Staying in parking lots and on residential streets was definitely roughing it and I enjoyed it. When I first got to Golden I camped in a grocery store parking lot for four days without moving the camper. Even then, I just needed to charge the batteries. I still had plenty of fresh water and space in my waste tanks. I lived with one LED overhead light and a flashlight for illumination, kept the furnace at 60 if I turned it on at all, only took marine showers (quickly spray yourself down, turn off the water, lather up, turn the water back on to quickly rinse, turn off the water), and I even timed when I would cook to help with heating/cooling the camper.
I was in Colorado for about four weeks and only paid camping fees three nights. Now with a reserved spot, water, sewer, electricity and even wifi it really feels like I have a regular home. It's only 160 square feet, but a home nonetheless. It was difficult to cough up the $285 for lot rent but I think it all evens out in the end when you figure gas, wear on the equipment and time saved.
Now to the business of making a living again. I haven't had a real paying gig in a couple months now and the money is going fast. I'm relatively certain that barring calamity I have enough to last me until the end of November. I've been able to book a couple paying gigs down here so far, not nearly enough but I just keep reminding myself I've only been here a week. I knew this would be a challenge.
I must have sent out three hundred emails so far, admittedly this is the lazy way to do sales but I'm just getting started. I played at an open mic in Austin last night and met a few local musicians. I picked their brains as thoroughly as I could while being respectful of the person playing. All had jobs and all thought it was silly to even think of making money for performing down here. Even the guy that hosted the open mic, who drove thirty minutes to get there and did the work of hosting and setting up the equipment, was only paid beer and a plate of food.
It really irks me that any of the places I've played that are known for a 'good' music scene (Chicago, Denver, Boulder, KC and even Iowa City - twenty minutes away from the bars that were paying me nearly $100/hr) starve their musicians, somebody is making money but it usually isn't the person up on stage. The attitude at these music venues is almost that the musician should thank them for the privilege of performing (in some cases the musician actually pays the venue?!?!), not that the venue should thank the musician for bringing their art to the room. Why is that? Can a city really brag about how much they support the arts when artists themselves are truly starving? Maybe it's the artist's fault, maybe people are too willing to give away their art and don't have the balls to demand compensation? I will find out.
This is a pretty picture.
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