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.
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