Downtown San Antonio

I went into actual downtown San Antonio last night. Seems like a pretty great city.

I was told that my music would fit well at a place called Casbeers on South Alamo. Unfortunately they were closed when I got there at 10 pm so I slowly made my way north on South Alamo toward downtown. I saw a huge beer garden that looked more like a vacant lot full of tables and chairs with a small shack toward the back with beer signs calling to me. It turned out that I had stumbled into the artsy district of San Antonio. I saw lots of tattoos and piercings, people riding fixies, and lots of black clothing. I felt instantly at home, though I can't afford to get tats or pierced just yet...

The bar was called The Friendly Spot, if you are ever down this way I'd highly recommend a visit. The weather was perfect, right around 70 and humid. I snapped a pic of some space needle thing downtown from my chair. The staff was quite friendly and helpful to this roaming guitarist. They do lots of live music on their outside stage so I dropped a demo and business card with the bartender. It would be super fun to play there.

I made my way up to the River Walk area downtown. I've had several people recommend checking it out. Of course being downtown even at 11 pm on a Monday parking was difficult to find. As I roamed looking for parking I happened to look to my right and there was The Alamo all lit up. I always pictured it out in the middle of nowhere, not downtown SA.

I wandered around for several blocks looking for this River Walk thing that was supposed to be all great and stuff. Eventually I found a sign that pointed to it...two floors down from where I was standing. Really beautiful once you get down there. Three or four floors of bars and restaurants that overlook what I would call a canal but apparently in TX it passes for a river. I heard live music coming from quite a few of the venues.


I stopped into several of the bars there and dropped off more demos. All of the bartenders and managers I talked with seemed very friendly and even grateful to me for offering my services. The whole attitude I caught from them regarding music was very different than what I got in Austin. Austin bars act like it is a privilege to be allowed to perform in their establishment, to the point that asking to get fair compensation for performing is ridiculous to them. The town is flush with musicians so I suppose I can understand their attitude to a degree.

So do you get mad at the bars for not respecting professional musicians enough to pay them fairly or do you get mad at all the musicians that are willing to play for little to nothing? I'm sure it is just a supply and demand issue to the bars. If they had to pay more they would but the system will work this way, so why not? It's a business, not a charity.

Down here the venues seem much more appreciative of the service professional musicians provide and more than willing to compensate us for our work. These towns are only an hour apart. I really see a lot of parallels between these two towns and Cedar Rapids versus the Ped Mall in Iowa City. 

One of the more popular bars in IC offered me a weekly spot on Fridays. I actually laughed when the guy told me the pay for three hours of work was $50. If you include set up and tear down time it would've been more profitable per hour to bag groceries. 300% markup on drinks plus a cover charge at the door, someone is making money and it's usually not the person making music. Go find some college kid willing to work for beer and beware, you get what you pay for.

On to San Marcos, a smaller town half way between Austin and San Antonio, this afternoon. I've really enjoyed my time in San Antonio and I'm sure I'll be back. Three nights of parking lot surfing so far, 3/4 charge on my batteries and a half tank of fresh water left. Driving up to San Marcos may bring me back up to a full charge, which is good because the weather is supposed to turn colder on Thursday. I have been able to avoid running my furnace so far. Let's see what the attitude toward musicians is in San Marcos.

San Antonio

I said goodbye to my cozy parking spot in Georgetown yesterday and hit the road. It was nice to have a spot to call home but also caused a lot of commuting, not to mention the extra $300/month. I doubt I'll be able to pay for a regular monthly spot anywhere any time soon. It feels right to sacrifice some comfort to still be able to say music is my only job, I guess it's a point of pride for me now. I just have to make my lifestyle match my income.

Speaking of sacrifice, I've decided to not buy any beer until I get more money and gigs rolling in. Not that I was spending much per day but if you look at it by month it could easily add up to what my camper payment is. Most places that I perform at give me free beer, so it's not like totally being on the wagon.  I'm a bit bummed because beer was the only 'treat' I was allowing myself but I know things are already in the process of turning around.

I struggled a bit the last few days because it occurred to me that I was playing bars, coffee houses and such in Iowa and making good money but something drove me to move on. Now I'm in Texas trying to get gigs in the same places, is this just a lateral move? Will I wind up unsatisfied here too?

