August 23rd, 2006.

So, I look to be booking a singer/songwriter series at the New Deal Café shortly. I have no desire to EVER take over Richard’s job of booking there, as there always seems to be a little bit more co-op type chaos there than I’d ever desire to inherit, but I’d really like to have some sort of repeating THING that can get a little bit of a ball of some sort rolling.

I got to host the College Perk open mic the Tuesday before I left for Texas, and I got all the unique stuff. Poets and angry jam bands and even Jim and his baroque lute!

Finally got back home to Owings Mills after our southern travels to see where the car fire had occured across the street from my long-dormant Saturn. Melted the mailbox! COOL!!!

a couple of the other bands from the College Perk 813 Festival. The top band is Mosquito Death Squadron and below them is American Sinner. The 813 Festival itself went really, really well – and though I think I approved of the idea of getting a lot of local politicians to come out and speak to people and share their ideas and whatnot, I really didn’t approve of the politicians themselves. There was one with long hair, but other than that, it seemed like they all said pretty much the same thing which really was a whole lot of positive nothing.

It’s interesting, though, thinking about booking from that perspective. Certainly, I want to make sure there are people coming that will draw an audience, if only because I want the New Deal to do well enough from the even to want to continue having it… but I’d also like for it to be an opportunity for the artist, and beyond that, I want to book artists that I want to see.

The squiggly Brennan Kuhns performing at the College Perk 813 Festival.

PLOJ XXXV. A small Pot Luck by all accounts, which made me a little disappointed, but on the other hand, it was really, really good to get them rolling again. On the left there you can see that Greta Ehrig came out, and whereas in previous PLOJes she’s hidden along the sidelines and only played a song or two at everyone else’s intense prodding, she played a good number of tunes for us, filling the room with her sweetness.

Recently, playing Café Diem in Richmond , we had the experience of a talent buyer rearranging his schedule because he wanted to watch our show. He’d booked us because HE wanted to see us, and beyond that, wants to help us build an audience there in Richmond . I’m wondering how much that should effect our thinking – like, it’d be NICE to only play places where the person who booked you is enthusiastic enough to want to come watch you play. It’s sort of like, beyond the business side of it, shouldn’t the talent buyer be so enthusiastic that they’re telling THEIR friends “you’ve got to come see these guys I’ve got coming to town, you should come with me!”

I know, I know – what a Lovely, perfect world THAT would be, but I can dream, can’t I? Le sigh.