Here’s some filler material. This is a photo of a house with a room to let. I like to travel and should have a budget for that again soon. My pattern has little to do with hotels and bus tours. I like to rent a room for three months so I can branch out and really see the countryside. In a moment, I’ll tell you about an unexpected good source of such rentals. I tend to find something near a campus as students are better company, like roomies who pay on time, and aren’t as hard-nosed as adults renting to pay the mortgage.Today I surveyed from Wilmington, NC, to Lincoln City, OR. I prefer older, renovated houses with a history, but these have become rare. It seems the rooms I’d rent are all in the $500 range. I’m willing to spend considerably more for a character place. My needs are simple. Furnished, quiet, Internet, parking, no drama, no drugs, and optional private bathroom. Today’s photo is in Wilmington. Three months is long enough to really get to know things without boredom setting and short enough to not get attached.
Where can one find this bottomless supply of such rooms? Good old Craigslist. I knew I’d eventually find a use for that ragsheet. I see the sidecar Ural finally sold, which shows you how often I’ve been looking at Craigslist. Anyway, as soon as I can, I fully intend to travel again, every year. As I said, there will be a travel budget, and budget around here means something quite real. I’m even getting sick of Broward’s one solitary rock radio station because the jockey is a Procol Harem and Clapton worshiper.
Cowboy Mike called while I was at the bakery. He reports a totally successful opening night. Why, he made almost as much in tips as I did. The point is, this was his first time with the backing tracks and that has a convoluted story on its own. Everyone take notice that Mike, after years of saying my views are guitar players was acerbic, has changed from criticism to agreement. Fancy that, how people see things my way after they actually try for themselves. Really fancy that.
This is music evolution on a local scale. It’s like DNA, thousands of false starts for every mutation that makes a positive difference. Slow, grinding, and progressively defensive. In this town, it always resolves to going it yourself with backing tracks, for which I blame egotistical guitarists. (Neither Mike or I play the guitar.) We’ve slated three days next week to lay down six backing tracks to test how well we would do as soloists. Him with harmonica and me with basic strumming. Please do check back on this one.
[Author’s note: by request, here is a synopsis of Mike’s solo act. He had a guitar friend put down 12 tracks in 2008. The only gig he played with those tracks was at Jimbos that year. The next day he got a job in the Keys and shelved the project until y’day night. Memo: he played other gigs, but not with the said tracks.
Take heed, my critics, that Mike has also begun to favor the 3-hour set, something everybody jumped on me for suggesting two years back. That’s another thing you can fancy because Mike clearly forgets he heard it first from me. Watch, in another year or two he’ll decide to form a duo to compete with all the backing-track single acts infesting this area. Funny, isn’t it?]
You can also surmise that being first with all these concepts didn’t pay well in this jungle. I quit my solo act around that same time because I could not develop it further. I was first and original around here with the concept of the show without guitar as the dominant instrument. Mike confesses to being strongly influenced by my early performances. Like all solo acts, my novelty wore off. In January to May 2009, I had staged 28 shows and grossed a lousy $1,247 before expenses.
