Finances

The third or fourth thing people usually ask me, after where do you come from, where do you live, where's the foundation, etc, is do you earn enough money doing this? As this must be of interest to a lot of people I'll give you, my beloved reader, the exclusive lowdown.

For this tour, the short answer is: barely. Because it's been too many km driving, 20% to the booker, and it's summer when not many people are in the bars.

Here's a breakdown of the average cost and income for the 14 shows so far:

IN
Hat/deal: €101
CD sales: €34

OUT
Car hire: €45
Petrol: €45

So I'm making €31 a day so far. Take off tea, coffee and collectables and you're not left with much.

Even though it's mostly tip jars or percentages in the US from September, it should be because:
- The distances are much shorter (I did the booking ;)
- They sell gasoline instead of petrol which is a tenth of the price! I've looked into finding gasoline in Europe but no luck. There is some Benzine but it's not much cheaper.
- American people are generous, gregarious people who love music, buy lots of CDs, T-shirts and tip tip tip! And the US has the highest percentage of them anywhere on earth.
- I'll look into buying or borrowing a car. The same for Europe next year. If anyone has any suggestions...

Europe should also be better next year as I'm only booking places with a guaranteed minimum average of €200.

So it's hard times at the moment but as you can see, I will soon be rich. Rich I tell you. Rich and famous. With someone to drive me. A driver! Yes. I'll make him wear a uniform. And I'll sit in the back. Laughing! LAUGHING!!! Ah ha ha ha ha ha HA HA !!!....

I hope this answers your question