing when they called his name.)

On the way home, we made a quick stop at a casino where I won $75 on a slot machine, which filled the gas tank and got us breakfast. A successful trip all around.

Want to watch the shows? They're on Youtube!

FRIDAY (part 1)

FRIDAY (part 2)

SATURDAY (part 1)

SATURDAY (part 2 - the live fight)

The End Of Summer.

It's 5:19am. I played at Rosa Flamingo's in Bethlehem last night, hurried home for a bit of sleep, and now I'm prepping for a breakfast show in Meredith and a beach bar show in Laconia. It's gotta be August. That's when stuff like this happens.


Summer is winding down here in New Hampshire; you can already feel it. There are still warm days to be had, I'm sure. But the nights are cooler, and the dark is coming quicker during my outdoor evening shows. After the winter we just had up here, I knew this summer was going to feel way too short. And sometimes in July and August I forget to pick my head up and look around. It gets so busy. (That is just the kind of problem I WANT to have, of course.)


But while we still have good traveling weather, let's fit in a little nonsense, shall we? On the 15th I'm going to drive down to Washington, DC with Holly Furlone to take part in the annual Song Fight Live shows. I've been pretty lax with the updates here, but I promise I'll come back with stories/photos.

June.

I'm resurfacing from a week(ish) - long recording session with Holly Furlone. I produced and played on her new CD. Copies are being ordered today. Very fun session.



I played at a benefit recently, and I won one of the raffle prizes - a pound of coffee and a French press! This morning I think I finally got the ratios the way I like them. This here is a good cup of coffee.


I've started dabbling with some songwriting ideas. I'm well overdue to get back on that horse. Hopefully I'll have some new stuff to share soon. But we're coming into the busy season, so playing out might trump the effort. The summer schedule is mostly in place, and I'm happy to report it includes Sunday shows at The Margate. This will be my tenth season at the beach bar.

Mid-May.

Here's where things start picking up a little bit. Mud season is still technically upon us, but a working musician in NH finds ways to stay busy. I'll be taking on a recording project for a friend in a couple weeks which will close the month out. I'm still playing organ for the church in Campton, and giving guitar lessons on the weekend. The Wednesday open mic at The Country Cow is still chugging right along. And as local restaurants start to dust off their outdoor patios, the remaining schedule fills itself in pretty quickly.

I'm just coming off of a pretty rugged bout of flu. I think that's what it was, anyway. Had me shut down for the better part of a week. I don't get sick like that very often, so I can't really complain. And at least it struck during the 'slow' season. I missed a show and a lesson. Could have been much worse.

Hey, if you're around this Friday, I'm reprising my 80s solo show at Woodpecker's in Campton. Last time went very well, but bad weather kept a lot of people home. So here's another chance to get back to the future. :)

Mister Falcon - a song for John McLane

The Situation:

When the movie Die Hard 2 was shown on TBS, they censored the dirty words. Instead of bleeping them out or making them silent, they chose to replace the words with overdubbed phrases that might fool a lip-reader with cataracts, but that's about it. The movie is full of these edits, but the most egregious is this line, uttered by John McLane (Bruce Willis):

Yippie-Ki-Yay, Mister Falcon.

There is no Mister Falcon in the film. It certainly doesn't qualify as a well-known derogatory term. If we've made it this far into the film with our suspension of disbelief still intact, we might allow ourselves to believe that this is some sort of inside joke, a reference that McLane gets even if we don't.


The Solution:

In order to lift this from the ridiculously laughable to the marginally plausible, I wrote a song about the legend of Mister Falcon. I thought this character might have been one that McLane would have related to, and I can picture him as a young man listening to the song on his parents' turntable.

I recently made an album with a couple good friends. We called ourselves The Midweeklings. This song ended up being part of the project. Submitted for your consideration: Mister Falcon.