I was pondering this at a small restaurant in Taylor, TX as I dropped off a demo. A girl with purple hair plopped down next to me to order food. When she saw me drop off the demo we struck up a conversation. Turns out she makes a good chunk of her income as an on-call background vocalist for several studios in Austin. It occurred to me that this kind of thing has happened a lot since I got down here and that this is a huge difference between TX and IA, contacts. You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting someone in the music industry. That is what will make my career move up a notch, I hope.

I played in a small coffee shop in San Antonio last night. Pretty poor turnout and only $26 pay but I had two different people approach me because they have friends that own venues that are looking for music. We'll see where that goes.

I slept in the parking lot last night and have spent the morning, as is my usual routine, on the web emailing music venues from the coffee shop. In Georgetown I did all this from my camper, much more lonely than the coffee house atmosphere. It's nice to do some people watching.

I've done my three hours of nerdy office work for the day, time to explore San Antonio after dropping the condo in a nearby Walmart parking lot. I've heard there is a beautiful river walk area downtown and that the music scene down here pays better.

I have 35 gallons in my fresh water tank, a full charge on my batteries and near absolute freedom. What more could a guy ask for?

I hate big dogs.

Sorry but it's true. I was a cable guy for a few too many years, had a few too many instances in the bad part of town where the Rottweiler not only outweighed but was clearly more intelligent than it's wife beater wearing, Mountain Dew guzzling and overly fertile caretaker. These comments are not borne of tv watching or movie intake, I was there. Luckily I lived through the experience without any puncture wounds to speak of.

Being scared by an aggressive dog while walking past a fenced in yard can give you a fright but just imagine coming up from the basement to the kitchen and staring eye to eye with the 180 lb Rot that was supposedly 'secured' in a bedroom before you entered the house. I don't blame the dog at all, it's job is to defend the house and family from intruders or people that don't belong there - like a cable guy. The dog will sacrifice it's life without a thought to protect the family, I blame owners for not fully appreciating the loaded gun they are haplessly spinning over the general population's head.

This comes up because I was just out for a midnight walk to clear my head. I had a good walk, clear and cold night tonight, great for quiet solitude and  introspection. I was nearly back to my camper when I heard a big dog bark in the distance, no big deal, except that it was a call to his partner to join in some sort of conflict. The partner happened to be just around a blind corner from me in my RV park. I had seen these two dogs before as I sat on my stairs late at night. Two chocolate labs, pretty good size and likely well behaved...likely but it's not like you can reason with an animal. They will act on instinct passed down through generations of survival of the fittest. There is no credit or background check involved, just fight or flight. Hopefully the latter.

I'm happy to report the dog just ran past me barking toward it's partner. This is why I carry pepper spray when I'm out alone. I know I could best a dog in hand to paw combat, I'd  just rather not deal with stitches or antibiotic shots or possible law suits. I leave nature and people alone and I'd appreciate complete reciprocation.

Ok, dog topic over...except please don't leave your dog's crap in public areas. I swear I'm just so close to following offenders home so I can crap in their yards. It is poop people. You put food in the thing, take care of the output too, it's only fair.

Three gigs booked today, quite exciting! Progress. I haven't written lately because there has been nothing you'd want to read about. Smelly guitarist wakes up; smelly guitarist makes and drinks a pot of coffee; smelly guitarist sends out 50 emails to music venues; smelly guitarist updates umpteen websites; smelly guitarist scratches; smelly guitarist eats a cheap can of soup because he is pinching pennies; smelly guitarist gets less smelly with a shower; not-as-smelly guitarist sends another 50 emails to music venues...and so on. My hands hurt like never before, not because of guitar playing but because of countless frickin hours of computer time. Rock and roll, in the digital age.

This part of our world is beautiful. The picture is from Lake Georgetown, that's about 3 feet deep at the bottom of the picture. The streams and rivers are generally spring fed and crystal clear. The scenery is rolling hills with scrub brush and cacti covering them, a very desolate beauty. I need to get out more and enjoy my time here because I know this will not last forever. I've been trying to stay in and work on my business while also doing my best to not spend any unnecessary money until I get more rolling in. I learned the lesson long ago that if you wait to enjoy life until circumstances are ideal, you'll never enjoy life. You could amass a million dollars for retirement through sacrifice and toil only to wind up dead at 35. Live now and live well, please.